This is a specific and particular example of the Implicit Core Beliefs that every person carries around.

It functions as a "map" or "template" of "how a relationship with a 'caring authority' will tend to look and feel" and is developed in early life through the child's experiences of the relationship with his or her main carers.

In early life children can have different types of relationships with different caregivers/authority figures in their lives. They may have a secure relationship (Secure Base) with their mother, but an Ambivalent-Enmeshed Attachment Relationship with their father, or vice versa - grandparents, teachers, etc may also function as "attachment objects".

Why this matters

Over time (and this is particularly happening during the adolescent years) these different "models" or relatedness tend to coalesce into a single Internal Working Model (IWM) - which migh tbe thought of as an "averaged out" version of the different individual experiences in that child's earlier life. These IWM's tend to be quite persistent through life, although there is evidence that change can occur over time. During adolescence there appears to be more 'plasticity' left than in adulthood.

What is critical about this is that a novel, more adaptive, helpful attachment - even as late as adolescence, and with, say, a KeyWorker - can have a profound effect on shaping these IWM's. Changing these maps is at the heart of AMBIT's approach to trying to improve a young person's Relationship to help