Mentalizing the state of mind of colleagues from other agencies assumes complexity of their mental state. Explicit descriptions of network relationships are often collapsed down into single dimensional positions that people are assumed to adopt. The aspiration of a mentalising approach to this situation is to recognise ambivalent, complex or conflicted states of mind in others in order to facilitate joining conversations that aim to validate lived experience of workers.

Positioning Theory from systemic practice may assist in constructing theory around this complex relational difficulty.

An illustrative case example.

A teaching assistant at a secondary school has developed a strong relationship with a young person who has very poor attendance at school. The Education Welfare Officer (EWO) has been referred the young person because of the severity of the attendance difficulties. A professionals meeting is called by the social worker because of increasing concern that the family are unable to cope with the young person out of school. At this meeting, education is represented by the EWO.The teaching assistant is not invited. This process 'positions' the relationship of the teaching assistant with the young person as not being of value in trying to address the young person's increasingly severe problems. The teaching assistant feels he understands the young person more than everyone else and that the higher status professionals do not understand the young person. This position is unintentionally communicated to the young person by the teaching assistant in his on-going contact with the young person. This unhelpful positioning is challenged by the AMBIT worker by inviting the teaching assistant to help with making sense of the young person's problems and by inviting the teaching assistant to meet with him and the young person together.