What is it?

The idea of Sensitive attunement has come from research into Attachment. It is closely linked to the process of establishing a Secure Base (if the parent is sensitively attuned to the mental state of the infant/child (if they can Mentalize them effectively and reliably enough), then they are much more likely to become associated with security, and to act as a kind of safe harbour from which the child can go out and explore. In addition, the sensitively attuned adult is the one most likely to gain Epistemic Trust.

Using this idea in AMBIT

Here we are thinking about how the WORKER can maintain sensitive attunement with their CLIENT...

This is one of the THREE elements that Active Planning requires that we hold in balance, if the plans that we make and promote are to have any likelihood of taking hold and resulting in meaningful change.:

1. Planning 2. Broadcasting Intentions 3. Sensitive attunement

An exercise in developing sensitive attunement:

The steps below, asked in this particular sequence (Where?, Who?, What?, Why?) can help to shape a conversation, stepping worker and client into an exploration, by assuring safety at the most fundamental levels:

• addressing physical safety and comfort in "Where?", and relational safety in "Who?"

before stepping into the more explicitly "mentalizing" levels:

• addressing the"what?" and the "why?" of the behaviours/situation in question).

These steps can form the basis of a self-reflection exercise, too: try going for a short walk and asking these same core questions of oneself, in relation to a concern about work, etc. Practising this in one's personal life can enrich the ways that it is put to use in clinical situations. The point is not to create a "sensitivity-by-numbers" but to create enough structure to provide containment for thinking/mentalizing to become active!