This is a key practice relating to the peer-supervision that flows from having a Keyworker well-connected to wider team and applying Active Planning in all that we do (both of these are Core Features of AMBIT).

In terms of Active Planning, Thinking Together is the very shortest-term version of this practice - making a plan (and Broadcasting Intentions about this) for how to use this next ten minutes 'around the water-cooler', or on the phone, in my colleague's car, or in Team Meetings, etc., (see below for "When and Where").

Analogies:

Drawing on the Ripples in a Pond analogy, Thinking Together is a set of social interactive Rituals and Disciplines that are designed to maximise the amount of useful information that can be 'passed outwards' from places of greater disturbance towards calmer places or people, where attuned and productive thinking together (a.k.a. Mentalization) is more possible.

Mountaineers have worked out over time that having a strictly disciplined approach to the kinds of ritualised call-and-response required to use a rope safely (making absolutely sure you are holding my rope and are tied on when I start to climb) is critical to ensuring safety - especially when they are stressed and tired. Thinking Together is a very similar attempt to "get things lined up" in preparation for what is a very common, but often critical operation in the risky word of trying to help very vulnerable young people.

8 Minutes on Thinking Together:

The more that accurate and relevant information can be passed-outwards from a very chaotic and overwhelming focus (see Passed-outwards Discussion), the more it can be digested and acted upon in a timely, effective and therapeutic way.

A "good pass"? Four steps to Thinking Together

1. Marking the Task 2. Stating the Case 3. Mentalizing the Affect 4. Return to Purpose What is absolutely critical is that in a team there is a shared understanding of WHAT these 4 steps are (please have a look at the separate pages for each step) and WHY we choose to use this disciplined way of setting up dialogues to seek help from each other .

When and Where to use it?

This is for teams to work out as part of the development of their local team culture, but certainly existing AMBIT-influenced teams have reported finding this useful in:

(a) 1:1 staff conversations

Here we are trying to replace the "water cooler/kettle chat" or enhancing telephone consultations with workers in the field.
In these situations, if appropriate, the exercise can be done in front of the young person with the mobile phone switched to "loudspeaker" - this is very similar to the systemic practice of the "reflecting team", but in addition, we would argue that it is a great way to be Broadcasting Intentions and to be modelling help-seeking behaviour to the young person. By showing a young person that "My own ability to think clearly and make the best decisions is affected by my circumstances, and 'phoning a friend' is a helpful thing I do" I am modelling healthy help-seeking, and there is an implicit invitation for worker and young person to explore later, which is: "You've seen how I have a bit of a back-up team who help me keep my balance. Who is in your back-up team, that you could lean on at these kinds of times? How could we go about getting a few people in place that you could use?". This is a nice way to introduce Scaffolding existing relationships.

(b) Team Meetings

There is video of some role-plays in Team Meetings that shows how this can have a significant impact on how these critical working spaces can be enhanced by a team adopting this approach.

What if my colleague doesn't recognise the concern? Graded assertiveness.

Thinking together is helpful if a concern (even if poorly defined) is acknowledged between parties. What about the situation when a worker notices something of concern in their colleague's situation or practice, which they, however, do not seem to recognise?.

Here there is a requirement for Graded assertiveness in challenging a team member.

This may be necessary to create awareness of the concern, and is certainly a critical aspect of a team's duty to pay attention to Managing Risk (one of the Core Features of AMBIT.)

Videos

• Below are two videos - "thinking apart" and thinking together, that give a simple demonstration of how the technique might be helpful.
• There is a Video introduction to Thinking Together - (8 minutes) that explains the text above.
• There are also role-played examples of doing it, and not-doing it in Team Meetings, where the technique can have a helpful impact on the effectiveness and sustainability of meetings that involve case discussion, group supervision, etc.

How not to do it: Thinking Apart

Here we offer two examples of what might be called "Thinking Apart" - well-meaning but un-marked and un-boundaried (and ultimately, not very well mentalized) discussion, that can inadvertently serve to amplify anxiety or shame in the worker:

Thinking Together (OK, it is idealised!)

Exercises

These steps can be put to work in a more formal exercise - the Passed-outwards Discussion or POD introduces the rationale for making space for mentalizing in discussing high affect situations, and the Thinking Together - Training exercise helps to practice the day to day routine.
See Local Session 04: Working with your Team for a full training session for a team.

Feedback from AMBIT-influenced teams (2014)

"We are now using thinking together regularly"
"Thinking together is used in our peer supervision"
"We talk about 'having an AMBIT moment' - meaning thinking together time"
"Utilising thinking together in our case discussions has helped team stay more focused and achieve more from team discussions. Shared team language and people feel more supported and cohesive."
"The "thinking together" concept has been very influential when used appropriately. It is very clear in meetings when we have an "AMBIT facilitator" and mark our task compared to meetings that try to follow an agenda, but we miss the mark."
"Outside of meeting the team use 'thinking together' frequently and speak v positively of it at review."