This workshop teaches you what mentalization is and why its application to our work with families is incredibly beneficial. You will be provided with a number of mentalization based tools that can be used in your work with families, within both the assessment and intervention stages. These are designed to give the practitioner a better understanding of the parents’ capacity to connect with that is in the mind of their child and help them to start to make links between the child’s thoughts, feelings and their behaviour. The tools can be used with a child of any age. You will also be provided with questions you can explore with your supervisor, to ensure you are taking time to mentalize for the parents and children in the family. You are encouraged to check in with your own thoughts and feelings, associated with the relationship you have with the parents. You will also be provided with a mentalization practice checklist to help you to actively bring this lens into your work with families.
