"It's like reading and responding" An exploration of the appearance and functioning of mentalising in the relationship between key adults and young people with Social Emotional and Mental Health needs in the primary school setting

Using a narrative approach, this piece of research aimed to explore the research question : How does mentalising appear and function in the role of key adult, when supporting young people with Social Emotional and Mental Health needs in the primary school setting?

A Narrative Orientated Inquiry methodology (Hiles and Cremack, 2008) was used to firstly interview participants and gain their voice about different facets of mentalising. Participants were recruited from two different UK primary schools. A five-step analysis was then used to analyse the data and explore the research question.

Findings showed that the process of mentalising appeared to be an important part of the key adults’ daily work and that it was used in a pattern, to interpret a behaviour and then implement a strategy or practice based on the interpretation. It appeared to be done with conscious effort and within different time frames (mentalising about the past, present and future). Findings also demonstrated the level of commitment and complex thinking that is involved in the role of the key adult.

There were different factors shared that supported the function of mentalising for example, being a mother and being in a team with staff with similar values. Factors that hindered the function of the process, included stress and systemic factors that prevented staff from acting on their interpretations of the behaviour. Findings suggested that mentalising supported relationships, advocacy for young people with Social, emotional and mental Health needs and led to reduced behavioural incidences. The research further highlighted the interwoven nature of mentalising and empathy and how they may be two intersubjective processes that work together.