In this section
AMBIT
Substance abuse. Self harm. Eating disorders. School truancy. Persistent offending. One in ten adolescents experience at least one of these problems. A small minority experience a combination of these all at once. This can lead to family breakdown, homelessness and an inability to access mainstream help. AMBIT is a new approach to helping these very troubled young people.
AMBIT (Adolescent Mentalization-based Integrative Treatment) was developed in response to the need for a well-structured, evidence-based intervention that could be realistically implemented for those adolescents labelled as “hard-to-reach”. It is an innovative approach which brings mental health, education, and social interventions together to provide direct help to these very troubled young people, who are not yet able to access mainstream help.
AMBIT provides a simple solution: Utilising innovative technology to train and support a network of field workers who can provide accessible, approachable and most importantly immediate help to young people in crisis. It supports a new kind of integrative outreach mental health practitioner, trained in multiple treatment methods supported by close and robust supervisory structures. One of the core aims of this approach is to reduce the number of professionals directly involved in the case, in order to focus on maximising the productivity of the therapeutic relationship.
Comic Relief is supporting this project and helping us to extend our training programme so that staff from many organisations can be trained in the AMBIT approach to working with young people in crisis.
What is AMBIT?
Firstly, AMBIT is an approach that you take to young people wherever they are.
AMBIT is a highly flexible therapeutic approach that can be delivered in street settings, cafes and sitting in the park, as well in the family home; AMBIT seeks to work in whatever setting the young person defines as safe. At its heart, it aims to enable young people to move from more destructive states of mind to more functioning and adaptive ways of being in the world. Its focus is on enhancing emotional and social wellbeing and accepts that it is working with young people, many of whom have not asked for help and who engage in highly risky behaviour.
Secondly, AMBIT is a mentalization based therapy
Mentalization is a complicated word for a very ordinary process. It emphasizes the value of enabling young people to make sense of themselves and others by considering their own and other’s states of mind and intentions. It provides a central component of the work of trying to intervene effectively with young people with complex difficulties.
Thirdly, AMBIT aims to bring together different methods of working
This means that it aims to coherently bring together different methods of trying to help young people who have multiple problems. The approach emphasizes the need to address environmental aspects of the young person’s circumstances, such as having a school or college to go to, as much as trying to help the young person with depression or substance use, etc. It respects behavioural, educational, psychodynamic techniques and methods.
Fourthly, AMBIT has been designed for young people
It recognises the challenges faced by a young person who is moving towards future independence from carers and who is beginning to construct his/her own identity in the context of often highly volatile social networks and groups.
How can AMBIT be helpful to you?
The AFC AMBIT team provides a highly effective training programme for both qualified and unqualified staff working with hard to reach young people with mental health problems. The approach is useful for teams working with homeless young people, substance misuse services, young people at risk of coming into care, and mental health outreach teams.
Our training programmes are carefully evaluated and indicate that participants learn some core theory (what is Mentalization?) but also practical skills on how to work more effectively as a team when faced with highly stressful behaviour by young people.
Training in AMBIT
Training of teams
Training in the full model of AMBIT is best done for whole teams rather than for individuals. For teams who wish to be trained in the AMBIT model, the process would be to agree a training plan with the manager of the service. In our experience training in the AMBIT model is likely to require between 4-10 days of training depending on the experience of the team.
Training for individuals
Training events (either one day or two day events) are held periodically at Anna Freud Centre. Up to date details can be found on the training and conferences pages.
AMBIT and web based manualisation
Training in AMBIT is supported by a highly innovative web based manualisation approach. This means that all the training materials are available on the web and can be individually tailored to the specific circumstances and client group of the specific service or team. Using the ‘wiki’ manual, teams learn to adapt and add to the core content of the manual to create their own locally ‘customized’ manual that is portable on tablets or laptops.
The manual is freely available to view and download from the tiddlymanuals webpage.
AMBIT and the Anna Freud Centre
Over the last ten years, the AMBIT approach has been developed at the Anna Freud Centre by a group of experts in adolescent mental health lead by Professor Peter Fonagy and including Professor Mary Target, Dr. Eia Asen, Neil Dawson, Dickon Bevington and Peter Fuggle. Training in AMBIT is primarily delivered by Dr Dickon Bevington, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Dr. Peter Fuggle – increasing amounts of training material, including video, is available directly online. A number of teams have been trained in the AMBIT approach including the Derry Adolescent Outreach Team, Plymouth Community Outreach Team, CASUS, AMASS, Kids Company.
Further information about AMBIT
Enquiries
For enquiries about any aspects of AMBIT please contact suzi.bell@annafreud.org
