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When B was a baby he was observed by one of us, a Tavistock student, as part of her training according to the technique developed by Esther Bick.
When the boy was almost 3, and so one year after the end of the observation, the observer was contacted by the child's mother, who wanted some professional help for the difficulties she was having with B.
Mother knew the observer was a psychiatric social worker in a child guidance centre (she was also a student child psychotherapist). The observer preferred not to be involved personally, having already created a different kind of relationship during the two years of the baby's observation; although an impartial bystander, she was an inevitable presence in the family dynamics and so a receptacle for many different emotions.
So the observer suggested, as is normal practice, that the family were referred to the clinic team.