When individual practitioners work to connect with those they care for, and with each other, through the ‘virtuous circle’, and manage the inevitable difficult and ambivalent feelings involved in their task, their practice will be enormously improved. When the teams they work in manage their internal relationships, and those with other teams and services, well, individual and collective intelligent kindness can be sustained. However, in the modern world, the sheer complexity of health and social difficulties, and of the range of services people may need, presents an ever-present challenge. Consider the story in Box 7.1.