Working with High-Risk Adolescents A Collaborative Strengths-Based Approach

This innovative book focuses on helping high-risk adolescents and their families rapidly resolve long-standing difficulties. Matthew D. Selekman spells out a range of solution-focused strategies and other techniques, illustrating their implementation with vivid case examples. His approach augments individual and family sessions with collaborative meetings that enlist the strengths of the adolescent's social network and key helping professionals from larger systems. User-friendly features include checklists, sample questions to aid in relationship building and goal setting, and reproducible forms that can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size. Blending family therapy science with therapeutic artistry, the book significantly refines and updates the approach originally presented in Selekman's Pathways to Change. 
 

Matthew D. Selekman, MSW, LCSW, is a family therapist and addictions counselor in private practice and Director of Partners for Collaborative Solutions, an international family therapy training and consulting firm in Evanston, Illinois. He is an Approved Supervisor with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Mr. Selekman served as the invited Henry Maier Practitioner-in-Residence at the School of Social Work of the University of Washington and is a three-time recipient of the Walter S. Rosenberry Award from Children’s Hospital Colorado for his significant contributions to the fields of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. The author of numerous professional articles and seven books, including Working with High-Risk Adolescents and Collaborative Brief Therapy with Children, Mr. Selekman consults worldwide to schools and treatment programs serving adolescents and their families. Since 1985, he has given workshops extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Southeast Asia, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. His website is www.partners4change.net.
 

Foreword, Harlene Anderson
1. Navigating through Complex High-Risk Adolescent Mazes
2. Family Engagement: Tailor the Relationships of Choice
3. Building Strong Partnerships with Pessimistic Helping Professionals and Members from Families’ Social Networks
4. Collaborative Treatment Team Planning and Goal Setting
5. Co-Developing and Selecting Interventions to Suit Clients’ Strengths, Theories of Change, and Goals
6. Family–Social Network Relapse Prevention Tools and Strategies
7. “The Atomic Bomb Kid”: Working with a Violent Adolescent
8. From “Numbing Out Bad Thoughts and Feelings” to “Welcoming Death”: Working with a High-Risk Suicidal Adolescent
9. Therapeutic Mistakes and Treatment Failures: Wisdom Gained and Valuable Lessons Learned
10. Therapeutic Artistry: Finding Your Creative Edge
References
Index