Book excerpt: This innovative, practical guide presents an effective brief therapy model for working with challenging adolescents and their families. It demonstrates powerful ways to help families gain new perspectives on longstanding problems and co-construct realistic, well-formulated goals, even when past treatment experiences have left them feeling demoralized. Solution-oriented techniques and strategies are augmented by ideas and findings from other therapeutic traditions, with a focus on engagement and relationship building. Illustrated with extensive clinical material, the book shows how to draw on each family's strengths to collaboratively bring about significant behavioral change.