What Works with Teens: A Professional’s Guide to Engaging Authentically with Adolescents to Achieve Lasting Change

If you work with teens, you know they are notoriously challenging to communicate with. And when teens are resistant to help, they may respond by acting defiant, guarded, defensive, rude, or even outright hostile. In turn, you may respond by reasserting your authority―resulting in an endless power struggle. So how can you break the cycle and start connecting?

In What Works with Teens, you’ll discover the core skills that research shows underlie all effective work with teens. You'll learn how to engage authentically with teens, create an atmosphere of mutual respect, and use humor to establish a deeper connection. Many books offer evidence-based approaches to treating teens, but very little information on how to establish and maintain a productive working relationship. This is the first trans-therapeutic book to provide real tools for creating a positive relationship with teens to help bolster effective treatment.

Whether your background is in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), psychotherapy, or any other treatment background, if you are looking for more effective ways to connect with teens and are ready for a program that really works, this book is a vital addition to your professional library.

Britt H. Rathbone, ACSW, LCSW-C, provides psychotherapy services to adolescents and their families in the greater Washington, DC, area. He is consistently voted one of the area’s best therapists for adolescents, and actively teaches graduate students and trains other professionals on issues of adolescent development and clinical treatment. He has been providing dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) services to adolescents since 2002, and is cofounder of the Metro DBT Consortium.

Julie B. Baron, MSW, is a licensed clinical social worker with expertise in treating adolescents and their families. Baron received her Master’s in social work from Boston University School of Social Work in Boston, MA. She has worked with children, adolescents, and families in community-based mental health clinics, residential treatment, home-based settings, public and private school settings, and in private practice for over twenty years. Baron is known for providing effective treatment strategies in a manner that engages and empowers adolescents and their families toward meaningful change. Baron has written articles and provides trainings and workshops to parents, teens, school faculty, and mental health professionals on issues relevant to working with adolescents including adolescent social culture, bullying, and technology. She has particular knowledge and experience in understanding different learning styles and disabilities as well as a variety of social, emotional, and behavioral issues affecting children and adolescents. As a school counselor she developed and implemented comprehensive programming toward creating and maintaining safe and respectful learning communities. Baron is a member of the National Association of Social Workers. She provides individual, group, and family therapy as well as school advocacy services at Rathbone and Associates in Rockville, MD.

Foreword author Rosalind Wiseman is the author of Queen Bees and Wannabes―the groundbreaking, best-selling book that was the basis for the movie Mean Girls.