This article begins with a 12-year-old girl's story that serves as an example of how "caring coaches" in the schools contribute greatly in helping schools become hopeful places for children. Helping students become more hopeful is rewarding for the students, teachers, school psychologists, counselors, parents, and other caring adults. Twenty years…

Encounters, defined as contacts between a social worker and client that have not been regularly scheduled, represent an alternative to the classic casework method. Presents a consumer-oriented strategy based on clinical experience in a public community mental health center in a large urban area. (Author)

The use of peer paraprofessionals in an academic advisement setting provides an attractive method of extending student services. Students selected to be advisors develop expertise in interpersonal communication skills and,through their increased understanding of college and their peers, are able to more fully experience their own educations.…

Describes the use of solution-focused interviewing as a way to engage mandated clients. A conversation with a court-ordered client is presented and analyzed to demonstrate how practitioners can begin co-construction of cooperation with mandated clients. Ethical implications of this noncoercive, nonconfrontational approach are addressed, along with…