ABSTRACT
This afterword reviews and summarizes the main empirically supported practices employed in the residential treatment of emotionally disturbed children and adolescents utilizing an integrative treatment model. It has been shown that the key to harmonizing the tenets of treatment with the concepts of the social environment is the manner by which direct care workers enact relationships. However, it is when an integrative framework is utilized in a logical, focused format that child and youth care workers make group care principles comprehensible and accessible. It has also been shown that it is the variety of clinical strategies, specific suggestions, and treatment rationales that makes residents feel safe and deeply understood. Finally, this chapter concludes with the observation that the integrative therapeutic model creates an ideal balance between theory (literature) and practice.
