Now more than ever, counselors, teachers, community youth workers, and parents are striving to prevent individual and school-wide tragedy before it happens. Critical to the success of their efforts is a deep respect for the adolescent experience. In this book, author and social worker Michael Ungar takes a fresh, hopeful approach to challenging youth by looking beyond the surface of "bad" behaviors to understand them as ways of coping with life's adversities. "Strengths-Based Counseling with At-Risk Youth" provides the tools both to understand and access strengths buried beneath problem behaviors. It offers specific, effective strategies in working with adolescents to construct positive identities and realistic action plans. Features include: (1) Six strategies for youth engagement, covering common problem behaviors such as drug use, violence, delinquency, and promiscuity; (2) An entire chapter on bullying; (3) An abundance of real-life examples and counseling narratives; (4) A Resilient Youth Strengths Inventory to assess resilience and identify areas that need strengthening. Sincere application of the author's compassionate and open-minded strategies is sure to transform the lives of countless adolescents in need, and the institutions that serve them. Following a preface, this book presents eight chapters: (1) Surviving and Thriving; (2) Three Identities: Pandas, Chameleons, and Leopards; (3) Six Strategies for Nurturing Resilience; (4) From Truth to Action: Implementing Strategies Two through Five; (5) The Many Expressions of Youth Resilience; (6) A New Way to Look at Bullying; (7) Assessing Resilience; and (8) Translating the Results of the Resilient Youth Strengths Inventory. The following are also included: (1) Conclusion: The Need for Change; (2) a list of references; and (3) an index.