Vera's Adolescent Portable Therapy plans to spend 2012 helping New York City's clinical services programs to bring a family-focused approach to their work.

Vera’s pragmatic approach to problem solving helps to launch the young people in APT toward productive adult lives.

APT’s experience has demonstrated the importance of connecting strengths and risks in assessing kids’ progress.

Vera’s innovative substance-abuse treatment program that brings the therapist to youth involved in the juvenile justice system continues to connect with young people and their families throughout New York City and beyond.

You can contribute to a New York City kid's chance at a paid internship that could have a life-changing impact.

We may start out leading our clients toward productive lives, but the best outcomes arise when we can shift our role to supporting their own ambitions.

There's a story that's often told to illustrate the value of a strength-based approach, about a team sent to help malnourished children in Vietnam. The key to success was to look at children in the same villages who were thriving and identify sustainable solutions from within the community. I've been thinking about this story as I've been absorbing the recent coverage of the Office of Children and Family Services.

There's a proverb that says "The journey only belongs to you until you take the first step." I was reminded of this last week in a discussion about why some kids don't immediately link with community-based services after they leave a facility.

Two core tasks of leadership are to define reality and instill hope. Although more often applied to things like business management or military command, this guidance also applies to reentry practice for youth returning home after a period of institutional placement.

"We can't do it that way, because we don't do it that way." I was in a brainstorming meeting a few years ago where someone actually said this sentence. It sounded ridiculous. At APT and Vera, we are in the business of change...that is, we're in the business of helping OTHERS change. But sometimes the mirror gets held up and we're the ones asked, or forced, to evolve.