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The book begins with stories of helping that highlight the importance of core concepts and offers a brief historical context for the development of collaborative approaches to helping.  It presents a number of useful concepts that can reorient behavioral services and outlines a principle-based practice framework to help workers stay grounded and focused in the inevitable ambiguity and complexity of this environment.  Madsen and Gillespie explore specific ways to organize helping efforts around a shared, forward-thinking vision, anticipate obstacles, and draw on existing and potential supports in order to develop a collaborative plan of action with families.  They explore ways to address problems in a non-blaming, non-shaming manner and expand upon strengths-based work to move into much richer conversations about strengths in the context of peoples intentions and purposes, values and beliefs, hopes and dreams and commitments in life.  Collaborative Helping highlights ways to build and draw on families natural networks and communities.  Then, it shows how to collaborate with traditionally trained professionals across systems and how to involve peoples natural networks and communities in helping endeavors.  The book concludes with concrete suggestions for fostering organizational readiness and developing implementation strategies that weave the core principles of this approach into the fabric of organizational cultures. 

Collaborative Helping: A Strengths Framework for Home-Based Services