Our push is to have our students' families on campus at least every 6-8 weeks, more if possible for individual family coaching visits. During these visits and during family therapy sessions, family relationships and parenting are directly coached. The leadership team, therapists and residential coaches are all part of this process. Attached parenting is modeled and parents are directly coached on how to utilize and implement therapeutic touch, coaching and rhythms in the home as it is utilized within the CALO program.

Staff relationships are utilized for their mentoring power. Residential coaches are handpicked to work with students. They are with the students throughout the day building intense, constructive and mentoring relationships with students. They provide and maintain the daily rhythms (schedules, structure) within the program, providing the students a safe environment which allows them the opportunity to be vulnerable and open themselves up to healing and the possibility of true attachment.

Therapeutic Relationships are utilized to create a desire for change in the lives of CALO students. Therapists are an active part of the CALO therapeutic milieu. They facilitate group, individual and family therapy with students and families. The students participate in daily group, weekly individual sessions and bi-weekly two-hour family therapy sessions.

Within the CALO program we utilize the strength of positive peer relationships. CALO actively creates an atmosphere where positive peer relationships are the norm. Some have asked specifically about the use of a particular model, positive peer culture, within the CALO model. While it in not our central change agent due to the intensity of our students (they need a more staff-driven model), we do utilize positive peer dynamics within the community milieu to promote accountability and leadership among students.

Transferable Attachment through the care of purebred Golden Retrievers is a key, cutting-edge treatment aspect of our program. Where clinically appropriate, students have the opportunity to "adopt" a Golden Retriever and be responsible for feeding, training, cleaning and nurturing their new family member. The adoption process that students go through mirrors the adoption process that families have to go through when adopting a child (home study, petition for adoption, decree of adoption, etc.). All, and I do mean all, interactions with this animal are used therapeutically. After just a few days our students have bonded with their animal friend and would never dream of giving up their adopted charge. We talk of how the student's parents feel the same way but with even stronger attachment to the student. As students struggle with poor behavior from the dogs and the difficulties of training the dogs, they are helped to understand those frustrations their parents have similarly felt. The students feel empathy for their parents. Empathy is the fertile soil where attachment can grow. This empathy is gained experientially, not through abstract discussion. Empathy and attachment are then transferred to the family relationship.