This training guide is intended as an aid for agencies and professionals in creating interagency efforts to provide comprehensive care to children and youth with serious emotional disorders and their families. It is not a generic concept but a specific approach to providing care. Section I addresses the key assumptions that undergird the model, concerning child characteristics, viewing emotional disorders as disabilities, service needs, and systems of care. Section II discusses the roles and structures associated with the application of the concept of therapeutic case advocacy task groups. Section III outlines the components the model uses to affect changes in environments, systems, or people's behavior. These components include case advocacy, interpersonal intervention, and care management. Each component is guided by certain principles of action and a cluster of skills which are identified. Section IV addresses group process issues that must be acknowledged. Section V examines some basic evaluation concerns. (Three references) (JDD)