A treatment planner for severely emotionally disturbed (SED) youth in residential treatment programs

Brian Lotze
Wed, 22 Apr 2026 17:43:06 PDT

Writing treatment plans is a necessary but time-consuming step for busy counselors and mental health workers. Treatment plans are an important way of documenting and showing (a) the need for treatment, (b) the goals or objectives of treatment, and (c) how progress in treatment is measured. A well-written plan is critical to successfully treating clients, but must also allow agencies and counselors to document their work. Treatment planners assist counselors and other mental health workers when developing treatment plans, but existing planners are broadly focused to appeal to a wide audience. A review of the literature, and data from a residential treatment program for Severely Emotionally Disturbed (SED) youth was used to create a more narrowly focused treatment planner.