Dealing with adolescent offenders is challenging and places high demands on professionals. Offenders often lack a sense of guilt and self-awareness, which has psychodynamic causes. Relapses are therefore the norm. The author team of Marcus Damm and Stefan Werner demonstrates the application of schema therapy in working with adolescent offenders through numerous illustrative examples. Additionally, a new intervention method is introduced: activating resource confrontation. Schema therapy is based on current findings from brain research, schema therapy, and clarification-oriented psychotherapy. The concept aims to help professionals gain a deeper understanding of difficult adolescents, recognize, categorize, and address underlying relational disturbances and manipulations. The process begins with the diagnosis of adverse schemas.