This article suggests ways to enhance a sense of hope among social workers working with adolescents in residential treatment centres. The author describes difficulties in treating this population of adolescents, focusing on how these difficulties contribute to the therapist's sense of hopelessness. The importance of enhancing the therapist's sense of hope in order to facilitate successful treatment is stressed. The author maintains that it is possible to 'work' towards creating hope and to 'foster' its growth, using the components of hope defined by Jacoby (1987, 2003).