Engaging and collaborating with families is central in building a therapeutic alliance and cultivating motivation. In this chapter we review several key competencies for engaging and collaborating with youth and families within CBT, such as collaboratively setting and adhering to session agenda and goals, communicating the rationale of CBT techniques, eliciting and responding to feedback, facilitating in-session collaboration between youth, parent and therapist, flexibly applying strategies to the child's presentation, background, and developmental level, implementing experiential CBT procedures, and ending sessions in a planned manner. Given the variations in youth who may benefit from CBT, we discuss ways of adapting treatment to developmental level and disorder, and addressing obstacles to collaboration and engagement. Finally, we consider the implications of these issues for mental health professionals