Working with a population of students with serious emotional disturbance is both challenging and rewarding. Unfortunately, it can be more challenging than rewarding, and many wonderful professionals leave the field due to burnout and frustration. A major source of burnout is the personal conflict that occurs between teachers with predetermined beliefs about their role of authority, and oppositional children who trust no one and have no direction or mission in life. Troubled and troubling youth use their power in manipulative or destructive ways. In order to learn more caring and respectful strategies, they must observe these values in adults who have authority in their lives. In this article, the authors apply the management principles of servant leadership to teachers and caregivers.