The pleasure principle rules everything Amber Jo Hatt does as a case manager at Portland's New Avenues for Youth. "You can tell by my office," Hatt says. And indeed, a glance around Hatt's tidy office reveals a Furby, a mini-Connect Four set, and other toys and games to make her work with homeless youth fun. One of Hatt's clients is an impulsive young man who loves coffee. If he can beat her at Connect Four, she'll give him $5 Starbucks gift card. The catch: Hatt makes him think through his moves and announce them beforehand. Sometimes he gets frustrated, plays recklessly and doesn't get coffee. But more important than being fun, simple therapy impulse control, it's a way for Hatt to build a connection. "The most important thing to get people to change is your relationship," Hatt says. Hatt excels at building those relationships, says her supervisor, Laurie Kress: "She's fun and she's funny and she gets people motivated. Clients respond well to her because of her passion and creativity." Hatt, 30, manages about 20 cases at once for New Avenues, a Portland nonprofit that helps homeless kids get off the street. She works with the kids to figure out barriers like poverty or drug abuse that are keeping them homeless, then designs a plan to address those barriers. "Some people have four," Hatt says. Some people have 50." Hatt was homeless when she was 17. Her barrier: She was "resource poor." No moneyand no supportive family. A messy home life during her senior year in high school led to her living on the streets in Huntington W.V., for three weeks, followed by several months in transitional housing. A year and a half later, with the help of relatives in Ohio, Hatt had bounced back. She moved to Columbus and enrolled at Ohio State University, where she majored in social work and own the social-work student of the year award in 1998. She also worked at a runaway shelter for teenagers. At 19, she was doing family therapy sessions for 17-year-olds and their angry parents. "I knew what I wanted to be doing for the rest of my life," she says. "I just loved it." Hatt doesn't usually reveal her earlier homelessness to clients, because sharing personal history runs counter to her training as a social worker. But there have been some clients who really needed to see how people can rebound. Hatt is a living example. After completing her bachelors degree, she moved to Portland because it seemed like a progressive place. She got a master's degree in social work from Portland State University in 2002, and earned her license to practice clinical social work in August. Hatt plans to continue applying her creativity and energy to fight youth homelessness, and perhaps focus on therapy. "People know who complain about homeless kids on the street," says Hatt, "have no idea how many people would be on the streets if we weren't doing what we do."