Has anyone here learned about CRAFT?

#1

@erica and I attended a training with the creator of CRAFT this week. Love to hear who here has encountered CRAFT? Where did you come across it? What have you liked or disliked about it?

CRAFT: Community Reinforcement and Family Training
Proven to help:

  • Get loved ones into treatment
  • Reduce substance use - regardless of the above point
  • Improve our health and wellbeing - regardless of the above points

A note from the Village :love_letter:: Our Coaches are CRAFT certified and uniquely expert in training families to face addiction and get through recovery together. If you are interested in additional support, check out our online CRAFT programs at wethevillage.co.

How to help your loved one be more independent?
#2

I’d like to hear more. Does CRAFT include MAT as a treatment option?

#3

What I know about CRAFT is that it’s focused on empathetic engagement from friends/family of persons struggling with substance use - as opposed to the more traditional detachment or confrontational approaches.

I want to like this model, and having more experience with AA/NA, I’ve trained myself in the way of detachment - which honestly sometimes feels a lot easier (or less exhausting, anyway) than engaging with my loved one’s crazy behaviors, habits, or addictions!

So, like I said, I want to like this model, and still have some curiosities & reluctances about what feels like an “always sunny” approach. Excited to become better educated from you and @erica and this Community. :slightly_smiling_face:

#5

Definitely. CRAFT is a training for the Friends and Family who are concerned about a loved one’s substance use. It’s been proven to improve the health and wellbeing of the family member who uses it as well as influencing the behavior of the loved one we’re concerned about, specifically: decreasing harmful substance use and most significantly - helping to engage those who are initially resistant to treatment in treatment (including MAT, counseling/therapy - whatever might be relevant to where your loved one is at).

It has been studied in multiple clinical trials and consistently shows these results!
There’s also preliminary evidence to show that CRAFT helps with treatment retention and continued care once a loved one is in / gets professional treatment.

#4

I also was able to sit in on a portion of the CRAFT training sessions this week, and I definitely agree that the “always sunny” approach can be a bit problematic. But the creator of CRAFT said something interesting when it came to goal setting for people receiving the intervention: he mentioned that it was important to emphasize that CSOs (concerned significant others) consider obstacles that might present themselves during their CRAFT journey— something he said many clinicians do not focus on, but should. A lot of the research I currently do in goal-setting emphasizes the importance of not forgetting to consider negative obstacles while you’re in the process of attaining a goal.

For that reason, CRAFT engages while remaining realistic and allowing room for upsets — reminding us it’s ok when things don’t always go our way.

#6

Thanks @ashleykm3. That’s encouraging to hear that CRAFT acknowledges the reality of upsets. (I recognize I sound a little jaded in my previous post :grimacing: - trying to keep it honest!)

What did you learn in the training (or in your individual research) re: what to do with the potential obstacles once you’ve identified them? Or what to do when you face an upset?

#8

OK I just started looking more into CRAFT thanks to this post and others on the site, which led me to this article which is great, which led me to order this book on Amazon.

I really love my Al-Anon group - the meetings I attend are very strong with no judgements, only strength and hope and friendly smiles that have slowly become comforting and familiar. The slogans and steps have really helped me focus on my own actions and reactions, and have helped me welcome spirituality into my life. BUT I can see how many people are turned off by Al-Anon and I am definitely interested in what CRAFT has to offer. I’m of the belief that you can take what serves you from any program or set of values and leave the rest - it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

I especially love what @katie mentioned: “What I know about CRAFT is that it’s focused on empathetic engagement from friends/family of persons struggling with substance use.” EMPATHY has been super important in strengthening my relationship with my husband!

Looking forward to learning more about CRAFT here!

#7

We can all get a little jaded at times :slight_smile: it’s hard to stay ever-the-optimist.

One of the CRAFT principles is: take an experimental approach. If something doesn’t work, try something else. Interested in what else @ashleykm3 and @erica picked up too!

#9

100% agree. We are all about taking what is helpful, what works for you, is most important.

We like to layer in a healthy dose of evidence-based best practices and it just so happens that Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) is the best achieved behavioral therapy for people with an addicted loved one.

But 100% take what you like (and love) and leave the rest!!!

#10

Love this @momentsandlight. Thank you for sharing! Like @Jane mentions above, one of the things that I value most about the CRAFT methodology (as I’ve learned more) is that it encourages experimentation. There is no one-path-fits-all for you or your loved one, so you get to decide what works and what doesn’t in the recovery journey! :raised_hands:t4: