My 43 yr old son lost everything soon will be homeless

Myson · 2025-02-05 05:21:58 UTC

My son will be homeless in maybe 2 weeks, my husband and I have a 5-week trip already paid for by the end of the month. I know it might sound horrible… but I don’t know what to do.

Jacqui · 2025-02-08 01:47:38 UTC

Hi @Myson - how are you doing today? Have you had any connection with your son lately? I’m sorry to hear you’re in this situation. It’s difficult to know how to balance helping someone you are about and taking care of yourself. It’s possible to do both.

The CRAFT (or Community Reinforcement and Family Training) approach focuses on the power of connection to help our loved ones find recovery:

The CRAFT Approach to Loved Ones Experiencing or Potential to Experience Homelessness

When discussing how family and friends can support someone experiencing a substance use disorder or problems with substance use, we have unfortunately inherited a lot of cultural messaging about the need to allow people struggling to “hit rock bottom.” That term typically conjures up images of a person using substances losing everything- their family, job, and even a place to live. Sometimes this is couched as something that has to happen before someone can start to get better.

We believe, and we see it time and time again, that people can recover and make positive changes without having to lose everything they care about first.

The CRAFT approach inherently supports staying connected, continuing to positively reinforce any positive strides towards recovery or less harmful substance use, while focusing on self-care for the family members. It is by staying connected and skillfully engaging with a struggling loved one, that we can begin to shift harmful behaviors.

We have a full topic on this that goes into enabling, negative consequences, safety, and how to use this opportunity to discuss treatment options. Click here to read the full topic on Applying CRAFT Approach to a Loved One Experiencing Homelessness.

Let me know what you think of these suggestions, and if you’re interested in more support!