If you are in a relationship with someone who struggles with addiction, then no doubt you have tried many things to stop their frustrating behaviours. And over time- perhaps many years- you have found that your nags, threats, pleads and ‘telling off’s’ have for the most part fallen on deaf ears.
If you are in a relationship with someone who struggles with addiction, then no doubt you have tried many things to stop their frustrating behaviours. And over time- perhaps many years- you have found that your nags, threats, pleads and ‘telling off’s’ have for the most part fallen on deaf ears.
Now you may be angry, frustrated, depressed or just resigned that things will not change. Or, perhaps you have just discovered that your loved one has an addiction and you are scared and not sure what to do.
In either case, I am glad you made your way here, because I have some positive news for you.
There is an approach to helping yourself and your loved one that science has shown to be incredibly effective, it’s called Community Reinforcement and Family Training programme, or CRAFT for short. It’s a behavioural intervention that teaches you skills to reduce your loved ones addictive behaviours and motivate him/her to seek treatment.
At the same time –and just as important- the programme helps you reduce your own stress around your loved one’s addiction, and develop a more peaceful, fulfilling and joyful life independent of your loved one and their behaviour.
Sound too good to be true? It’s not. The programme has been around for over thirty years, tested thoroughly in many research studies; experts have based CRAFT on solid science. People from many walks of life have used it successfully to help their loved one and themselves. Whether you are a parent, spouse, partner, adult friend of the substance user, research tells us that you too can succeed with this programme.
Learning CRAFT is not overly difficult, but it will require a bit of time and effort on your part. If you are thinking - why should I do all this work when I am not the one who has the problem, then keep in mind how much time and energy you have already invested in changing your loved one’s behaviour to no avail. If it feels like you have been running a marathon to get your loved one to change, then imagine you are at 5K with only 2K to go. Those last 2K will take effort, but you did not run the first 5 to give up now, did you?
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