About CRAFT Family Support Program

Community Reinforcement and Family Training

CRAFT is a compassionate, nonconfrontational evidence-based intervention that helps family and friends develop effective strategies for helping their loved one who is struggling with a substance use disorder and for feeling better themselves.

Drs. Robert J. Meyers and Jane Ellen Smith of the University of New Mexico developed the CRAFT program to teach families, how to impact their Loved One (LO) while avoiding both detachment and confrontation.

While other treatment approaches call for either confronting or detaching from a loved one affected by substance use, CRAFT shows how to change one's interactions with the loved one to reduce or stop their substance use and encourage the person to move toward getting help.

CRAFT Approach

  • Evidenced-Based

    CRAFT has the ability to engage 2/3rds of treatment -resistant patients to attend treatment.

    -- Roozen, et al, Addiction, 10/2010

  • Motivational Model

    CRAFT is a motivational model of help based on research that consistently finds motivational treatments to be superior to confrontational ones.

  • Skill-Building

    CRAFT shows family and friends how to develop their loved one's motivation to change by helping to figure out how to appropriately reward healthy behavior.

This Model of CRAFT

The CRAFT Family Support program is a group education and support model that uses a book by Drs. Robert J. Meyers and Jane Ellen Smith, a workbook, and a 12-session structure easily implemented by a trained facilitator.

The 12-session CRAFT program teaches family and friends new skills in rapport building, positive reinforcement, communication and problem solving, motivation techniques, how to analyze substance use patterns, how and when to intervene, safety precautions and more.

Download Overview PDF

CRAFT Family Support Group Overview.pdf