Okay, I am super excited about today's video, because I am gonna get to tell you
about the #1, statistically proven, most effective strategy that
families can use to help a loved one struggling with addiction. We've all
heard of al-anon (that is the family side of 12-step) and so families that attend
al-anon regularly and use a 12-step approach for dealing with their
addicted loved one. Well, Al-anon (alone) has about a 23 percent success rate.
When I say success rate... What I'm talking about is, a significant decrease
in the addiction symptoms, problems, and behaviors (especially as related to the
family). The other approach a(nd something you might have thought about
doing) is an old school intervention. You know, like on the TV show
Intervention. Love the drama, it's a good show, but I don't necessarily
recommend you use that style of intervention. You see, that is called a
Johnson Model Intervention. The guy who came up with it his name is
Vernon Johnson. I have another video where I talk about intervention methods
so make sure you check that one out after you watch this one. But, to give you
an idea about the success rate of a Johnson model type intervention... It's
about a 16 percent success rate. Now, when you look at Al-anon versus an
old-school intervention, the approaches are very very different.
Al-anon is detached with love, it's you didn't cause it you can't
cure it, you're powerless, there's nothing you can do just back up and try to save
yourself kind of model. And, Interventions are all about drawing a hard-line, say
what you're putting up with and not putting up with, hold your boundaries,
and confront the person with love. It's a confrontational approach to dealing with
a loved one with a drug or alcohol problem. I love the 12 steps, but I
worry that the al-anon approach to dealing with an addicted loved one
relies a little too heavily on the fact that
the addicted person is going to somehow hit a rock bottom,
wake up, having a moment of clarity, and decide for themselves that they want to
get recovery. Now those of you that follow some of my videos, you know how I
feel about that. The Johnson model well it causes problems because it's so
confrontational. It does work but only if you do it the right way.
Definitely, don't do it without a trained interventionist. But, it's so
confrontational I have dealt a lot with people coming
out of treatment after an old-school intervention that who have a lot of
hurt, shame, resentment, like totally broken relationships with their family
because they just feel like they were set up. They really feel conspired against, and
it is definitely difficult for them to come back from that. Now, the third approach,
and the one I promise to tell you about, is called the CRAFT method (
CRAFT stands for: Community Reinforcement And Family Training. If you look at
where the CRAFT approach falls on the continuum between al-anon and
intervention, it's somewhere in the middle. This is the good news about CRAFT.
It has a 64% success rate for families dealing with a loved
one with a drug or alcohol problem. That precentage is way way way higher than the other two
methods, and it's really unfortunate that not many people know about this. It's
just that, the two approaches been around for a long time, and when you
have a loved one with a drug or alcohol problem
it's just frustrating. Your instincts are going tell you either to just throw
your hands in the air and give up, or to confront that person, put the boundaries
down, and slam down the wall. Sure those two things can be effective, but
the CRAFT family addiction treatment model is more effective. It's based in science (the
science of what motivates people, the science of how do you get people to take
actions , make choices, how can you structure the environment ).
These are the things that help lead a person to make the
decision to get help, or get better, or stop drinking, or stop using drugs. Do you
know that really old movie E.T.? Those of you who are old enough to remember it,
know that there's this scene where the alien (that
comes from space, and the slow boy finds him), and there's a scene of the little boy
is trying to catch the alien. He takes Reeses Pieces
and puts them down one by one by one by one. He makes a trail to
lead the alien where he wants them to go. That scene is a great metaphor for the
CRAFT method. It's like purposefully reinforcing
certain behaviors, at certain times, in order to lead someone to where you want them.
Okay, it's time for a little counselor confession. You know in the
past few months I have gotten some really negative remarks left and
comments left on Facebook and YouTube for some of the videos that I made.
Videos where I talk about how families aren't completely powerless, how they can have
some control. I understand that conventional thinking it is the standard
typical thing that's taught to families. It's the norm, and I can see why it's
easy to fall into believing it 100%. Because most people have
tried everything that they know, and nothing has worked, and it does feel
powerless. I'm not trying to tell you that you can absolutely control the
person, or that a hundred percent get them to where you want them to be. However, I
think 64 % chance is pretty good odds. Now that's not me saying it's the
family's fault that they're in this situation. That's just me saying that families do
have some power, control, and influence. This is your life too, and you deserve a
better life. That's what this whole series is all about. I'm going help
you understand the CRAFT approach and how it works, because it's the
model that we use in our office to help families reach a loved one who might be
in denial, or who might be minimizing the problem, or maybe they've been in a
treatment lots of times but nothing seems to be working. So if you're not
totally ready to just give up and throw your hands up in air (I know there are
days like that), but if today is not one of
those days, and you'd like to feel a little more empowered, and know that
there is something you can do, watch this video next, it's all about understanding
the stages of change and motivation (which is the first step to the CRAFT
approach) . I'd love to hear from you... Have you ever heard of the CRAFT approach? Do
you have any experience with it ? Let me know in the comments below ,if you have
had some experience with it . Tell us what your thoughts are. Was it helpful? Was it
not helpful? Maybe something you say in the comments could even help someone
else.