On-Line Help for Parents of Substance-Abusing YA's

As a post-parent coach, www.janeadams.comI’ve counseled many  parents who’ve had to cope with a young adult’s substance abuse. I’ve followed them through the bewildering array of  options for addicts, ranging from in-patient rehab to day treatment, 12-step programs to individualized or family therapy. Depending on their typical parenting style, most  have already tried a   continuum of approaches from lecturing, nagging, and punishing to some version of tough love best described as “my way or the highway.”  When nothing else worked, they  Googled the appropriate key words – teenagers, addiction, drug and alcohol treatment, recovery centers – only to find  glowing testimonials by parents identified by their initials or  beautiful images of healthy young people tossing a volleyball on the beach. Neither the price tag or  the outcome statistics appear on most of these web sites

. Because much of what passes for expertise in the addiction community lacks strong, evidence-based proof that it works, finding your way to something   affordable that does is often largely a matter of luck.  While family therapy can be successful with teenagers who live at home, it’s difficult to engage with an autonomy-seeking young adult who doesn’t, and although family day is common at most residential treatment centers, it tends to be light on skills training for parents and heavy on confessions, amends and apologies. Yet teaching parents how, when and what  to do when an “adultolescent” has an issue with drinking or drugging is the first and often most effective way to address it.

CRAFT (Community Reinforcement Approach and Family Training)https://centerformotivationandchange.com  is a  program with exceptionally strong outcome statistics  on getting young adults into treatment;; studies on the science of change bear out the fact that that that parents and/or immediate family members  are the best influencers on addicts. The tools and techniques of   CRAFT are based on  a behavior modification approach that focuses on communication skills, reinforcement strategies, self-care and problem-solving, all of which are taught and illustrated in an engaging, professionally produced, interactive and self-paced  on-line course that makes it both affordable and more  widely available than finding a  therapist, provider or practitioner trained  in the method. Now  CadenceOnLinewww.cadenceonline.com has partnered with a leading provider of mental health care to children and adolescents and  translated CRAFT into the first if not the last step in getting young adults to  recognize and take steps toward solving their problems by teaching their families how to support them in doing so.