33: CRAFT Skills for Families Motivating Their Loved One into Treatment with Jessica Triplett
“CRAFT” is “…evidence based practice.” –Jessica Triplett
The path to recovery can be appalling if the path you chose ended up in dismay. No path is perfect. Therefore, it is necessary that families choose a path that keeps the harm to a minimum. Our guest will introduce a model that accomplishes just that. Meet Jessica Triplett, a trainer for the CRAFT model. She’s been in the addiction field for a decade, starting her career in Nebraska then to Colorado. She worked with child welfare, substance abuse case and family addiction case. But these experiences were more than just a job. They became her own path to turning this interest into an avenue for hopeful families.
“Addiction rules the roost” as Jeff says and it can push the whole family even further down. But this CRAFT model, developed by Dr. Robert J. Meyer can be a turn around where the whole family can rule over addiction. Just what CRAFT stands for, what goals it has that make it effective, what strategies can each family member use to defuse potential outbursts, how CRAFT works to get the addicted member into treatment, encourage him to stay and finish the treatment and how the remaining members can prime for the return of their loved one are discussed in today’s episode.
Join the discussion and learn how to avoid “falling into pattern interns that… are hard to get out of.”
Highlights:
03:31 Jessica: ‘There’s So Much We Can Do’
10:38 CRAFT and its Goals
20:01 Wiring Connection Strategies
24:05 How CRAFT works
38:15 In Probation
This week’s episode was sponsored by
‘Get In, Stay In and Finish Recovery Together’ in #CRAFT#effectivestrategies with @TFRSolution and our guest Jessica Triplett! Share on X
Connect With Jessica
Email: jesstriplett@gmail.com
Quotes:
16:35 “I was reminded as to what drew me to the craft training. And for me, one of the biggest things that I have seen is the relationship- how addiction can come in and disrupt the whole family structure.” – Jeff Jones
19:08 “Human connection is pretty primary to life. None of us live in a vacuum. And none of us could survive for very long in a vacuum.” -Jeff Jones
20:01 “…connection is how people recover. Connection is how people can have hope and strength that they can work on these difficult times with addiction.” – Jessica Triplett
20:15 “This connection piece is what makes CRAFT different from a lot of the other programs that are there. And it said, evidence based practice.” -Jessica Triplett
21:54 “Being connected isn’t necessarily about just agreeing with everything that the addicted mind kind of throws out there. But it’s a being really clear
about what they are like; who they’re connecting to.” – Jeff Jones
20:50 “…addiction rules the roost.”- Jeff Jones
30:00 “There’s a lot of wonderful family programs out there. But the practice part of it is so, so important.” –Jeff Jones
30:56 “What’s amazing about CRAFT is we’re working with family members and practicing everything… So that way, when family members do go back to their homes, they have the skills … to kind of flip the script.” –Jessica Triplett
41:23 “When recovery is family recovery, there’s less of a chance of relapse.”– Jeff Jones
Got ideas? Perhaps a future podcast? Schedule time with Jeff here: https://meetme.so/jeffjones
Transcriptions
MILESTONE RANCH AD:
I’m honored to have Milestones Ranch Malibu sponsor this episode of this podcast. Milestones Ranch is a small 12 bed premier dual diagnosis residential facility that believes that addiction problems in a family do not happen in a vacuum. Everyone has taken on impact and everyone deserves healing from the ramifications of addiction. I’ve experienced milestones myself. I’ve been there, feet on the ground firsthand. Over time of working with this team, I’ve seen the benefit of a group of dedicated professionals supporting families long term positive outcomes, what they call the milestones method. I have the utmost respect for their team and their collaborative model of health. So, check out their website at www.milestonesranch.com.
JEFF: So welcome, this is Jeff Jones with Families Navigating Addiction and Recovery Podcast. And today my guest is Jessica Triplett. Jessica Triplett is a trainer for the CRAFT model of, it’s a training that I participated in and Jessica was the trainer. And that’s how I know her. And so CRAFT is, it’s an acronym for Community Reinforcement and Family Training. And so CRAFT was developed by Dr. Robert Meyers, I believe. There’s quite a bit of extensive background here that Jessica can get into some of that, but the essence of it here, what I see is really so important is this is a training that helps. Well, the training I was at was for, you know, therapists and professionals to learn essentially how best to help family members kind of stay engaged with their loved one without kind of falling into patterns that take us around and around and are hard to get out of. So, Jessica is a trainer with CRAFT and she’s a whole lot more than that, but welcome Jessica.
JESSICA: Thank you.
JEFF: Yeah. So if you could just introduce yourself however you would like to introduce yourself so the people who are listening have an idea of Jessica.
JESSICA: Sure. So thank you so much for this invitation Jeff. I’m currently working as a trainer in the CRAFT model and I have been working in the addictions field for about 10 years now. My experience started in Nebraska, working with child welfare clients. In working with child welfare, I really could identify and really became interested in working with families that had addictions. And I want to say 10, no excuse me 9 years ago I moved to Colorado and became a substance abuse case manager for Denver juvenile probation. And it was really at this in my position at the Denver juvenile probation where I really had the opportunity to work with families strictly on addiction and case management. But with my experience in CRAFT, it became apparent to me that there’s so much more work that we can do with families and there’s so much that we can do to help support and encourage someone to either stay in treatment or to get treatment. And so really, within the past five years I became familiar with CRAFT and it became a passion of mine. And it’s also something that I personally wish that I would have had available to me in my own family in supporting my family members that were suffering from addiction or suffering with addiction.
JEFF: Sure. Yeah – yeah. So then as you started your professional career, you were in different roles that you saw families in this addiction piece, which it sounds like you have experience with your own family. You got to see it operating when you were in the role of a professional and, you know, it sounds like that’s what got you curious and kept drawing you to learn more and more.
JESSICA: Absolutely. And I began seeing how really giving family members tools and empowering family members that they really do have the power and encouragement to help their loved one that’s struggling and people are just family members and family systems. People are just so exhausted. And by teaching different tools such as communication skills and problem solving, we can really help establish that relationship or recreate that relationship that helps someone, encourage someone to go into treatment or to stay in treatment, if that makes sense.
JEFF: Yeah. So, I want to go back to something that you said earlier and that is, you didn’t use these words exactly, but you alluded to a gap, the gap between like how addiction is seen and how people are encouraging family members to approach their loved one in the CRAFT model.
JESSICA: Absolutely. So Dr. Robert J. Meyers, he is the developer of the CRAFT model. In his experience, kind of where this comes from is his father had issues with alcohol. And he died I think when he was in his 40’s and not long after his mother died due to a lot of stress because of this alcoholism. And so what Dr. Meyer found was that there’s really this huge gap between, kind of the Al-Anon where, you know, services for family members just really don’t exist. Al-Anon can be the approach of, we go to groups and we can talk about our family member, we can love them from a distance, but really supporting each other and kind of letting that person hit their rock bottom before they get help. And then there’s also another approach that a lot of people are familiar with is that the Johnson Institute Intervention Approach where if we can get the family together and can really kind of give, deliver ultimatums, set strict boundaries and offer treatment to this person. Kind of bullying them or cornering them to get them to go to treatment, then maybe they will go and there really wasn’t anything that existed. There was no bridge between the Al-Anon model and really that Intervention model, and this is where CRAFT falls. This is where can teach family skills and really help reestablish that relationship and set boundaries to help this person get into treatment or to stay engaged in treatment.
JEFF: Yeah. Wow. So one of the things that really drew me to CRAFT when I met you is the relationship.
JESSICA: Absolutely!
JEFF: I kind of noticed, well for years I’ve noticed the same thing with the Johnson model, the original intervention model and how, you know, family members are encouraged to to write strong letters and put out an ultimatum like, you know, unless you go to treatment, you are never welcome in my house again kind of thing.
JESSICA: Right.
JEFF: And there are other intervention models that I’ve learned, but it’s like, that’s part of our history. And it’s like when, I mean, part of the history seems to be that when we thought a person’s addiction was personal and it was a moral failing and the only way to really support them changing was confrontation. And as you said before, like using an ultimatum to inspire change. So then this CRAFT model is about, you know, kind of this gap between that, you know, the ultimatum of the Johnson model and there’s been quite a bit of trauma that’s come out of that kind of approach. Trauma for the individual in the family. The gap between that and then that the Al-Anon thing, which is all around the world. I mean, I’m not an AA person myself, but I have a ton of respect for the community that is created and it’s all around the world. However, part of the thinking there is, you know, just to create distance and let them do whatever they are going to do until they hit their rock bottom as you were saying. And so, can you talk a little bit more about how CRAFT fills that gap? Like what does that look like?
JESSICA: Sure. So just to kind of give an overview, there are four main goals to CRAFT. And I think another thing that I forgot to mention that’s very important is that family members are so stressed and they’re so exhausted and they are experiencing a lot of difficulties during these times. And a lot of families that have a person or people within their family that have addictions can be, you know, they have some financial difficulties, they have family conflict, maybe they have lost their job, or they have to stay at home for emergencies. And really another huge piece of CRAFT is that there’s a self care piece of we’re helping them establish this relationship with their family member, but also separating themselves from that person and really taking care of themselves. What are some things that they can do to take care of themselves? Because at the end of the day, this person that they love is going to choose to either go to treatment, or to leave treatment, or not go to treatment. And what can they do to take care of themselves independently of what happens to this person.
JEFF: Right.
JESSICA: [inaudible] huge piece of CRAFT that’s so important is it really supports family members regardless of what this person decides to do.
JEFF: Yeah, so I want to jump in there for a minute. I know you have a lot more to say, but I just want to emphasize the fact that family members are doing their very best. They have a lot of stress.
JESSICA: Absolutely.
JEFF: They are exhausted. They’d been oftentimes dealing with this for years and years and years and nothing has worked and then for them to reach out. They can oftentimes feel very deflated and like a big lack of confidence that anything can be helpful here at all. I really, really appreciate you going to self care because the self care piece, when someone takes care of themselves, their nervous system starts to come back to baseline. Their body starts to be relaxed. They have more blood flow to their cortex where they can make the best decisions. So, thank you very much for naming that right off the get go and yeah, I do see that as important. But you mentioned the four goals of CRAFT and what are those?
JESSICA: So, I want to start off by saying that CRAFT is a harm reduction model. We would like people to stop using substances right away, but really what we see in a lot of the studies that have been done with CRAFT is there is a gradual decrease of use for the identified patient or the substance user goes into treatment. So, the first major goal of CRAFT is to help the person that is struggling with addiction to reduce their use. So this can give families a hope when they start the program is that we might start off at a certain baseline of however many drinks a day or however many instances or episodes of drug use. And as we work through the program, one of the main goals is to see a reduction in their use. That’s the first main goal of CRAFT.
JEFF: Yeah.
JESSICA: The second huge goal of CRAFT is to help re establish the relationship. So, really working on positive communication skills and really reconnecting with this loved one that’s struggling. So this is working on communication skills. This is really positively reinforcing the times when the person is not using. And so this could be having a nice meal together, you know, going for a walk. Really engaging this person when they’re not using, so establishing relationship. There are major goal of CRAFT is that self care piece of really helping the family members take care of themselves independently of what happens to this person that has the addiction. And then the final goal of CRAFT is to help these family members engage their loved one into treatment. So, having the conversation of, you know, I love you, I care about you and I care about our relationship. What do you think about going to treatment? And with the word treatment, treatment could really be anything. It could be a therapist. It doesn’t have to be a residential, you know, traditional residential treatment program, 28 day treatment program. It could be an intensive outpatient program. It can be a therapist.
JEFF: Right.
JESSICA: And even if some of these places have a waiting list, it could be finding a sponsor that they can meet with, a peer navigator. So really, treatment can just be engaged, keeping someone engaged until they find the best level of care for them. And with that being said too, I want to add that there’s some alternative goals of CRAFT. And so let’s say someone already has a therapist that they’re working with or someone is an IOP or someone is in residential and alternative goal to CRAFT would be, how can we help these family members support this person to stay engaged in treatment? Maybe they are already getting medicated assisted treatment. So really, how do we keep them as a key person in supporting this person?
JEFF: Right. Yeah. Stay engaged.
JESSICA: Yes.
JEFF: Process with the person. Yeah.
JESSICA: Absolutely.
JEFF: Yeah – yeah. Wow. Well, you know, just when you were listing off those four goals, I was reminded as to what drew me to the CRAFT training. And, you know, for me one of the biggest things that I have seen is the relationship. How addiction can come in and disrupt the whole family structure and it disrupts how family members connect with one another. And, you know, it disrupts every family member’s relationship with the person who has the addiction. And oftentimes it disrupts relationships between family members who don’t have the addiction, who are trying to support, or oftentimes what I’ve seen is that all the attention goes to that one person for obvious reasons.
JESSICA: Right.
JEFF: If it’s a child and there’s other children, the other children don’t get so much attention because it’s just a function of time and reality. And so those relationships and kind of acknowledging the larger picture and that those relationships are primary of the goal.
JESSICA: Right. And another thing I’d like to mention too is that by working with these family members on different communication skills, you know, a lot of these family members are very isolated, maybe they feel embarrassed, maybe they feel guilty, maybe they feel shame. And by teaching them and helping them with some of these skills that they already have really opens up opportunities to connect with people in their community, to connect with friends again, to connect family members that maybe they haven’t in a long time. People that other children that they have really learning some of these skills can help with all the relationships that they have in their life.
JEFF: Yeah. Because so oftentimes so many other relationships and friendships, they let go of. They let go of out of embarrassment maybe or they let go of just of function of time or you know –
JESSICA: For survival. Yap, survival mode.
JEFF: Yeah, in survival mode. And it’s like, this is pretty basic, but human connection is pretty primary to life. Like none of us live in a vacuum and none of us could survive for very long in a vacuum.
JESSICA: Absolutely.
JEFF: And so, I mean I really like the goal and the framing of protecting the relationships and helping family members kind of look at the texture and the detail of what’s happening in the relationship and what that can influence in and what they can’t.
JESSICA: Absolutely. And I like how you bring up the connection piece. I really feel strongly that connection is how people recover. Connection is how people can have hope and strength that they can work on these difficult times with addiction. I really think that this connection piece is what makes CRAFT different from a lot of the other programs that are out there. And it’s an evidence based practice. And so in comparison, CRAFT in comparison to Al-Anon and models like intervention is more successful in helping people get into treatment. And I really think that one of the reasons why is that connection piece.
JEFF: Yeah – yeah. And I mean as you were talking about the goals, the other thing, the connection, but the kind of family members being able to take care of themselves, to self care, or resourcing their internal resources to where they can stay engaged. Exactly like what you said, where they can stay engaged over time. And it isn’t just like continual stressor and, you know, the baseline of their nervous system is like so activated, you know, that if a book drops it’s like they’re going to feel like totally shocked and that happens naturally when the baseline is activated. So, you know, I really like these goals, you know, emphasizing the relationship, the self care, so the family members really have the wherewithal, have the internal strength to the other goals stay connected over time. And it’s like the connection, and I’m remembering back into like what I learned in your training. It’s like being connected isn’t necessarily about like just agreeing with everything that the addicted mind kind of throws out there, but it’s being really clear about what they are, like who they’re connecting to. And in my world, one of the things I try to do right away is to help people separate the personhood of their loved one from the addiction.
JESSICA: From the addiction. Yep.
JEFF: Yeah. And do that in their thinking and do that in their language.
JESSICA: Right.
JEFF: You know that I think can really help people to stay connected, because it’s like then everything that their loved one with the addiction is saying they’re not going to take personal. And because they know addiction rules the roost, you know, and is doing a lot of the talking. Then when they’re speaking to their person, they can use their language to separate the addiction from their loved one. And Jessica, there were some beautiful examples that you threw out there in that training. And I remember just like a little bit of one and it was about, you know, like husband and a wife having plans to have a nice dinner together. And the husband is like, the husband is the drinker and the wife makes the upfront agreement about: “Hey, I’d love to cook this nice dinner and have a dinner with you, like without the alcohol.” That’s not the right language. But then he comes home and he’s been drinking. And it’s like then what the wife does and the way she languages this. Do you remember the example?
JESSICA: Yes, I do. Absolutely. Yes. There’s a couple of examples, but yes, how we’re teaching, working with families on how to have those conversations. And so I’ll explain a little about the way CRAFT works and then how we can support a person, people in this situation. So what Jeff is speaking to is a couple of things. And the main thing is positive reinforcement. So how CRAFT really works is using the principles of positive reinforcement. So we’re teaching these families to positively reinforce the times when the person is not using versus the times when a person is using, which would be enabling. So this is we’re teaching families positive reinforcement and so in the example that you just brought up is that this couple, they really like spending time together. And something rewarding for the husband is to sit down and have a nice meal with his wife. And his wife wants to have the meal with him when he hasn’t been drinking because she really enjoys time with him when he hasn’t been drinking.
And so in this scenario, the woman had a conversation with her husband and said: “I would love to cook dinner for us tonight. I really enjoy spending time with you when you’re not under the influence. Your sense of humor really comes out when you haven’t been drinking. And so when you come home this evening, I like to have a nice meal together.” And so he comes home and unfortunately is under the influence. And this is really a situation where the wife can have a conversation with the husband. And they can both communicate together saying: “You know, it looks like today was a rough day. It looks like you’ve been struggling. How can we talk about this? And I was really looking forward to this meal. What can I do and how can I help you when you’ve been struggling?” So is that the?
JEFF: Yeah.
JESSICA: Okay.
JEFF: Yeah.
JESSICA: So, it’s really powerful because, you know, she was looking forward to having this meal with her husband and him not be under the influence, but he is struggling and he shows up and he’s been drinking. And this creates an environment where they can have these difficult conversations and they’ve been working on these communication skills and also him understanding that because he participated in this behavior. The natural consequence for him is that maybe not going to have the meal that they were hoping for, but also at the same time having a conversation where he feels supported and love, even though he’s come home under the influence.
JEFF: Right. There was like specific language that I’m remembering you were like in the example of, you know, being in a group or working with the wife. There was specific language about, you know, something like: “Oh! I was so looking forward to having dinner with you but I see that you’ve been drinking. And so we’ll just do that at another time.” And so she doesn’t, you know, put dinner on the table. She doesn’t kind of offer him her company. She just kind of removes herself and maybe goes and reads a book or something.
JESSICA: Absolutely, yes. And so I’m thinking of another example too where there’s a couple and the husband was looking forward to coming home and having a meal with his children and the whole family. And I think this could be the example to that you’re talking about, where he comes home and he’s under the influence and the wife says: “It looks like today is not a good day to have this meal together. It looks like you’ve been struggling. I know how much you like having dinner with the kids and the family, we’ll plan this for a different night.” And so it kind of ends there where once he has kind of sobered up and is able to talk about this kind of situation, they wait to talk about it later on. So exactly.
JEFF: Yeah. Yeah – yeah. And like, so I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to people about that same kind, I mean the content can be a little bit different, but the same kind of situation.
JESSICA: Absolutely.
JEFF: And then when they walk in, it’s like without really knowing a whole lot, it’s like they jump into, you know, like a blaming thing.
JESSICA: Yes.
JEFF: And then there’s a lot of defensiveness and volumes of voices go up, and heart rates go up, and it goes back and forth. And things can be said that are hurtful and then, you know, spirals downward kind of thing.
JESSICA: Right.
JEFF: But the reframing, the kind of gently saying: “Oh, well this doesn’t look like a good time and, you know, we can plan this for another time.” And then totally like not having the meal together, you know, like removing oneself and not doing it as a big deal punishment kind of thing, like you SOB, I mean like any of that. So like that practicing self care and keeping their nervous system regulated I think really allows them to do that. And then really have the language, have the words practice it and the more they practice something like this, the better they get at it. And that’s what I really, I mean the thing about like family programs and stuff like that, there’s a lot of wonderful family programs out there, but the practice part of it is so, so important. And when like we’re in a calm environment like a family program or something and we have all the blood flowing to our cortex where we can thank the best, see the biggest picture this our surrounding areas understand, if we do this potential consequences could go that way. If we do this other thing, et cetera, et cetera. And like then when we are in the heat of the fire kind of thing, it’s a whole different deal if we can’t regulate our nervous system. And it isn’t like someone is at fault here, in some way it seems like there’s this biological piece.
JESSICA: Right. Absolutely. And I think that’s what’s amazing about CRAFT is we’re working with family members and practicing everything. So every kind of conversation we have, we’re practicing, we’re role playing. So that way when family members do go back to their homes, they have the skills, they have the practice to use this with their family and who are really teaching people is how to kind of flip the script.
JEFF: Yeah.
JESSICA: For instance, people that are more prone to lecturing someone, we’re really teaching them how to be brief. So how can we get this message across so this person is going to be more likely to hear it. And also this is going to throw the family member or the person with the addiction off guard. If I come home and my wife is always lecturing me and always telling me the things that I’ve done wrong. When I come home, she says: “I’m so glad that you’re here.” And that’s all that she says, this is going to react a lot differently. They’re going to wonder what’s up with their wife. They’re also probably going to like this new interaction. And so that’s what we’re really teaching people is how to interact in a different way.
JEFF: Sure.
JESSICA: It’s going to be thrown, you know, wondering what’s wrong, but also, you know: “Hey, I really like it when my wife responds this way.” And so they’ll be more likely to do whatever they did again to get that response from her or that reward.
JEFF: Yeah. Yeah – yeah. Well, you know, kind of circling back, one of the other things that you were saying when you were talking about the goals and staying engaged, one of the things I was thinking about that I really like about the CRAFT process is that it’s harm reduction. That it’s slow, that it’s gradual and it’s like incrementally kind of increasing, you know, maybe one’s feeling of loss of the connection.
JESSICA: Yes.
JEFF: But it’s like there’s this slow, gradual process as opposed to what you brought up initially with the Johnson model and the surprise and the ultimatums and et cetera, et cetera.
JESSICA: Right.
JEFF: That, and I mean in my world that staying engaged in slow, gradual process is so important. And so, I want to, you know, underline what you were saying. So the CRAFT model is a model that family members can learn and practice and eventually help support their loved one to reach out for help. And help could be, okay, I’ll go to an AA meeting, or okay, I’ll go to a therapist, or okay, I’ll go to this outpatient program, or okay, I mean, like I’ll acknowledge this is a problem and I’ll start to do something.
JESSICA: Yes.
JEFF: And I think that is so important because, you know, there’s just in the insurance world, when someone wants help, a lot of times it takes a while to figure out how to navigate the system for that person to actually get the help that they want.
JESSICA: Yes.
JEFF: You know, hence that kind of surprise thing if all the pieces aren’t seamlessly put together in the surprise, there’s time that, you know, people can change their mind and addiction will always change their mind.
JESSICA: Absolutely. And you brought up a really good point that I wanted to bring back. One of the questions I get a lot from family members is what do I do if my loved one is using all the time? What do I do if my family member is using pills or what if my family member is an alcoholic and literally drinking every minute of every day. And so what I offer them is there a time when you know that their present? Is there a time where if they’re at work and you know that they have to be functioning to a certain degree in order to be at work. Maybe that’s a good time to call them and check in on them and say: “Hey, I just wanted to say I hope you have a good day today.”
JEFF: Yeah.
JESSICA: If you know that your loved one is most present after they’ve had their third drink and that’s where you know that they’re listening to you, it’s not first thing in the morning. This is where they can really function is if their drink number three, this is where we can start with the rewards and the communication. I mean, we always want to be communicating, but this is really where we can start CRAFT in the harm reduction is finding those times when it’s going to be easiest for everyone to talk and have a discussion. Because there are some situations where someone, maybe they are using all day and so really helping family members identify those times and using those windows of opportunity to have these kind of discussion.
JEFF: Right, right. Yeah – yeah. I mean, I appreciate what you’re saying. And for me, you know, one of the takeaways or potential takeaways for families here is to really be aware of timing. When is their loved one most functional and when are they the least functional. And then like if they have something specific that they want their loved one to know, like, Hey, I hope you have a good day or I’m here for you kind of thing. To reinforce that positive connection to be able to really use their understanding of like when their loved one is most functional to the very utmost of, you know, staying connected, building that connection. And it’s like in my mind that connection can at some point be more important than addiction.
JESSICA: Absolutely.
JEFF: You know, so I love the CRAFT model. So we talked a little bit about that reaching out for help stage and there’s a lot of different, you know, things they could do from a self help group to a therapist to detox to an outpatient program to an inpatient, you know, et cetera, et cetera. There’s a whole continuum there. And I’m kind of wondering like, while their loved one is in treatment, is there anything from the CRAFT model that, you know, family members can really practice while their loved one is making a lot of change?
JESSICA: Absolutely. My last position in probation, I would see this time and time again where we had worked with juveniles and we would try really, really hard to get them to go to inpatient treatment or residential. And once we finally get them there, the family, they were relieved. They were so happy that they knew where their child was. They knew that their child couldn’t escape or very really hard for them to leave.
JEFF: Right.
JESSICA: They knew that they had food, they had a pillow to lay their head on at night. And this was really a respite situation for them where they got to kind of have a little bit of a break from this [inaudible] people and really just kind of have just basically just a break. And what we found is that when families would take this break and not do any work, while this person was in treatment, this child would come home and nothing in the family would change. And then, you know, weeks, months later, this person is back to where they were before they went to treatment. And this is where we really see that if we’re not working with the family, we’re doing a huge disservice to everyone involved. And so what we would do when I was at probation is when someone would be in treatment, we would start the CRAFT program while they were in treatment. So really teaching them those communication skills, working on positive reinforcement, really preparing them for when the person comes home so that way they’ve been working on these skills and they can have these kinds of skills and conversations and really setting these guidelines for when they come home from treatment of what they can expect and how they can support this person.
JEFF: Yeah.
JESSICA: And there was so much more success of having a child come home when this family has been working on these skills versus the family not working on anything thinking that magically this person’s going to be fixed and then they come home and everything, those [inaudible] was before.
JEFF: Right. And, you know, one of the things that I’ve seen is it’s pretty common for families to, you know, assume that Johnny is the only thing that is wrong here. And if Johnny were to just get fixed kind of thing –
JESSICA: Right.
JEFF: – everything would be fine. And you know what they haven’t really seen and they don’t really know is all the, like in the slow gradual process of addiction and the slow gradual impact to the family that they have been using coping defensive communication styles that actually, you know, limits the potential for the relationship and for both people really. And I think there’s actually statistics out there that say something like, you know, when recovery is family recovery, there’s less of a chance of relapse.
JESSICA: Right. Absolutely. More success when entire families involved.
JEFF: Right. Right. And so that, yeah, there’s a lot of things that draw me to the CRAFT model here. And so, you know, when they come back from treatment kind of thing, it’s like being involved with a CRAFT group and having that kind of support is also, I mean it’s like this is where the practice gets real as opposed to just a nice handout or worksheet or something like that.
JESSICA: Yes, absolutely.
JEFF: Yeah.
JESSICA: The CRAFT groups, I had a conversation with a couple of women that were in a group in Denver. And they both said the same thing where by going through this process in a group with other people, they knew that they weren’t alone, but they felt so supported. Being able to share with other people that are in their similar situation and that was probably the most beneficial thing. The best thing they got out of the group experience was just knowing that they’re not alone.
JEFF: Yeah.
JESSICA: They have someone to [inaudible]
JEFF: That is so important. The human transformation or the human connection kind of piece. And I know myself, I used to do a group in a treatment center and in this treatment center, the only family component that they had was an hour and a half group twice a month.
JESSICA: Right.
JEFF: It’s like I would have, you know, some bits of information and put them out there and talk a little bit and then started discussion. And at the end of the group I’d go around and ask like: “What is one or two takeaways that are the most important for you from this group?” And you know, I was all thinking, Oh wow, I just gave him this great piece of information and all that, but more than half the of the people, the majority of the time would say: “Oh! When this other person across the room, when they started talking, oh my gosh! I realized that I wasn’t alone.” Exactly like what you’re saying.
JESSICA: Yap. I remember you bringing that up at the last conference that [inaudible] I saw you at.
JEFF: Yeah. Yeah. So this family piece is like, I frame it as, you know, let’s just look at addiction in the family as a structural problem with structural solutions. And I have all kinds of, some visuals and stuff like that too, you know, to help people see a larger picture. But in essence, you know, my goal is very much aligned with the four goals that you initially talked about here from CRAFT. So, I really appreciate this conversation and I’m just like, is there anything that you wanted to share, Jessica, that I didn’t ask about or we haven’t talked about yet?
JESSICA: You know, another thing that just came to mind is when we are talking about rewards. A lot of times rewards, people associate rewards with money or materialistic things. And so when we did this program, when I was with probation, it wasn’t this group but it was a different group. We asked a bunch of juveniles what’s their the main reason that they would come to these groups. And it kind of helped us understand, you know, our engagement rates, how we can get more people to come groups, that sort of thing. And it was so surprising. It was kind of like your example with the worksheets and the handouts thinking that would be the most helpful. The most helpful vehicle to get them, you know, to attend. We bought for sure that the juveniles would say the main reason why they came to group was because they got pizza or because they got chips or they, you know, got stuff out of the snack vend or whatever.
JEFF: Right.
JESSICA: The main reason that they kept coming to group was connecting with facilitators and most especially with their peers that are in the same situation.
JEFF: Yeah.
JESSICA: And getting that positive encouragement from other people, that was the main reason why they came to group. And I think that is so telling of how important connection is and so I’m so glad you brought that piece up. We think we have things figured out and really that connection piece and helping people understand that they’re not alone is so important. So I just wanted to make sure that I brought that up.
JEFF: Yeah, yeah. Well thank you very much Jessica. I really appreciate this conversation. And so before we close here, I’m wondering for people who are just hearing about CRAFT for the first time, it’s like how could people learn more about CRAFT or where could they go to get into a group or find out about it or explore? You know, I just want to take a little tangent here and that is like the online thing that I’m doing. I have tried to incorporate pieces of CRAFT into it and I’m not as proficient at the specific model as you are. I mean, so that’s one thing but I wouldn’t really say what I’m doing is specifically CRAFT, but for people who want to learn more about this or to be in a group or to learn more about you, how would they do that?
JESSICA: Sure. So I am available, you can email me. I want to say in Colorado right now we have maybe 15 groups that are up and running in certain communities. We are working on a resource list right now of the locations of where these groups are taking place. And so I can share resource list with you?
JEFF: Sure.
JESSICA: There’s also, in addition to groups that are being [inaudible] in Colorado, there’s also individuals that can meet with people and do CRAFT individually.
JEFF: Right.
JESSICA: And if that’s not an option in certain areas, there’s some books that can be helpful for people that want to maybe read a book to help them go through this process. Get Your Loved One Sober is the title of the book. If someone wants to kind of do like a self directed type CRAFT, if they don’t have CRAFT available in their area.
JEFF: Right.
JESSICA: So the title of the book is Get Your Loved One Sober and the book is by Dr Robert J. Meyers. And this is something that I can also help people find. Let’s see, I know I’ve trained almost 190 people in Colorado, so if someone would like to do the CRAFT program, they can email me and I can connect them to someone that’s in their community that can do CRAFT.
JEFF: Okay, great. So what is your email address?
JESSICA: So my email address is J-E-S-S-T-R-I-P-L-E-T-T@gmail.com.
JEFF: Okay, great. And your email address will be in the show notes as well.
JESSICA: Awesome.
JEFF: Yeah, so this has been really nice. Thank you very much.
JESSICA: Thank you so much, Jeff.