FAMILIES
CRAFTING A NEW APPROACH
Community Reinforcement and Family Training( CRAFT) can harness the power of families in a genuinely trans formational way, says George Charlton
I was once told by a social work manager( well shouted at, actually) whilst delivering CRAFT practitioner training that I was‘ the most unprofessional professional’ he’ d ever met.
I can recall smiling and saying,‘ well thank you my brother, I’ ll wear that like a badge of honour’. And I do.
The reason I think he got so upset was because I was talking about the fact that I love the clients and families I support, and I tell them I do every single day. But I do love them, and I will always go above and beyond, because the lives of families really matter.
My name is George Charlton, and I’ m the UKs only independent CRAFT trainer and supervisor to be licensed and endorsed by CRAFT founder Dr Robert J Meyers from the University of New Mexico to train and supervise families and practitioners in the solution focused and evidence-based Community Reinforcement and Family Training approach.
EMPOWERING FAMILIES What I want to share with you isn’ t only about my work but how I believe, deep down, that family members are ambassadors for change and 100 per cent have the power to save lives if we show them the way.
CRAFT isn’ t just another training programme – it’ s a revolutionary way of thinking about people who use drugs and addiction support, and it’ s a dynamite model for implementing whole-family recovery and harm reduction interventions that are empowering, person centred, and family led. In my view, families matter and their love has power. They deserve to be at the front and centre and heart of the solution, not pushed to the side and ignored – which they typically are.
According to ADFAM there are around 5m family members across the UK who are directly impacted by a loved one’ s substance use, and they are lacking the support they desperately need to help themselves and their loved ones. The Dame Carol Black report laid it bare –‘ our treatment system is at capacity, caseloads are too high, and families are paying the price’. I’ m inclined to agree with Dame Carol.
It’ s estimated that around 300,000 people in England alone are using opiates or crack cocaine, but what we often forget is that behind every one of those numbers is a family – a mother, father, partner or child who are desperate for, and to, help but all too often told they’ re powerless and there’ s nothing they can do until the user is ready to change. These messages are total nonsense, and we need to stop with this pointless and harmful rhetoric. For too long, families have been bombarded with negative messages from certain support groups and professionals –‘ You can’ t do anything until your loved one hits rock bottom’,‘ you have to show them tough love’, or‘ just cut them off and don’ t go down with a sinking ship’. Imagine that as your starting point for the
I was once told by a social work manager... that I was‘ the most unprofessional professional’ he’ d ever met.
therapeutic relationship – there’ s nothing you can do, you have no power and you’ re better off just cutting your loved one out of your life. It’ s total madness.
FLIPPING THE SCRIPT Family members come to me saying all of the above and that they don’ t know what to do for the best, and that’ s where CRAFT comes in. CRAFT is a behavioural change system which flips the script. It starts by telling families that they aren’ t powerless and that they are actually crucial collaborators and key players in the therapeutic journey towards harm reduction and recovery.
And there’ s a global evidence base to back it up too. Research consistently shows that CRAFT achieves above 70 per cent success rate in getting people who use drugs to engage in
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