What is the CRAFT Program?

Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) is a six session program for people who find themselves stressed and anxious about how to help their loved one who is misusing substances. CRAFT helps family members, friends, and other loved ones understand how to best support their loved one, and how to approach old situations in a new way.  

Dr. Robert J. Meyers and Dr. Jane Ellen Smith of the University of New Mexico developed CRAFT to teach families how to impact their loved one while avoiding both detachment and confrontation. CRAFT has proven to be significantly more effective than other strategies in engaging loved ones in treatment and decreasing their substance use.

Pictured below is the book “Get Your Loved One Sober” that is built on the principles of CRAFT. Also pictured is Alex Mikowski, a social worker at Family and Children’s Counseling Services who runs the program:

CRAFT was designed to accomplish three goals:

1. When a loved one is misusing substances and refusing to get help, CRAFT helps families move their loved one toward treatment.
2. CRAFT helps reduce the loved one’s alcohol and drug use, whether or not the loved one has engaged in treatment yet.
3. CRAFT improves the lives of the concerned family and friends.

The CRAFT model for family support abandons old stereotypical frameworks of “enabling” versus “tough love” and helps family members maintain the relationship with the family member who is using substances, or in recovery. 

Instead of calling for them to be enablers, it gives participants the tools to know how to set boundaries while still maintaining the relationship with their family member. 

The program is new to Cortland County, and is now being offered by Family and Children’s Counseling Services. Here is a testimonial from a recent CRAFT Program participant at FCCS:

“I have changed how I look at myself. I always tended to do so much for other people that I ended up getting in their way or hurting myself. I figured out there is so much more I can do for myself. There was not a thing I wanted to change about the program. I like the content and Alex was easy to talk with and I feel like I was listened to.”

Program Information:

• It can be done in person, over zoom or even over the phone
• It is done one on one
• It is free of charge

Who is CRAFT for?

• For family members, loved ones, or friends of individuals with problematic substance use

Who is CRAFT not for?

• Anyone under 18
• Parents of minors in active use
• Those struggling with problematic use themselves

For anyone interested in the CRAFT Program, you can call Family and Children’s Counseling Services at (607)753-0234 or email Alex Mikowski at amikowski@familycs.org