Community reinforcement approach and family training

Community reinforcement approach and family training (CRAFT) is a behavior therapy approach in psychotherapy for treating addiction developed by Robert J. Meyers in the late 1970s. Meyers worked with Nathan Azrin in the early 1970s whilst he was developing his own community reinforcement approach (CRA) which uses operant conditioning (also called contingency management) techniques to help people learn to reduce the power of their addictions and enjoy healthy living. Meyers adapted CRA to create CRAFT, which he described as CRA that "works through family members." CRAFT combines CRA with family training to equip concerned significant others (CSOs) of addicts with supportive techniques to encourage their loved ones to begin and continue treatment and provides them with defences against addiction's damaging effects on themselves. "CRA is a time-limited treatment." "In time-limited therapy, a set number of sessions (for example, 16 sessions) or time limit (for example, one year) is decided upon either at the very beginning of therapy or within the early stages of therapy." Community reinforcement and family training (CRAFT) is CRA that "works through family members." It "is designed to increase the odds of the substance user who is refusing treatment to enter treatment, as well as improve the lives of the concerned family members. CRAFT "teaches the use of healthy rewards to encourage positive behaviors. Plus, it focuses on helping both the substance user and the family." Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA) is CRA that "targets adolescents with substance use problems and their caregivers." CRAFT is a motivational model of family therapy. It is reward-based—that is, based on positive reinforcement. CRAFT is aimed at the families and friends of treatment-refusing individuals who have a substance use disorder. "CRAFT works to affect [influence] the substance users' behavior by changing the way the family interacts with them." "CRAFT grew out of the understanding that although individuals who truly need help with substance use problems often are strongly opposed to treatment.