Family Program CRAFT: The Seven Skills

Your family member can’t stop drinking or gambling. You’ve been told “stop enabling” or “set firm boundaries,” but nothing seems to change. You also can’t simply let it slide. The structured response to “what specifically should I do?” is CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training), a family-support program.

In “Stop Enabling” Actually Right? The Science of Family in Addiction, CRAFT was introduced briefly as a third approach. This article walks through what CRAFT is, what family members specifically learn, how effective it is, and where you can find CRAFT-trained professionals.

A family member learning specific skills

How CRAFT came about

The core idea behind CRAFT is simple: “Punishment is weak at changing behavior. Make sober time more comfortable than addictive behavior by reshaping the environment around the person.” This was reformulated for family members rather than therapists, and the first validation studies were published in the 1990s. Almost 30 years of evidence have accumulated since.

Seven skills family members learn

CRAFT is a structured program a therapist and a family member work through over several months. Self-study using a manual is also possible, with English-language books available for solo learners. The content is organized into seven skills.

1. Functional analysis

Mapping out what comes before and after the addictive behavior. “After what?” “In what mood?” “Where?” — and what happens immediately after, and what happens the next day. For example: “tired from work → home → cold beer in the fridge → momentary release → next morning’s hangover.”

Once it’s mapped, you can see where intervention is possible. Addictive behavior looks random, but it actually follows specific patterns. The family puts those patterns into language.

2. Positive reinforcement

Family members consciously respond warmly to sober time and healthy behavior. For example:

On a day they came home without drinking, briefly: “you’re early, I’m glad.”
When they help with chores, thank them specifically.
A smile, physical affection, words of gratitude — things that don’t cost money work fine.

What matters is gradually creating the felt sense in the person that “life is better on the days I don’t drink than the days I do.” This sense takes weeks or months to settle in. It doesn’t change in one or two times.

That said, for a family member who’s been thrown around by addictive behavior for years, responding warmly isn’t easy. “I can’t muster that kind of feeling at this point” or “they’ll just drink again anyway” feels more natural. But there’s nothing more impactful to the person than the family. Nothing carries more weight than warmth from someone close. “Why should I, after all this,” may be the first reaction. Even so, give it a try. It doesn’t have to be perfect — bit by bit, when you can, is fine.

3. Natural consequences

Stop cleaning up after the addictive behavior. Calling out of work for them, cleaning the room they trashed while drunk, paying off their debts — when family does these, the person doesn’t have to face the result.

What’s important here is that this is not punishment. Punishment is the family actively taking something away. Natural consequences means simply not blocking the result of the person’s own behavior from returning to them. CRAFT emphasizes this distinction.

4. Don’t engage during the addictive behavior

When the person is drunk, just back from gambling, the family quietly steps away from the situation. No argument, and no “attention” reward to the person either. The next morning, sober, conversation returns to normal.

Not abandonment — a planned change in engagement based on timing.

5. PIUS communication

The communication core of CRAFT goes by the acronym PIUS.

Positive: instead of “stop,” say “I’d be glad if you did this.”
I statement: starting with “you” easily becomes attack. Reframe as “I feel…”
Understanding: include “that was rough” or “you were tired.”
Sharing: take part of the responsibility — “there are things I haven’t gotten right either.”

Plus: keep it short (under 30 seconds) and put feelings into words. Long lectures are ineffective and only strengthen the person’s defensive response, the research has shown.

6. Treatment invitation

There will be moments — over the course of a long arc — when the person says “maybe I should think about treatment.” CRAFT prepares for not missing that moment.

Have a list of local clinics, therapists, and self-help groups ready in advance.
Know how to make the first appointment so you can move immediately if they’re open to it.
When there’s a positive moment, offer briefly: “want to go this week, together?”

Whether this preparation is in place determines whether the brief opening can be caught.

7. Self-care

The final pillar of the program is the family member rebuilding their own life. After years of being thrown around by the situation and putting their own enjoyment and relationships on hold, the family member gradually restores those.

This is explicitly built into CRAFT — not as “endure for the person,” but as “the family lives their own life.”

What the research shows

CRAFT is among the family-support programs with the most accumulated evidence in addiction.

In a 1999 study by Miller, Meyers, and Tonigan, 130 family members of treatment-resistant individuals were divided into three groups, each receiving training in a different approach. The proportion who got the person into treatment:

Approach	Got the person into treatment
Family self-help group (Al-Anon style)	13%
Confrontational intervention	30%
CRAFT	64%

Subsequent meta-analyses have concluded that CRAFT engages people in treatment at 2-3x the rate of conventional family programs. About two-thirds of cases reach a first appointment within an average of 4-6 sessions — a result that’s been almost consistent across studies.

Another important finding: even when the person doesn’t enter treatment, family members’ depression, anxiety, and anger improve. Multiple studies have consistently reported this, indicating that CRAFT isn’t merely “a technique to get the person into treatment” — it’s also a recovery program for the family.

Where to find CRAFT in the U.S.

CRAFT is available through several channels.

Therapists trained in CRAFT — look for licensed clinicians with CRAFT training in your area
Family programs at addiction treatment centers — many incorporate CRAFT principles
The CMC: Foundation for Change runs an Invitation to Change program based on CRAFT principles, with both in-person and online resources
SAMHSA’s National Helpline (1-800-662-HELP) can refer to local family resources

For self-study, English-language books include:

Get Your Loved One Sober by Robert J. Meyers and Brenda L. Wolfe (the original CRAFT book for family members)
Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change by Foote, Wilkens, Kosanke, and Higgs (an accessible CRAFT-aligned guide)
Motivating Substance Abusers to Enter Treatment by Smith and Meyers (the clinician’s manual)

Self-study is feasible, but if you can find a CRAFT-trained therapist, working with one tends to be more effective.

When CRAFT isn’t the right fit

CRAFT isn’t a universal solution. The manual makes this explicit: when violence, self-harm, or serious safety risk are present, CRAFT isn’t the next step.

Physical violence → law enforcement, the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233)
Risk of self-harm or suicide → 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, emergency mental health services
Serious impact on young children → Child Protective Services

CRAFT assumes “the family can engage calmly in a non-threatening environment.” When that condition isn’t met, securing safety for yourself and any children comes before getting the person into treatment.

Summary

CRAFT teaches family members a third position — not “endure and clean up out of love,” not “be tough and cut them off.” Engage warmly during sober time. Don’t engage with the addictive behavior. Reshape the environment instead of attacking or abandoning. And rebuild the family member’s own life along the way.

Almost 30 years on from its development, the evidence is solid. Resources for finding CRAFT-trained help are growing, and self-study with English-language books is feasible. For families burning themselves out in the binary of “should I clean up after them or cut them off,” it’s an approach worth knowing.

References

Miller WR, Meyers RJ, Tonigan JS. Engaging the unmotivated in treatment for alcohol problems: a comparison of three strategies for intervention through family members. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1999;67(5):688-697.
Roozen HG, de Waart R, van der Kroft P. Community reinforcement and family training: an effective option to engage treatment-resistant substance-abusing individuals in treatment. Addiction. 2010;105(10):1729-1738.
Smith JE, Meyers RJ. Motivating Substance Abusers to Enter Treatment: Working with Family Members. Guilford Press, 2004.
Meyers RJ, Wolfe BL. Get Your Loved One Sober: Alternatives to Nagging, Pleading, and Threatening. Hazelden, 2003.
Foote J, Wilkens C, Kosanke N, Higgs S. Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change. Scribner, 2014.