Lecturing your child on why they should stop using substances often falls on deaf ears. Trying to yell and punish them may work in the short term but likely won’t have a lasting impact. Others may tell you that you have to let your child figure it out and that they will accept help only “when they want it,” usually after a pile of consequences have occurred.
But there’s another way.
If your teen or young adult child is experimenting with alcohol and other substances or has a full-blown substance use disorder, you may feel frustrated, overwhelmed and helpless. Community Reinforcement and Family Training, or CRAFT, is a scientifically proven approach to help parents and other caregivers change their child’s substance use by staying involved in a positive, ongoing way.
CRAFT, created by Dr. Robert Meyers, is an approach to help family members change the way they have been interacting with their child to influence choices around substance use.
CRAFT provides families like yours with tools to better understand your child’s reasons for substance use, ways to improve communication and to reward healthy behaviors while discouraging substance use. Equally important are the tools around self-care to handle negative emotions like anger, shame, fear, guilt and depression, and to address feelings of isolation.
Learn more about the various tools you can use by clicking on the articles highlighted below on listening, identifying solutions, using reinforcement and more. You may also wish to join our online support group meetings as each week a CRAFT or related parenting topic is discussed with parents and other caregivers who face similar challenges.
Last Updated
February 2025
Get Support
