- LaCrosse Tribune article - Positive approach to treat addicts shows promise
- Dr. Meyers will be holding a 2 ˝ day CRAFT training on October 4th, 5th & 6th. This will be his last CRAFT training for 2010. The training will be held at Chestnut Health Services Training Center in Bloomington Illinois. Final details will be announced soon on both this website and the Chestnut Health Services website. Participants will be limited and all participants will receive signed copies of his book “Get your loved One Sober.”
- Dr. Meyers will be speaking at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City for Grand Rounds on June 30th at 10:00 am until 11:30 am.
- Dr. Meyers has been invited to give a Lecture on the Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) on March 24th at 1900 at the prestigious University of Dublin, Trinity College. Trinity College is one of the oldest and most historic Universities in the world, being founded in 1592.
- In March of 2010, Dr. Meyers will be conducting 3 trainings in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Meyers will begin his training with 2 days of training on Adolescent Community Reinforcement (A-CRA) in Cardiff Wales for the Strengthening Families Programme on March 9th, 10th and on March 11th there will be short refresher class on CRAFT.
Next Dr. Meyers will travel to Newcastle upon Tyne England to present 2 ˝ days of training on the Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) March 16th, 17th, and on the 18th for partnerships in the North East of England.
The last training of his trip will take place in Dublin, Ireland with four days of training, 2 days on the Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) and two days on the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA). This training will be held on March 22nd, 23rd, 24th & 25th for the Blanchardstown Local Drug Task Force. I am happy and sad to say that his workshop is filled; we will not be able to handle any additional participants.
- Dr. Meyers will be the Keynote speaker for the Northwest Regional Conference sponsored by The College of Southern Idaho Health & Human Services Department on April 16th 2010. Dr. Meyers will be giving a second training; both presentations will be on the Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) program.
- Dr. Meyers will be presenting a full day of training on Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) for Thedacare Behavioral Health in Way Neenah, Wisconsin on June 11th 2010. 6 Hours of continuing education credits (CEUs) will be awarded to all participants.
- Dr. Meyers has been has been invited to give the B. F. Skinner Lecture at the 2010 convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International ABAI). The 36th annual convention takes place May 28 - June 1 in San Antonio, Texas.
- The Journal of Behavior Analysis in Health, Sports, Fitness and Medicine has devoted an entire issue on CRA and CRAFT. You can download these articles from their website at http://www.baojournal.com/ and click on JBAHFM then go to current issue. There are 7 articles from authors from 3 different countries on a variety of CRA issues.
- TWO NEW ARTICLES JUST RELEASED
A new article on CRAFT has just been published, Smith, J.E., & Meyers, R.J. (2009) Working with family members of treatment-resistant substance abusers: What independent practitioners should know. It can be found in the APA journal The Independent Practitioner, Summer 2009, Volume 29, Number 3.
A new 90 page chapter on A-CRA has just been published, Godley, S.H., Smith, J.E. Meyers, R.J., & Godley, M.D. (2009). Adolescent community reinforcement approach (A-CRA). This chapter can be found in D.W. Springer, & A. Rubin (Eds.), Substance abuse treatment for youth and adults. John Wiley & Sons, Inc Hoboken New Jersey.
- NEW REVIEW: From the Family Journal, Volume, 17, No.2, April 2009
Motivating Substance Abusers to Enter Treatment: Working with Family Members (2008). Jane Ellen Smith & Robert J. Meyers, New York: Guilford Press.
At some point in their careers, all counselors encounter families who are struggling with a loved one's refusal to get help for substance abuse or dependence. Typically, responses available to clinicians have included only two options: either a confrontational intervention by family and friends or encouragement not to enable their loved one, and learning to detach with love, by attending a support group such as
Al-Anon. This book presents a different way: an empirically based, non-confrontational therapy program designed for the concerned significant other (CSO) who wants to motivate a partner or family member to get help.
I found the Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) approach, presented by authors Smith and Meyers, to be progressive in its basic premises, practical, and generally applicable to counselors working in a variety of settings. The text begins with a general description and overview of the CRAFT Intervention Program, including a fine discussion of the requirements for being a competent practitioner of this approach. The inclusion of sample of conversations with CSOs as well as a review of some family therapy spouse inventories were particularly useful.
The heart of the book is chapter4, in which the authors conduct a functional analysis of a problem behavior, with the main goal being to alter the identified patient's (IP) substance use by changing how the CSO interacts with the IP. This may sound like an oversimplification of a complex process, but the text addresses not only how the CSO can reward sober behavior but also the importance of problem solving and self-care. For those clinicians who may not be confident in their knowledge of drinking or using behavior, the text provides vivid examples and a step-by-step process for getting started, guiding the CSO, identifying short term- and long-term consequences for both the IP and the CSO, and ultimately how to help get the substance abuser into treatment.
Edward P. Cannon, Marymount University, Arlington Virginia
- Smith, J. E., & Meyers, R. J., (2009). Community reinforcement and family training. In G.L. Fisher & N.A. Roget’s (Eds.), Encyclopedia of substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
- Advances in Management of Alcohol Use Disorders and Intimate Partner Violence: Community Reinforcement and Family Training
By Hendrik G. Roozen, Eric Blaauw, and Robert J. Meyers. This article was released April 24, 2009. Go to the download page for more information or to download the complete article.
- Motivating Substance Abusers to Enter Treatment: Working with Family Members is now available in Korean.
- Dr. Meyers will be holding 3 day training in Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) at Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom on September 9th, 10th and 11th.
- Dr. Meyers will be presenting a Plenary address titled "History and Effectiveness of the Community Reinforcement Approach", on the morning of September 16th during the 2nd Annual German Congress on Addictions being held in Cologne Germany from September 16 to 19, 2009. In addition Dr. Meyers will be holding a one day training on "Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) as a pre-conference workshop on September 15th. Check their website for more information at www.suchtkongress09.de
- New CRA and CRAFT related articles are available on the Downloads page.
- Here is a new article about the use of CRA in Germany
- HBO's vaunted 14-part documentary "Addiction" has won an Emmy award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The series was honored with the Governors Award, the Academy's highest honor, which is given in recognition of programming that demonstrates commitment to important social causes. Click here to see the schedule of upcoming showings on HBO.
- Motivating Substance Abusers to Enter Treatment: Working With Family Members is now available in Finnish and will be available in Korean sometime in 2008.
- A Clinical Guide To Alcoholism: The Community Reinforcement Approach is now available in German and Dutch.
- Get Your Loved One Sober: Alternatives to Nagging, Pleading, and Threatening now available in Finnish.
- Robert J. Meyers is featured in the January 2007 issue of O: The Oprah Magazine
Pictures from the Albuquerque Premiere of the Emmy Award-winning HBO Special