Copyright 2007 Robert J. Meyers, Ph.D.
Anyone who has attended scientific meetings will know that it's relatively rare to find someone who is a solid researcher, a seasoned clinician, and an excellent public speaker and trainer. Dr. Bob Meyers has precisely this unusual combination of talents. It has been my pleasure to collaborate with Bob for over twenty years in innovative clinical research. He taught me the community reinforcement approach, and extended it to develop the highly effective CRAFT method for working with family members. Bob has also worked on the front lines as a clinician and program manager, and brings a wealth of clinical and life experience to his trainings. He is a highly effective speaker with scientific audiences, and a superb trainer for students and experienced clinicians alike.
William R. Miller, Ph.D.Distinguished Professor of Psychology and PsychiatryUniversity of New Mexico
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The 3-day CRA/FT workshop delivered by Dr. Robert J. Meyers was vastly superior to any other training I have attended in the past. The combination of being an expert in the field of addiction, an eloquent style, and communicational skills makes him a fantastic engaging trainer. He puts CRA/FT in such a broad behavioral perspective that he is capable to deliver an answer on every addiction-related question from the audience, including those questions beyond the course content. He is unique in a way that blends serious content of research with numerous vivid clinical examples, along with humor and wit. The clinicians who attended the workshop were not only focused and well trained all these days, but also tremendously entertained! I highly recommend this CRA/FT educational, practical and entertaining class to anyone who wants to be inspired about employing 'evidence based' treatments that bring the fun back in his/her daily routine.
H.G. Roozen, PhD.
Bouman Mental Health Care (GGZ), Thorbeckelaan 63, 3201 WJ Spijkenisse, The Netherlands.
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Bob Meyers is the world's leading expert on the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) for treating substance abuse and on Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) for helping families get their loved one into treatment. He is also one of the most effective presenters I have encountered in over 20 years working in the substance abuse field. This is a rare combination -- world class expert and world class trainer and workshop leader. He knows his stuff. His trainings on CRA and CRAFT are extremely engaging, informative, and humorous. I know him first hand from the CRAFT and CRA training he did for us at Harvard. He was extremely well-received here and people still talk about his workshop.
Timothy J. O'Farrell, Ph.D., ABPPProfessor of PsychologyChief, Families and Addiction ProgramHarvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry
--------------------
Allies In Recovery is a new not-for-profit dedicated to the families of those who are actively suffering from addiction. Dr. Bob Meyers has been instrumental in helping us develop our expertise for working with this population. We have attended CRAFT trainings in New Mexico, have had him out to Massachusetts to facilitate a CRAFT workshop for 45 clinicians, and have relied on him for clinical supervision by phone. Bob is an excellent trainer. His easy manner, his use of humor, and his ability to connect and to motivate make participation highly enjoyable. He draws his examples from decades of applied clinical work, lending credibility and clarity to his presentation, while grounding his comments in solid research and knowledge of effective substance abuse treatment.Bob's empathy and passion for improving the lives of families affected by substance abuse make his trainings heart-felt and a must for anyone working with families. It is without reservation and with many thanks that we recommend a Bob Meyers training.
Dominique Simon, PhD, MPHDirectorAllies In RecoverySunderland, MA
--------------------
Bob's experience in training clinicians in the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) was invaluable in taking what we thought was a good team and creating a great team. His positive "cheerleading approach" and "leave no one behind" philosophy was instrumental in coaching an experienced and clinically diverse team into a best practise team that still enjoyed the diverse talents of it's team members. Over a full year of coaching by Bob and the other members of the Life Link training team went into truly ensuring our team was successfully and consistently employing CRA with their clients. This team became the first team in Canada to be certified in CRA and they are one awesome team, no one was left behind. What this has done for team building has been just as remarkable as to what it has done for client service and comments from both clients and staff attest to this both informally and through client outcome surveys. It has also allowed us working within a health care system to put the treatment protocols we use on par with the best practise protocols used within acute care. Bob truly is a gifted trainer and supervisor and he has done an incredible job with our team. I know they consider him as much a part of the team as anyone else on it and that speaks volumes to his personality and style, what you see is what you get. We value passion and genuineness in what we do and so does Bob, that's why he fit with us. He is one of gems in our field! I highly recommend him.
Greg Purvis, C. Psych.Director, Addiction ServicesNorthern Nova Scotia, Canada
--------------------
CRAFT has the potential to expand the impact of drug abuse treatment, open new areas of intervention skills for drug abuse practitioners and most importantly improve the lives of drug abusers and the people that care for them. After attending Dr. Meyers' presentation of the empirical support for CRAFT at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in 2001, I was inspired to commit a substantial portion of my professional effort to furthering the development and adoption of this innovative treatment. It is a great motivator for clinicians to receive training from Dr. Meyers' as the innovator of CRAFT, and after years of original research no one knows the ins and outs of this approach better. Dr. Meyers' dynamic and down to earth style is very effective with drug abuse clinicians. His enthusiasm for and commitment to this intervention greatly enhances the effectiveness of his trainings. With his many years of work as a clinician, clinical supervisor and investigator, he knows just what is needed for the successful adoption of this evidenced based practice into community treatment settings.
Gregory S. Brigham, Ph.DChief Research OfficerMaryhavenColumbus, Ohio
--------------------
Bob and Jane Ellen provided 2 ½ days of expert training that not only stimulated huge excitement among the staff about the use of CRAFT, but also left them in a position to immediately begin providing this service. The treatment itself is rewarding to deliver, and the enthusiasm and excitement with which Bob and Jane Ellen taught us only fueled the desire to work in this modality. Training was comprehensive, working in detail with all aspects of the CRAFT model, as well as providing materials needed to conduct the work. Bob and Jane Ellen were relaxed, funny, and eminently approachable, as well as being extremely engaging. The staff was very involved and left the experience enthused and energized. We would recommend this training team and experience to any facility that wants to start offering cutting edge treatments.
Jeffrey Foote, Ph.DExecutive Director, Center for Motivation and Change276 Fifth Avenue at 30th StreetNew York, New York
--------------------
We were very fortunate to have Dr. Meyers provide CRAFT training to our staff.He is the preeminent expert on the CRAFT approach, having developed it and conducted much of the research evaluating it. In addition to being a knowledgeable trainer, he is an excellent clinician and presents the material in a style that is very accessible to therapists. I especially appreciated the time he took to have our staff practice the skills he was teaching and to provide them with immediate feedback to improve their performance. He had our staff's undivided attention for two full days of training, and they raved about the experience! More importantly, they were able to begin implementing the CRAFT intervention with confidence and a firm understanding of the approach and its methods.I highly recommend him as a CRAFT trainer. He is simply the best available.
Kimberly C. Kirby, Ph.DPrincipal InvestigatorTreatment Research InstitutePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
--------------------
Dr. Bob Meyers is an extremely dynamic and engaging trainer and consultant.His energy and enthusiasm in presentations is contagious to participants.Bob provides consultation and support to organizations to assure the ongoing supervision structures and quality assurance fidelity monitoring is in place to assure the approaches he teaches are utilized in the organization.I believe his Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) integrates several of the most effective evidence based practices for alcoholism and addiction treatment including motivational enhancement, skill training and problem solving, and contingency management techniques that utilize rewards in the natural environment. Family members often make the initial contact with treatment provider asking for help for their loved. The Community Reinforcement Approach Family Therapy (CRAFT) provides a proven approach to assist family members to achieve their goal of having their spouse or children to engage in treatment.Implementation of CRAFT may also provide an opportunity for providers to offer and market a new service. I would strongly recommend Bob Meyers as a consultant and trainer to providers seeking to implement evidence based addiction treatment services and improve their outcomes.
Michael G. BoylePresident/CEO Fayette Companies600 Fayette StreetPeoria, Illinois
--------------------
Since ACRA was adapted from the CRA model that Bob had spent so many years developing, refining, and documenting, it was very important for us to work with him and Jane Ellen Smith on the manual and in its implementation during the Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) study. Bob brings to the training situation a wealth of experience and knowledge as a therapist, supervisor, researcher, and trainer. We highly recommend Bob as an ACRA trainer and regularly refer others to him for this training. ACRA, CRA and CRAFT are interventions that are well supported in the literature and Bob Meyers is the top trainer in these models.
Susan Harrington Godley, Rh.D.Senior Research ScientistChestnut Health SystemsWest ChestnutBloomington, Illinois 61701
--------------------
The substance of the ACRA training has added value to the clinical structure of my agency as a whole, by providing a way to define and organize clinical interventions and facilitating clinical communication.
There is an added benefit to the ACRA model in its time-limited curriculum-oriented format which I think can do much to lower the barrier of treatment acceptance by non-Western populations. This is a problem that has troubled the addiction treatment field for a long time.
Brandon Nguyen, LCSW
Asian American Recovery Services Inc.
San Jose California
William R. Miller, Ph.D.Distinguished Professor of Psychology and PsychiatryUniversity of New Mexico
--------------------
The 3-day CRA/FT workshop delivered by Dr. Robert J. Meyers was vastly superior to any other training I have attended in the past. The combination of being an expert in the field of addiction, an eloquent style, and communicational skills makes him a fantastic engaging trainer. He puts CRA/FT in such a broad behavioral perspective that he is capable to deliver an answer on every addiction-related question from the audience, including those questions beyond the course content. He is unique in a way that blends serious content of research with numerous vivid clinical examples, along with humor and wit. The clinicians who attended the workshop were not only focused and well trained all these days, but also tremendously entertained! I highly recommend this CRA/FT educational, practical and entertaining class to anyone who wants to be inspired about employing 'evidence based' treatments that bring the fun back in his/her daily routine.
H.G. Roozen, PhD.
Bouman Mental Health Care (GGZ), Thorbeckelaan 63, 3201 WJ Spijkenisse, The Netherlands.
--------------------
Bob Meyers is the world's leading expert on the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) for treating substance abuse and on Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) for helping families get their loved one into treatment. He is also one of the most effective presenters I have encountered in over 20 years working in the substance abuse field. This is a rare combination -- world class expert and world class trainer and workshop leader. He knows his stuff. His trainings on CRA and CRAFT are extremely engaging, informative, and humorous. I know him first hand from the CRAFT and CRA training he did for us at Harvard. He was extremely well-received here and people still talk about his workshop.
Timothy J. O'Farrell, Ph.D., ABPPProfessor of PsychologyChief, Families and Addiction ProgramHarvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry
--------------------
Allies In Recovery is a new not-for-profit dedicated to the families of those who are actively suffering from addiction. Dr. Bob Meyers has been instrumental in helping us develop our expertise for working with this population. We have attended CRAFT trainings in New Mexico, have had him out to Massachusetts to facilitate a CRAFT workshop for 45 clinicians, and have relied on him for clinical supervision by phone. Bob is an excellent trainer. His easy manner, his use of humor, and his ability to connect and to motivate make participation highly enjoyable. He draws his examples from decades of applied clinical work, lending credibility and clarity to his presentation, while grounding his comments in solid research and knowledge of effective substance abuse treatment.Bob's empathy and passion for improving the lives of families affected by substance abuse make his trainings heart-felt and a must for anyone working with families. It is without reservation and with many thanks that we recommend a Bob Meyers training.
Dominique Simon, PhD, MPHDirectorAllies In RecoverySunderland, MA
--------------------
Bob's experience in training clinicians in the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) was invaluable in taking what we thought was a good team and creating a great team. His positive "cheerleading approach" and "leave no one behind" philosophy was instrumental in coaching an experienced and clinically diverse team into a best practise team that still enjoyed the diverse talents of it's team members. Over a full year of coaching by Bob and the other members of the Life Link training team went into truly ensuring our team was successfully and consistently employing CRA with their clients. This team became the first team in Canada to be certified in CRA and they are one awesome team, no one was left behind. What this has done for team building has been just as remarkable as to what it has done for client service and comments from both clients and staff attest to this both informally and through client outcome surveys. It has also allowed us working within a health care system to put the treatment protocols we use on par with the best practise protocols used within acute care. Bob truly is a gifted trainer and supervisor and he has done an incredible job with our team. I know they consider him as much a part of the team as anyone else on it and that speaks volumes to his personality and style, what you see is what you get. We value passion and genuineness in what we do and so does Bob, that's why he fit with us. He is one of gems in our field! I highly recommend him.
Greg Purvis, C. Psych.Director, Addiction ServicesNorthern Nova Scotia, Canada
--------------------
CRAFT has the potential to expand the impact of drug abuse treatment, open new areas of intervention skills for drug abuse practitioners and most importantly improve the lives of drug abusers and the people that care for them. After attending Dr. Meyers' presentation of the empirical support for CRAFT at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in 2001, I was inspired to commit a substantial portion of my professional effort to furthering the development and adoption of this innovative treatment. It is a great motivator for clinicians to receive training from Dr. Meyers' as the innovator of CRAFT, and after years of original research no one knows the ins and outs of this approach better. Dr. Meyers' dynamic and down to earth style is very effective with drug abuse clinicians. His enthusiasm for and commitment to this intervention greatly enhances the effectiveness of his trainings. With his many years of work as a clinician, clinical supervisor and investigator, he knows just what is needed for the successful adoption of this evidenced based practice into community treatment settings.
Gregory S. Brigham, Ph.DChief Research OfficerMaryhavenColumbus, Ohio
--------------------
Bob and Jane Ellen provided 2 ½ days of expert training that not only stimulated huge excitement among the staff about the use of CRAFT, but also left them in a position to immediately begin providing this service. The treatment itself is rewarding to deliver, and the enthusiasm and excitement with which Bob and Jane Ellen taught us only fueled the desire to work in this modality. Training was comprehensive, working in detail with all aspects of the CRAFT model, as well as providing materials needed to conduct the work. Bob and Jane Ellen were relaxed, funny, and eminently approachable, as well as being extremely engaging. The staff was very involved and left the experience enthused and energized. We would recommend this training team and experience to any facility that wants to start offering cutting edge treatments.
Jeffrey Foote, Ph.DExecutive Director, Center for Motivation and Change276 Fifth Avenue at 30th StreetNew York, New York
--------------------
We were very fortunate to have Dr. Meyers provide CRAFT training to our staff.He is the preeminent expert on the CRAFT approach, having developed it and conducted much of the research evaluating it. In addition to being a knowledgeable trainer, he is an excellent clinician and presents the material in a style that is very accessible to therapists. I especially appreciated the time he took to have our staff practice the skills he was teaching and to provide them with immediate feedback to improve their performance. He had our staff's undivided attention for two full days of training, and they raved about the experience! More importantly, they were able to begin implementing the CRAFT intervention with confidence and a firm understanding of the approach and its methods.I highly recommend him as a CRAFT trainer. He is simply the best available.
Kimberly C. Kirby, Ph.DPrincipal InvestigatorTreatment Research InstitutePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
--------------------
Dr. Bob Meyers is an extremely dynamic and engaging trainer and consultant.His energy and enthusiasm in presentations is contagious to participants.Bob provides consultation and support to organizations to assure the ongoing supervision structures and quality assurance fidelity monitoring is in place to assure the approaches he teaches are utilized in the organization.I believe his Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) integrates several of the most effective evidence based practices for alcoholism and addiction treatment including motivational enhancement, skill training and problem solving, and contingency management techniques that utilize rewards in the natural environment. Family members often make the initial contact with treatment provider asking for help for their loved. The Community Reinforcement Approach Family Therapy (CRAFT) provides a proven approach to assist family members to achieve their goal of having their spouse or children to engage in treatment.Implementation of CRAFT may also provide an opportunity for providers to offer and market a new service. I would strongly recommend Bob Meyers as a consultant and trainer to providers seeking to implement evidence based addiction treatment services and improve their outcomes.
Michael G. BoylePresident/CEO Fayette Companies600 Fayette StreetPeoria, Illinois
--------------------
Since ACRA was adapted from the CRA model that Bob had spent so many years developing, refining, and documenting, it was very important for us to work with him and Jane Ellen Smith on the manual and in its implementation during the Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) study. Bob brings to the training situation a wealth of experience and knowledge as a therapist, supervisor, researcher, and trainer. We highly recommend Bob as an ACRA trainer and regularly refer others to him for this training. ACRA, CRA and CRAFT are interventions that are well supported in the literature and Bob Meyers is the top trainer in these models.
Susan Harrington Godley, Rh.D.Senior Research ScientistChestnut Health SystemsWest ChestnutBloomington, Illinois 61701
--------------------
The substance of the ACRA training has added value to the clinical structure of my agency as a whole, by providing a way to define and organize clinical interventions and facilitating clinical communication.
There is an added benefit to the ACRA model in its time-limited curriculum-oriented format which I think can do much to lower the barrier of treatment acceptance by non-Western populations. This is a problem that has troubled the addiction treatment field for a long time.
Brandon Nguyen, LCSW
Asian American Recovery Services Inc.
San Jose California
Dr. Meyers and Dr. William R. Miller on safari in Africa.
