Shaping the Path Toward Recovery: Empowering Families for Change

Description:

Drawing from the same acceptance and commitment principles in ACT, both Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) and Invitation to Change (ITC) offer family members evidence-based pathways to navigate the complex terrain of loving someone with substance use challenges. When someone is on a path of problematic substance or alcohol use, they are not the only person affected—the impact ripples outwards, deeply affecting those closest to the person struggling, including parents, partners, siblings, and friends. While clinical care often centers the "identified patient," decades of evidence point to the vital, yet frequently overlooked, role that family members can play in fostering meaningful and sustainable change. When families are equipped with effective tools and a shift in perspective, they can become powerful allies in the recovery process—for their loved one and for themselves.

This interactive 4-hour training offers clinicians a practical and compassionate framework for working with family members impacted by a loved one’s substance or alcohol use. We’ll begin with an overview of the emotional and relational toll that substance use, and stigma, can have on families. We’ll then focus on practical, evidence-based skills and perspectives drawn from Invitation to Change (ITC) and Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT). These approaches, rooted in behavioral principles, emphasize autonomy, compassion, collaboration, and values-guided action. We’ll close with a set of resources clinicians can use to support family members as well as their own continued learning. This workshop will be taught didactically and experientially, with opportunities for reflection and discussion.

Whether you work directly with family members or primarily support individuals navigating their own substance use, this training offers actionable tools and accessible resources for you to help families shape the environment around their loved ones to support change and recovery over time.

Target Audience: This workshop is for clinicians who are new to CRAFT. It is appropriate for mental health professionals, including Psychologists, Licensed Mental Health Counselors, Psychiatrists, Social Workers, and Psychiatric Nurse-Practitioners.

Cost: Early Registration (by October 21, 2025 ) $70.00

Standard Registration $95.00

CE certificate (12 hours) $10.00

Registration fee covers instruction only

CE Credits:

This activity is has approval for 4 CE credits for psychologists and counselors (who are able to use APA CE credits)

This has approval for 4 CE credits for social workers.

• Weaver and Associates, provider # 2017, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Weaver and Associates maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 9/16/2025-9/16/2026. Social workers completing this course receive 4 clinical continuing education credits.

• You must attend the course in its entirety in order to receive continuing education credits.

• CE credits are not given for the 10-minute break.

Instructor Bio:

Cordelia Kraus, LPC, CADC-I became passionate about working with families struggling with their loved one's substance use after her experiences as a mother. Cordelia has been a CMC:FFC Invitation to Change Approach trainer since 2016, became a SMART Recovery Family & Friends facilitator in 2017, and a Certified CRAFT Clinician through Dr. Robert Meyers & Associates in 2018. She has a private practice in Portland, Oregon where she works with adults with mental health and substance use concerns, as well as with family members struggling with a loved one’s substance use. She also runs HelpingFamiliesHelp.com: a website that connects families with CRAFT-based resources and offers community and support for the providers who serve them.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Please email Miranda Morris at drmirandamorris@gmail.com

For More Information or for Questions or Grievances: Please email Admin@truenorthact.com or erin@truenorthact.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Please email Admin@truenorthact.com