Youth Opioid Recovery Support (YORS)
Strategies for Loved Ones
With your loved one struggling with addiction, it can be easy for parents and other loved ones to get trapped in a cycle of poor communication like nagging, lying and yelling. Parents need new tools and skills to learn how to effectively communicate with their loved one. These strategies come from CRAFT, which is a Cadence Online program designed to teach these skills to families with loved ones struggling with addiction. If you are a Maryland resident, you can enroll in their online course for free. To learn more, click on their website linked below.
Strategies
The three videos on this page demonstrate effective ways of interacting with your loved one to help them stick to treatment and change their drug use habits. The strategies acted out in these videos might be the same or different from how you currently interact with your loved one.
Improving communication with your loved one
Influence your loved one's behaviors
Alternatives to fixing and protecting
Staying on Point
Improving communication with your loved one
Staying laser-focused on what you want your loved one to take away from the conversation is an important communication skill. In this vignette, you will see examples of communication styles to promote staying on point with your loved one.
Created by Cadence Online
Positive Reinforcement
Influence your loved one's behaviors
Catch them being good! In this video, you will learn that rewarding your loved one when they do the things that you want them to do is one of the most effective tools that you have to influence your loved one’s behaviors.
Created by Cadence Online
Natural Consequences
Alternatives to fixing and protecting
Everyone wants to protect their loved one. Seeing something bad happen to them can make you want to step in to help. But it can be strategic not to intervene if they are experiencing a negative consequence from their drug use.