Upcoming Provider
Events & Trainings
CRAFT-based Events and Trainings for Providers Offered by Members of the CRAFT-based Community
In HelpingFamiliesHelp.com, “Providers” are anyone who wants to offer CRAFT-based skills to your community somehow. (If you are a family member looking for resources for yourself and your family, please go to Family Resources Overview.)
Trainings are in chronological order and listed under the month of their first event date. Events will be removed from the list once the first event day is past.
Jump to a specific month here :
Anytime (asynchronous) | November | December | January | February | April
Event times are listed in Eastern and Pacific Time Zones. To figure out the group time in your timezone use a timezone converter such as this one from Time and Date.
These events and trainings are open to any providers who are interested. Being a member of HFHPN is not required, except where noted. If you have questions about any of the events or trainings, please directly contact the folks running the event directly!
November
NAMI NYS 2025 Annual Education Conference: Hope And Help For Families Facing Substance Use
Ken Carpenter, PhD, Barb Klein, and Judy Moffitt
November 15, 2025. Register by November 13th, 2025.
4:00 pm EDT • 60 minutes
In-Person: Albany, NY • $150-$200 USD. Scholarships are available.
This workshop explores the stigma faced by individuals with substance use disorders and their families, who are often blamed and excluded from care despite being vital to healing. Participants will gain tools from an evidence-based approach for family support that promotes connection, reduces stigma, and fosters personal transformation, empowering families to support change with compassion and resilience in the context of substance use.
Shaping the Path Toward Recovery: Empowering Families as a Context for Change
Hosted by True North Therapy and Training
Facilitated by Cordelia Kraus, LPC, Certified CRAFT Clinician, SMART F&F facilitator, & Invitation to Change Approach Trainer
Friday, November 21, 2025
12:00 pm EST | 9:00 am PDT • 4 hour 15 minutes
$95 + $10 for CE Certificate (4 CE for Social Workers) • Online (Zoom)
Tailor your therapy to work effectively with individuals and families struggling with substance abuse.
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.
Last Tuesday Monthly CRAFT/ITC Provider Peer Consultation Group
Cordelia Kraus, LPC, certified CRAFT clinician, ITC trainer
Currently scheduled for Tuesday, November 25th, 2025 (this specific date may change based on HFHPN member preferences)
12:00 pm EDT |9:00 am PDT • 120 minutes
Online (Zoom) • Active & First-Year Intro Level HFHPN Members only
The first half we’ll focus on book or article related to CRAFT-based work. The second half we’ll discuss questions about CRAFT-based approaches, receiving consultation from peers on difficult cases, and otherwise supporting each other in our work.
The Last Tuesday Consult Group is available to HFHPN Members at the Active and First Year Intro (Free) Level.
HFHPN Members, see more detailed information on the Member-Only Provider Consult Group page. Further information and a Zoom link will be sent out to the HFHPN email list before the session.
In Person - Toronto, Canada
Community Reinforcement Approach Training
Hosted by HQ Toronto: facilitated by Michelle Kuecker, LCSW, LAC (certified CRA/CRAFT trainer)
Wednesday November 26th & Thursday November 27th, 2025
Registration ends November 21st
9:00 am to 5:00 pm • 16 hours
$550 CAD for professionals; $350 CAD for students • 14 CEs
Community Reinforcement Approach is an evidence-based model which has proven effective to effectively support individuals struggling with substance use. It is the sister approach to CRAFT and is the approach recommended to assist the individual who struggles with substances.
As a clinician, you will learn and practice the cognitive-behavioral skills that have been researched and found effective to positively change your clients' lives. The training will cover Community Reinforcement Approach skills like: communication, problem solving, drink/drug refusal skills, sobriety sampling, relapse prevention, increasing pro-social recreation, functional analysis of substance-using behavior, goal setting, and family and couples sessions.
There are a limited number of spaces. The training center is centrally located and an easy ride from the airport.
December
Last Tuesday Monthly CRAFT/ITC Provider Peer Consultation Group
Cordelia Kraus, LPC, certified CRAFT clinician, ITC trainer
Currently scheduled for Tuesday, November 25th, 2025 (this specific date may change based on HFHPN member preferences)
12:00 pm EDT |9:00 am PDT • 120 minutes
Online (Zoom) • Active & First-Year Intro Level HFHPN Members only
The first half we’ll focus on book or article related to CRAFT-based work. The second half we’ll discuss questions about CRAFT-based approaches, receiving consultation from peers on difficult cases, and otherwise supporting each other in our work.
The Last Tuesday Consult Group is available to HFHPN Members at the Active and First Year Intro (Free) Level.
HFHPN Members, see more detailed information on the Member-Only Provider Consult Group page. Further information and a Zoom link will be sent out to the HFHPN email list before the session.
January
Invitation to Change Intensive
CMC:Foundation for Change:
Friday through Sunday, January 23rd to January 31st
start time 10:00 am EDT | 7:00 am PDT • varying lengths • Online via Zoom
$500 USD, discounts available • 14 CEs
A virtual training for professionals who would like to learn to support families in the midst of dealing with the challenges of substance misuse.
The Invitation to Change offers families a set of down to earth, compassionate tools for navigating through these very difficult moments in their lives, as individuals and families. We have spent enormous time working with families to make this approach as sensible, accessible, and straightforward as possible, and have found families to be deeply appreciative and moved by these ideas and practices.
This introductory training offers participants a helping blueprint for working with families. Over the course of the workshop training participants will learn the foundational principles and skills entailed in the Invitation to Change approach and introduced to exercises to help families understand and utilize them to support their struggling loved one.
Learning Objectives:
Gain a better understanding of the four components of The Invitation to Change Approach: Helping with Understanding, Helping with Awareness, Helping with Action, and Practice.
Understand on a theoretical and practical basis ideas concerning reinforcement, communication, awareness and self-compassion as part of a helping model.
Have a better understanding of the evidence-based protocols supporting the Invitation to Change Approach.
Learn the strategies and skills that family members can implement when assisting a loved one with a substance use problem.
Gain a better understanding of the application of these skills and strategies either at home or in clinical and peer-to-peer support settings.
Those who attend the full 17-hour intensive will receive a Certificate of Completion to signify their understanding of ITC principles and practices—an important first step in integrating the ITC into your helping work.
In order to receive a Certificate of Completion, you must attend the full workshop.
February
Invitation to Change Group Leader Training
CMC:Foundation for Change:
Wednesdays, February 11th, 18th, 25th, and March 4th
start time 5:00 pm EDT | 2:00 pm PDT • varying length
$300 USD, discounts available • Online via Zoom
Gain a deeper proficiency in explaining ITC concepts to others and join CMC:FFC’s ITC Learning Community in this 12-hour, 4-day training. (CMC:FFC’s ITC Intensive Training is a required prerequisite for this Group Leader training).
In this Group Leader training, you will learn how to lead ITC-based support and skills groups (complete group curriculum provided). Full completion of the training will certify you as an ITC Group Leader, and will give you access to CMC:FFC’s ITC Learning Community.
The CMC:FFC Learning Community is made up of professionals and family members who are changing the conversation around addiction. They are leading groups, bringing the ITC into their recovery work, and advocating locally for more compassionate approaches to substance use (among many other things!).
ITC Certification gives you access to the following:
Twice-monthly support meetings with FFC trainers and other members of the ITC Community.
Access to the CMC:FFC ITC Community Facebook group, where we regularly share resources and hold discussions about the Invitation to Change.
Connection to other community members for collaboration, support, and continued learning.
Access to CMC:FFC’s ever-growing resource library, including flyers, presentations, information sheets, and research articles.
Use of CMC:FFC group leader materials, including a complete, 15-session curriculum for leading ITC-based groups.
The ability to share information about your ITC-based group in our Community Groups Directory.
CRAFT Provider Training
Lara Okoloko, LICSW. Certified CRAFT provider and approved trainer
Fridays, February 20th, 27th, and March 6th, 13th, 2026
12:00 pm to 3:30 pm Eastern | 9:00 am to 12:30pm Pacific
$475 USD • 13 CEs
This CRAFT training for providers is 4 live virtual sessions, in a small group setting for the benefit of interaction with your instructor and practice with classmates.
Virtual training workshops are kept small so that you can benefit from an interactive and engaging learning environment. You will have access to a virtual classroom with learning materials and demonstration videos.
In service to accessibility of training in evidence based practices, reduced cost tickets are available to students, associate-level clinicians, and people working in community mental health. Discount also available to people registering as part of a group of 3 or more. Take this class with a co-worker and support each other in implementing new practices with your clients!
Refunds: Full refunds can be requested until 14 days before the first day of the live training, if the course has been unused. After that time, you can get a credit for a future training if you can not attend the training you are registered for. Classes are not recorded and partial CEUs can not be issued.
April
Advancing CRAFT Skills Workshops: Adapting CRAFT for Groups
Lara Okoloko, LICSW. Certified CRAFT provider and approved trainer
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026
12:00 pm to 3:15 pm Eastern | 9:00 am to 12:15pm Pacific
$100 USD • 3 CEs
This advanced workshop is designed for clinicians and facilitators who have completed foundational CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training) training and are ready to apply it in a group setting.
Participants will learn how to adapt the CRAFT model for group work, with a focus on group structure, engagement strategies, and facilitation challenges, while adhering to fidelity to the CRAFT model.
Topics covered include creating an engaging and respectful group milieu, fostering a sense of universality and group cohesion, and addressing common facilitation challenges. Participants will receive a customizable group facilitation guide and adaptable participant handouts to support immediate use.
Anytime
Intro to CRAFT
Lara Okoloko, LICSW. Certified CRAFT Provider and Approved Trainer
Asynchronous pre-recorded course, access anytime
$29 USD • 1 CEUs available
Online • Pre-recorded, asynchronous
If you are interested in learning about CRAFT, this one hour pre-recorded course will teach you what it means, who it is for, what research says about it, and how you can use it with your clients.
(Listing updated March 1, 2024)
Family Crisis Communication Skills - Comparing Approaches for Families Experiencing SMI and SUD
Lara Okoloko, LICSW. Certified CRAFT Provider and Approved Trainer
Asynchronous pre-recorded course, access anytime
$29 USD • 1 CEUs available
Online • Pre-recorded, asynchronous
In this course, we will compare the communication skills of four different methods that can be used with families who love someone with serious mental illness or substance use disorder: CRAFT, Psychosis REACH, LEAP, and MI.
Learn more about what these approaches are, their common traits, and how to use some of the components in practice.
(Listing added March 1, 2024)
Ethics of Respecting Self Determination while Engaging People with SUD into Treatment
Lara Okoloko, LICSW. Certified CRAFT Provider and Approved Trainer
Asynchronous pre-recorded course, access anytime
$29 USD • 1 CEUs available
Online • Pre-recorded, asynchronous
The NASW code of ethics guides us to "respect self determination" of our clients, yet many people with substance use disorders experience confrontational tactics. coercion, or lack of choice when seeking help for their substance use problem. What does this have to do with the "treatment gap" between the high number of people who experience addiction and the low number of people who get treatment for it?
This course will cover the statistics related to the treatment gap, what we know about the effect of confrontational methods. and how to ethically engage reluctant people into care.
(CRAFT is discussed, but not a central component, of this course. Listing updated March 1, 2024)
If you are looking to get more information about CRAFT as a provider and aren’t yet ready to jump into a full training, consider checking out the family event page for other ways to get exposed to the work! Although the focus will be likely slightly different than what you will receive at a professional training, family workshops are a great way to be introduced to some of the concepts and connect with the experiences and perspectives of families .
For Trainers:
If you offer CRAFT-based training for providers I would love to list your training here! To learn more about listing your training or workshop CLICK HERE.
Common Terms:
CRAFT Training. Community Reinforcement And Family Training (CRAFT) was developed by Dr. Robert J Meyers and Associates. Any training listed as a “CRAFT training” means that the trainer is a Certified CRAFT Trainer (which is a higher level of certification than a Certified CRAFT Provider) and associated with Dr. Robert Meyers.
CRAFT-based Training. These trainings are being offered by providers who are knowledgable about and have received ample training in CRAFT, however they are not Certified CRAFT Trainers.
Invitation to Change (ITC) Training. ITC, created by the Center for Motivation and Change, is a combination of CRAFT, Motivational Interviewing, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. This version of CRAFT includes, not only the protocol on what to do, but offers heart (or more technically speaking, psychological flexibility) behind the why and how. CMC offers a tiered certification process for ITC for those who are interested; please see their website for more info.