Coming Up for Air — A Toolkit to Help with Your Loved One's Recovery from Addiction & Mental Illness
Allies in Recovery
This podcast is comprised of three series addressing topics relevant to families dealing with a loved one's addiction:
- FAMILIES SPEAK: parents share wisdom, tools & experience using CRAFT (a proven method) with their loved one
- Partner CRAFT: co-hosts explore the specificity of using CRAFT with a romantic partner (or ex)
- VOICES from the FRONT LINES: Guests share expertise and stories
Allies in Recovery provides online learning modules, expert hand-tailored guidance, CRAFT support groups, info on treatment options, and much more.
Learn about membership options on alliesinrecovery.net
- FAMILIES SPEAK: parents share wisdom, tools & experience using CRAFT (a proven method) with their loved one
- Partner CRAFT: co-hosts explore the specificity of using CRAFT with a romantic partner (or ex)
- VOICES from the FRONT LINES: Guests share expertise and stories
Allies in Recovery provides online learning modules, expert hand-tailored guidance, CRAFT support groups, info on treatment options, and much more.
Learn about membership options on alliesinrecovery.net
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jun 30, 2023 • 31min
Interview with Brian Serna
Behavioral health trainer and consultant in Evidence Based Practices, Cultural Considerations, and Ethical Issues Brian Serna has taken CRAFT's practical applications quite far. He visits the Coming Up for AIR team to discuss his work with families and others in New Mexico, as well as his advocacy work to change how CRAFT receives funding. Serna focuses on making CRAFT an everyday practice, and how working on yourself can help your loved one's trajectory change over time.
Jun 23, 2023 • 34min
Safety: Why It Comes First for CRAFT
For CRAFT to work, you have to be physically safe. Here's how you prepare yourself. Avoid denial; have an exit plan; learn to see red flags and de-escalate. Don't skip Allies' Module 2 -- it's essential.
Jun 16, 2023 • 26min
OARS: Don't Get Caught Downstream!
Try OARS to help you communicate. Kayla and Laurie discuss the three Os (offering to help, open-ended questions, owning your own part), plus A (affirmation), R (reflective listening), and S (sandwiching).
Jun 9, 2023 • 22min
How Do I Set Boundaries without Making My Loved One Angry?
How do you hold tough conversations? Be careful with your timing; have a plan; stay calm. CRAFT can help you learn the signs of your loved one being receptive, and give you the skills to communicate effectively in less-than-ideal circumstances. Kayla and Laurie offer the details.
Jun 2, 2023 • 27min
What Are the Challenges of Reflective Listening?
Reflective listening involves two simultaneous mindsets -- you're listening, and at the same time reflecting whatever your loved one says. Our hosts weigh in on good strategies for dealing with the difficulty of inhabiting those simultaneous mindsets, including curiosity, interest, and separation.
May 26, 2023 • 23min
So What's PIUS?
PIUS is an acronym to help you communicate in tough moments. It stands for "positive statements," "I statements," "understanding statements," and "short, specific statements." Our hosts talk about what all that means and how you can implement it.
May 19, 2023 • 44min
An Interview with Christina Dent
Christina Dent, founder of drug policy advocacy nonprofit End It For Good, discusses her voyage as a foster mom who'd never seen addiction up-close. The experiences she gained through fostering led her to dramatically rethink her stance on drugs and the criminal justice system.
May 12, 2023 • 24min
Triggers: What Are They, and How Do You Handle Them?
Triggers – when something pulls you back into your past, into old physiological reactions and emotions – happen to all of us. Becoming resilient means not avoiding them or pushing them aside, but digging in to repair yourself. If you’re not wounding others, you stop the cycle of wounding and become a healer of yourself and others in an indirect way, through connection and care.
May 5, 2023 • 23min
How Do You Get Past Accumulated Trauma?
How do accumulated negative feelings and trauma impact you and your relationship with your loved one? How do you get past them, to a better place? In part, it's about breaking the contract of the usual interactions and cycles -- learn to step back, re-assess, and let our loved ones handle things without so much of our intervening. Kayla and Dominique discuss how that can be done.
Apr 29, 2023 • 1h 5min
Reflective Listening, Intentional Dialogue, and Improving Communication: Episode 69
Ever felt baffled or enraged by communicating with a loved one? Check out this popular episode from 2021, hosted by Laurie MacDougall, Kayla Solomon and Isabel Cooney. What is "reflective listening?" How does it work? What are the benefits for you, and the person you're listening to? And why does Kayla believe in it so much that she'd use it if someone were pointing a gun at her?
