Coming from the research and clinical experience of Drs. Jeff Foote, Carrie Wilkens, Ken Carpenter, Nicole Kosanske, and Cindy Brody, The 20 Minute Guide is a workbook for anyone who wants to help a loved one struggling with substance use.

The concepts in the Guide are largely drawn from Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT), an evidence-based behavioral and motivational approach to substance use that recognizes the powerful role that loved ones can play in the change process.

The 20 Minute Guide takes CRAFT concepts, alongside other tools, and makes them accessible and easy to use. Each chapter of the workbook offers new perspectives on substance use and helping, as well as exercises and worksheets that will help you put these ideas into practice.

The Guide will not literally take you 20 minutes to read––instead, it is designed to be clear and actionable, so that every 20 minutes you spend with it will leave you with new skills or knowledge. One of our mottos is Practice, practice, practice, and the Guide is a tool to put that idea into action; 20 minutes of practice and learning goes a long way.

We want this workbook to be a place of calm in stormy seas: something you can return to, whenever you need it, for insight, guidance, and hope. Ultimately, we hope it will help you create an environment that is supportive of change––for you and your loved one alike.

On this site you will find two versions of the Guide: one for parents and one for partners. However, the Guide is open to you even if you don’t fall into one of these two audiences. The tools in this workbook can be used by anyone who cares about someone struggling with substances, including family members, friends, and teachers.

This website contains the full Guide––with all the same text, chapters, and exercises as the physical workbook––available for free to anyone who needs it. There is also a print version available for purchase, if you prefer to work with paper, and a PDF copy, which gives you full offline access (and which some people prefer to navigating the website).