[Rox]

in reply to: Tips on finding a parent's support group? #1567

Hi hw!

I am sorry to hear that your son is having problems.  May I ask how old he is and if he is living at home with you?

JAK, thanks for suggesting SMART Recovery for Family & Friends as an option for hw.  🙂
Hw:  There is a SMART meeting for Family & Friends in LA.  🙂

I know LA is H-U-G-E and that this meeting may not be close to you, but hopefully it is close enough.  There may also be CRAFT therapists in LA.  I’m not sure about that, but I do know that there  are CRAFT therapists in the San Diego area if that might be helpful to you.

In addition to the local meeting in LA, there are also 2 weekly online SMART meetings for Family & Friends. Info about those and the LA meeting can be found on the link that JAK provided.  And like the CMC, SMART has a message board where you may ask questions,  get feedback and exchange ideas and experiences.

SMART F&F offers  a blend of  CRAFT tools for learning how to change your interactions with your Loved One, and  SMART tools for managing emotional upsets and facilitating behavior change.  If you are unfamiliar with SMART, it is the leading self-empowering (and science-based) addiction recovery support group.   SMART is a non-profit organization and offers mutual aid support meetings world-wide  at no charge (donations requested). SMART stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training and it is in its 20th year.   Although offered for ‘addiction recovery’ the tools incorporated in the SMART program are really helpful for managing many of life’s challenges.  In a recent online F&F meeting, a new participant showed up.  Although she was not familiar with SMART for F&F (it was her first meeting), she was very knowledgeable about SMART tools. She had been attending local SMART recovery meetings herself and found them extremely helpful to her as she navigated her way through her relationship with a partner who had an addiction.

JAK is right, the local SMART F&F meetings are not available everywhere – yet 🙂  But anyone with an internet connection can attend the online meetings.  I’ve been co-facilitating the online meetings there since 2010 and invite you to give them a try!

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