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POSITIVE PRACTICE PARTNERSHIP
Positive Practice Partnership delivers training, accreditation and consultancy for the evidence-based Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA) family of interventions designed for professionals working in drug and alcohol services – commissioners, service managers and family workers.
We are a social enterprise and subsidiary of the charity PROPS North East, which runs commissioned specialist drug and alcohol family services in Newcastle and North Tyneside and was established in 1997 by women concerned over the lack of local support for families of alcohol and drug misusers.
Our CRA trainers and accreditors are academically verified and supported by Dr Robert Meyers, Research Associate Professor Emeritus in Psychology at the US Centre on Alcoholism, Substance Use and Addictions (CASAA) and developer and researcher of CRA as well as patron of PROPS North East and Positive Practice.
We also deliver bespoke Drug and Alcohol Awareness Training to services and organisations who directly or indirectly support people affected by drug or alcohol addictions, such as housing associations or businesses that want to raise awareness to their employees.
The Community Reinforcement Approach Family of Interventions Training
Community Reinforcement And Family Training (CRAFT)
CRAFT uses an evidence-based motivational programme to help to help empower families to employ non-confrontational ways of encouraging substance misusers to reduce their drug or alcohol use and then enter treatment.
NICE Guideline advise that services offer carer training programmes that are:
In the UK, anecdotal evidence from PROPS suggests that 70 percent of substance users supported by families using CRAFT skills enter – and remain in – treatment six to seven times longer than people not supported.
Family members are taught to: harness the knowledge of a substance-misusing loved one and communicate positively with them using brevity, positivity and clarity; recognise and respond safely to potential aggression or violence; cut stress; and improve their own self-worth.
CRAFT teaches families to build meaningful strategies to increase the chances of substance misusers entering treatment – an evidence-based intervention that has a positive impact on drug and alcohol services.
Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA)
The CRA programme helps people addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. It is centred on a functional analysis of their behaviour and the use of positive reinforcement to encourage them to alter their lifestyle and continue to engage in treatment.
Using behavioural learning, CRA helps adults and young people aged from 12 to 18 (through ACRA) change their lifestyle so that healthy, substance misuse-free living becomes rewarding and consequently competes with alcohol and drug use.
The treatments within CRA (and ACRA) include: building motivation to give up drinking; help with starting sobriety; analysing drinking patterns; increasing positive reinforcement; learning new coping behaviours; and involving concerned significant others in the recovery process.
Several international studies provide evidence for the effectiveness of CRA in achieving abstinence. Furthermore, CRA has been successfully integrated with other treatments, such as family therapy and motivational interviewing, and has been tested in the treatment of other drug misuse.
CRA was developed by the behavioural psychologist Nathan Azrin in the 1970s and then researched by Dr Meyers and colleagues at CASAA within the University of New Mexico.
To make an enquiry our training programmes click here
About the Training
Two-day programmes are delivered by Helen Thompson, our trainer and supervisor and experienced PROPS worker. She qualified with Dr Robert Meyers as a practitioner, trainer, supervisor and coder of CRAFT, CRA and ACRA.
Sandra Adams and Dan Brocksop are also fully qualified to train the CRA interventions.
PROPS is the only UK organisation endorsed by Dr Robert Meyers to deliver training in all three disciplines. Helen Thompson was the first practitioner in the UK to become qualified in CRAFT, CRA and ACRA.
Multi-service and bespoke in-house courses are organised, with in-depth instruction given to delegates so they have a solid working knowledge of CRA, ACRA or CRAFT to augment their current practice.
The programme is designed for front-line workers, service and line managers, and commissioners of recovery-oriented treatment systems and family and carer services.
Accreditation: Delegates can become accredited practitioners, supported by Positive Practice in demonstrating their competence in applying and using core procedures to a set global standard.
To make an enquiry our training programmes click here
Drug and Alcohol Awareness Training
We will work with your organisation to provide up-to-date and appropriate drug and awareness training to meet the services needs and those of the delegates.
We offer half or full day training events.
To make an enquiry about any of the above training programmes click here