The Invitation To Change
Next group begins Thursday February 6, 2025 - May 15, 2025
7:30pm Eastern, 6:30pm Central, 5:30pm Mountain, 4:30pm Pacific
Parents can influence and help their children change.
There is HOPE
"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something."
~ Howard Zinn
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Join us to create positive change
What is Invitation to Change?
The Invitation to Change Approach (ITC) is a holistic helping framework based on science and kindness. It is designed for the families and loved ones of people struggling with substance use and the professionals who support them.
The psychologists at CMC Foundation for Change created ITC. Some are also the authors of the book Beyond Addiction How Science and Kindness Help People Change. If you found Beyond Addiction helpful, you'll love what ITC offers.
Whether you're familiar with Beyond Addiction or not, this group will help you find ways to help yourself and support your struggling son or daughter.
How Can ITC Help You?
The ITC is made up of three main parts:
(1) Helping with understanding, (2) Helping with Awareness, and (3) Helping with Action
The concepts are based on practice because that's how you can best implement and maintain new behaviors in your life.
Helping with Understanding
First, how you understand your child's behavior matters a lot, and the Helping with Understanding section will give you a new way to think about the problem—one that allows a lot more room for positive change!
Helping with Awareness
This second section focuses on the awareness of your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and values, along with plenty of self-compassion to lean into the discomfort and vulnerability of supporting your child under such difficult circumstances.
Helping with Action
The third section focuses on communication and behavior tools. Suppose you struggle to communicate with your child, and you both feel misunderstood. In that case, communication skills will help you talk to your child in a collaborative way that strengthens your connection and opens them up to the possibility of change. Behavior tools teach you to encourage and reward behaviors you want to see more of and discourage ones you don't want to see.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Practice is essential to change and learning new things. The more you practice, the better you get when you know something new. You also experience how much work it takes to change your life. Hopefully, that will help you see that your child needs the same time, space, and practice to make changes in their life too.
Learn how to encourage change for you, and your son or daughter.
The Invitation to Change Approach (ITC) will be the basis for our discussions. This approach is based on compassion, connection, and the belief that you are not powerless – you can do something to help your child.
The Science of ITC
The ITC is founded on the idea that behavior does not exist in a vacuum—and that, instead, the best way to support a loved one who is struggling is to see their behavior as part of a bigger picture. This means looking at the person's context: historical (their unique experiences and journey) and social (the relationships that surround them).
Several psychological studies have shown that social connection plays a vital role in a person's change process, highlighting that the tone and quality of interactions within close relationships significantly impact a person's outcomes. That is why the ITC focuses on what family members (and other close connections) can do, learn, and say to increase the chances that their loved one changes their behaviors—it makes a difference!
Sign Me UpThe concepts and strategies included in the ITC are also found in three evidence-based approaches—
- Community Reinforcement Approach and Family Training (CRAFT)
- Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Acceptance
- Commitment Therapy (ACT)
All have been used to address substance use in a loved one and help people stay connected to what they value in the presence of emotional pain.
Research studies that have included both professionals and real families have shown that CRAFT, MI, and ACT have been influential in the following ways:
- Helping loved ones seek treatment (CRAFT)
- Improving communication between family members in ways that help individuals navigate their ambivalence about making changes (MI),
- Increasing the likelihood of engaging in more meaningful and healthy behaviors (MI, ACT)
- Improving the tone of family interactions (CRAFT)
- Helping family members navigate the emotional challenges and pain that can come along with
- Helping a loved one who is struggling (ACT, CRAFT)
The studies supporting the use of these processes (science), the impact of supportive social connectedness (kindness), and collaboration with families led us to develop the Invitation to Change approach, housing all these concepts and strategies under one roof.
How the group meets:
- Feel free to sign up for the next group.
- You will receive information on the upcoming meeting.
- The group sessions are 75 minutes long.
- Online meeting through Zoom.
- Facilitated by Joanne Richards and Laurie Hooper.
Topics from the ITC Approach include:
- How to better understand the problem.
- Why your child's behavior make sense to them.
- Ambivalence is a normal part of the change process.
- What you can do to help your child change.
- The value of staying close and keeping the conversation going.
- Self-care so you can stay resilient.
How is ITC different from other groups?
ITC is not a therapy or general support group. It's a learning group within a supportive environment.
The group content differs from peer-run support groups like 12-step groups and SMART recovery. We don't spend much time going deep into our personal histories or experiences or solving specific issues.
An ITC group has topic-driven discussions that introduce members to strategies, skills, and new perspectives they can start implementing. Connect with a supportive community and engage with tools and techniques to use daily.
Potential Benefits:
- Create conditions that motivate change
- Feel confident and empowered to practice new skills, tools, and practices in your relationships with your child and other family members.
- Improve communication and relationships while you help your child change
- Decrease stress, increase confidence and wellbeing.
In Addition:
- We know it can be hard to join a new group. The other group members probably feel the same way. The most important thing to remember is that you will be in a group with people who understand you. Their child is also struggling with substance use.
- If you sign up, please plan to attend all or most meetings. It's essential to keep your commitment to yourself and the group process so that you can realize and inspire the change you seek.
- This group will focus on parents supporting their children.
This group is free, and we encourage you to invest in a copy of The Invitation to Change – A Short Guide for $14.99. You can link to a purchase option here or by clicking on the photo above. We will use the material weekly.
Register Here
Join us to create positive change
Your Facilitators
Joanne Richards
Joanne personally understands the challenges of loving a child through the struggles with substance use. She is also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, has Certification in the Invitation to Change, is a Certified Family Recovery Life Coach, Certified Facilitator of The Work of Byron Katie, and Certified Grief Educator, with Certification in Trauma Informed Heart Math.
Laurie Hooper
Laurie is personally familiar with loving a child struggling with substance use. She utilizes wisdom gained and training in Holistic Wellness, CRAFT, MI, Certifications in Addiction Recovery and Grief Education and is a Trained Facilitator in the Invitation to Change Approach
