For Families and Loved Ones

If you are here because someone you love is struggling — with addiction, relationship breakdown, or mental health — this page is for you.

Loving someone who is in pain is one of the hardest things a person can do. It changes you. It costs you. And it often leaves you without a clear picture of what actually helps and what inadvertently makes things harder.

Bridge Coach is designed for adults — but we recognize that families and loved ones are often the people bearing the most weight in someone else's recovery. This page points toward resources designed specifically for you.

If You Are Under 18

If you are a young person looking for support around a family member's addiction, you are not alone and this is not your fault.

• Alateen (part of Al-Anon Family Groups) is specifically for young people affected by someone else's drinking or drug use. Meetings are free and available online and in person. Find a meeting at al-anon.org/newcomers/teen-corner-alateen
• NACOA (National Association for Children of Alcoholics) provides information, resources, and connections for young people growing up in families affected by alcohol and drug use. nacoa.org

You do not need to be in crisis to reach out. Alateen is a community, not only a last resort.

If You Are a Family Member or Partner

Al-Anon Family Groups

Al-Anon is a mutual support community for family members and friends of people with alcohol use disorder — though many people find it helpful for family members dealing with any substance use. It is free, widely available (online and in person), and does not require that your loved one be in recovery or seeking help.

Al-Anon does not tell you what to do. It offers community with people who understand what you are going through, and a framework for focusing on your own recovery from the effects of someone else's addiction. al-anon.org

CRAFT: Community Reinforcement and Family Training

CRAFT is an evidence-based approach designed specifically for family members who want to help a loved one who is not yet seeking treatment — and who want to reduce their own distress in the process.

Unlike approaches that recommend detachment as the primary strategy, CRAFT teaches specific communication skills for reducing conflict, creating natural consequences that increase treatment motivation, and caring for yourself while remaining connected to your loved one. Research has found CRAFT to be more effective at engaging treatment-resistant loved ones than either Al-Anon or standard intervention approaches. PENDING CLINICAL REVIEW: confirm CRAFT efficacy summary

The CRAFT approach is described in Robert Meyers and Brenda Wolfe's Get Your Loved One Sober (Hazelden, 2004). CRAFT-trained therapists are available through SAMHSA's treatment locator.

Nar-Anon and Other 12-Step Family Programs

If your loved one's addiction involves substances other than alcohol, Nar-Anon (nar-anon.org) offers the same mutual support model as Al-Anon for families affected by any drug use.

Families Anonymous (familiesanonymous.org) is another option with a similar structure, open to anyone concerned about a loved one's substance use or related behavioral issues.

Taking Care of Yourself

This is not a cliché. It is the most evidence-backed advice in the literature on supporting someone through addiction or mental health challenges.

Family members of people in crisis are at significantly elevated risk for their own depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms. The chronic stress of living with or loving someone in active addiction or mental health crisis produces measurable physiological effects. You need support too — not as a secondary priority to your loved one's needs, but as a prerequisite for being able to help them at all.

If you are experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or trauma — or simply exhaustion — please consider reaching out to a therapist or counselor. SAMHSA's National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) provides free referrals for both people in recovery and their family members.

How Bridge Coach Can Help

Bridge Coach is designed for the conversations that are hardest to have: between a person working through recovery and a supporter, between partners in a relationship under strain, between someone asking for help and someone trying to give it.

The Sponsor-Mentee mode supports accountability-focused conversations drawing on 12-step tradition. The Moderated and Court modes support conversations where the emotional stakes are high enough that a structured, mediated space makes the difference between a conversation and a fight.

Bridge Coach does not replace professional family therapy — but it can support the ongoing, daily conversations that happen between therapy sessions, and that therapy sessions often cannot hold.

Crisis Resources

If you or your loved one is in immediate danger or crisis:

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 (US, 24/7)
• SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7)
• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (if safety is a concern)

PENDING CLINICAL REVIEW: The CRAFT efficacy summary requires verification by a licensed addiction counselor before publication. The general framing of Al-Anon and family impact should also be reviewed.