The Power of Listening: Merging Science with Kindness

Host Steve Legler speaks with Dr. Jeffrey Foote, one of the authors of Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change. Together, they discuss how family members and FEAs can become important catalysts in helping people with addiction issues overcome them, for the benefit of the entire family.

Welcome to Let’s Talk Family Enterprise, a podcast that explores the ideas, concepts, and models that best serve Family Enterprise Advisors in supporting their clients.

All views, information, and opinions expressed during this podcast are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Family Enterprise Canada.

Guest bio

Dr. Jeffrey Foote is a psychologist and nationally recognized clinical research scientist with over 30 years of experience utilizing evidence-based treatment approaches for the treatment of substance use issues and Post-traumatic Stress. He is the Co-President and CEO of the CMC: Foundation for Change, a not-for-profit organization with the mission of improving the dissemination of evidence-based ideas and strategies to the families of persons struggling with substance use. Dr. Foote was a psychologist for the NY Mets for 11 years and has continued in sports psychology as an independent performance consultant to professional athletes. Before co-founding CMC in 2003, Dr. Foote was the Deputy Director of the Division of Alcohol Treatment and Research at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in NYC and Senior Research Associate at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in NYC. Dr. Foote is a member of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the American Association of Addiction Psychiatrists.

You can learn more about Dr. Jeffrey Foote on LinkedIn and the CMC Foundation For Change website.

Key Takeaways

[:26] Steve Legler welcomes Dr. Jeffrey Foote and invites him to share a little bit about how the cultural discussion on substance abuse hasn’t evolved a lot in the past decades and how his book addresses this issue head-on.

[3:09] Cultural norms around addiction are hugely stigmatizing, Dr. Jeffrey raises another very damaging side-effect of culture as a variety of approaches that are not evidence-based are recirculated.

[5:17] Advisors are in a unique and very powerful position, and as such do need to be both sensitive and informed to provide a truly helpful direction.

[7:10] Dr. Foote touches on how Eddie Ford managed to move the perception of addiction forward from a simplistic moral issue to that of a disease.

[9:00] Stepping back and being able to look at the potential reasons for a person’s behavior is a good step toward understanding.

[10:56] Dr. Jeffrey offers the one thing he would ask advisors and families to do first and foremost: slow down.

[13:06] It turns out kindness is an evidence-based idea and it can motivate change.

[15:22] The invitation to change the model and some of the tools used to put it into practice.

[17:04] Dr. Foote explains why and how figuring out why those behaviors make sense helps you be kind while tackling addiction.

[18:36] The most powerful resource! Navigating out of addiction is more often successful when the families are involved, but families are the most underserved voices in addiction treatment.

[20:36] Self-awareness and self-care are a major part of helping others, but Dr. Foote cautions that it doesn’t necessarily mean detaching and walking away.

[22:44] Good communication tools are a huge asset, whatever the pain point! The Beyond Addiction Workbook offers compassionate, evidence-based tools.

[25:10] The past decades have offered some incremental change in addiction treatment, but the very high prevalence of co-occurring psychiatric issues still needs to be brought to light and addressed.

[28:01] Having a moderating voice in a family discussion on addiction is important to help slow things down.

[29:58] Dr. Jeffrey Foote shares his book recommendations as well as his advice for advisors and families.

[33:14] Steve Legler thanks Dr. Jeffrey Foote for sharing his expertise and closes this episode by reminding listeners to rate and subscribe.

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