PREVENTING SUBSTANCE-ABUSE BY SUPPORTING FAMILIES EFFORTS WITH COMMUNITY RESOURCES

In Todd and Selekman's (1991) important book, Family Therapy Approaches with Adolescent Substance Abusers, many diverse, successful therapists report engaging people from outside the family to support parents' efforts to reduce their adolescents' substance use. This common practice among family therapists suggests the view espoused in this paper. It is argued that because the resources of most contemporary nuclear families for monitoring and providing alternative incentives are not sufficient to compete with the positive contingencies associated with substance use, communities must support parents' efforts by supplementing them.