CRAFT Connect’s Founding Partners

 
Sister Corita Kent, for Eleanor, 1964.

John Garbett

Sister Corita Kent, Yes #3, 1979

Kristin Garbett

 
 
 

Our Story

We first learned about CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training) reading “Beyond Addiction” by Jeffrey Foote, Ph.D. and Carrie Wilkens, Ph.D. We were fortunate to find a CRAFT support group in our community sponsored by USARA (Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness). The group studied from the CRAFT self-help book “Get Your Loved One Sober, Alternatives to Nagging, Pleading and Threatening” by Robert J. Meyers, Ph.D. and Brenda L Wolfe, Ph.D. After several years of attending meetings we became CRAFT Certified Providers and are among the less than 60 in the world who have earned this certification.

Today we honored to count Drs. Meyers and Foote amongst our recovery community friends. As a result of developing CRAFT Connect we no longer feel overwhelmed. We better understand our loved one’s substance abuse and mental health disorders. Our relationship as a couple and family is much healthier. We are now able to speak directly and honestly about how we feel and continue to make progress.

CRAFT Connect would not be possible without the help of our friends at USARA, New Roads Behavioral Health, University of Utah College of Social Work, Family Services and all those we have met in halfway houses, community centers, churches and private agencies during the last six years while facilitating 100s of face-to-face and online support group meetings over 1,000s of hours. You have been our mentors and become our heroes. Thank you all for sharing your lives with us. Kristin & John

 
 
 

John’s bio

John Garbett’s passion is engaging families and other Concerned Significant Others (CSOs) in the recovery of their loved ones from substance use and mental health disorders. He graduated with honors from the University of Utah with dual Masters’ degrees in Economics and Fine Arts (Theater). From 2013 to 2019 he volunteered with community-based addition recovery organizations facilitating 100s of group meetings including NAMI’s educational program for families living with mental health conditions. During this time John helped write the CRAFT Family Support Group Workbook used in 7 states. In 2019 John completed the University of Utah’s Advanced Substance Use Disorder Treatment Training Certificate (ASUDC) program. His current family support partners include The Purpose of Recovery, New Roads Behavioral Health and USARA (Utah Support Advocates for Recovery Awareness). Every week, via telehealth, John shares CRAFT Connects programs with families all across the U.S.

For 25 years, as an agent of change, John led creative development and production management teams for DreamWorks SKG, MGM/UA, Warner Bros, Universal, Amblin Entertainment and Disney. Projects included “The Disney Sunday Movie”, “Father of the Bride”, "The Frighteners", "The Matrix" and the Academy Award winning "Shrek". He created the groundbreaking “12 Steps to Change” addiction recovery video series and other behavioral health related media and curriculum for the LDS Church.

 

Kristin’s bio

Kristin Garbett grew up as part of an extended family who owned and operated a summer resort in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains. This band of eight siblings (their children and grandchildren) left careers as Disney animators, filmmakers, commercial artists, musicians and painters to be part of a remarkably family centered environment, where together they entertained guests for over two decades. Kristin attended college at the University of Utah and spent two years working and apprenticing in NYC to a tapestry weaver; choosing a profession that would allow her to work from home and re-create the kind of family connections she enjoyed as a child. Always involved and interested in community, she worked for arts organizations in Washington D.C. and Salt Lake City, owned and operated an art gallery and laid the foundation to create an historic district. Whenever John filmed on location for extended periods of time Kristin and the children went along. This provided opportunities to travel, attend foreign schools, and establish friendships with people from different cultures all around the world. When one of their own children faced the challenges of a substance use and mental health disorder Kristin’s innate curiosity and research ability helped her take a “deep dive” for information that still continues -- taking workshops in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Family Training while advocating for better healthcare. Through the years she has continued to build relationships within multiple local and national recovery communities including the Partnership to End Addiction.

Kristin and John are the parents of five and have five grandchildren. They reside at the base of the Wasatch mountains in Salt Lake City Utah.