Not sure where to start?
Discover the power of free family addiction tools designed to support and guide families facing the challenges of addiction. Created by a nurse practitioner and mom with lived experience, these resources provide real and honest guidance. Whether you're seeking clarity on treatment options or learning to set boundaries that work for YOU, these tools are here to help.
Take the self-assessment to find the right tool.
The Tools
Find the Family Addiction Tools You Need Now
Each one answers a specific question. Start where you are. Come back when you need something else.
Crisis Tool · Treatment Navigator
Treatment Navigator
When your loved one says they're ready and you need to be ready too.
The treatment industry is not what most families think it is. There are good programs that save lives. There are also patient brokers who get paid kickbacks to send your loved one to the wrong place. This tool walks you through what to ask, what to verify, and what to walk away from before you hand over money or sign anything.
For families who
are trying to find addiction treatment and do not want to get scammed.
01
Educational Deep Dive · Medications
Medication and Addiction: What Families Need to Know
The truth about Suboxone, methadone, Sublocade, naltrexone, and the alphabet soup nobody explains.
Medication for opioid use disorder is one of the most effective and most misunderstood paths in recovery. This tool covers what the medications actually do, how they help, why "just trading one drug for another" is wrong, and what families need to ask. Includes opioid use disorder, alcohol use disorder, methamphetamine use disorder, and pregnancy.
For families who
have been told medication is "just trading one addiction for another" and want the real story.
02
Relational Tool · Boundaries
Boundary Builder
Boundaries that hold without abandoning the person you love.
Most boundary advice for families comes from a place of detachment that does not match how love actually works. The Boundary Builder walks you through 25 real-life situations: lying, money, contact, living arrangements. It helps you set the boundary, hold the boundary, and stay human in the process.
For families who
have been told to "let go and let God" and cannot do it because the love is too strong.
03
Decision Tool · Crossroads
The Crossroads
When the only choice is hard, and every option has a cost.
Loving someone in active addiction is a series of impossible decisions. Do I pick them up? Do I press charges? Do I let them come home? The Crossroads is an interactive walk-through for the moments where there is no clean answer. Just the option you can live with.
For families who
are facing a decision and need clarity, not someone else's certainty.
04
What families ask about getting help for a loved one's addiction.
Are these tools really free? What's the catch?
There is no catch. No email gate, no sign-up, no upsell to a $40,000 program. No hidden referral pipeline. If you find these tools useful, my book goes deeper, but nothing on this page asks you for anything. I built these because they did not exist when my family needed them.
Which tool should I start with?
Start with the family self-assessment on the homepage. It is four minutes long and points you to the tool that matches where you are right now. If you already know what you need: use the Treatment Navigator when you are trying to find a rehab, the Medication tool when someone has been put on Suboxone or methadone and you do not understand it, the Boundary Builder when you need to set or hold a limit with your loved one, and the Crossroads when you are facing an impossible decision.
Who are these tools for?
Families. Specifically, the people who love someone in active addiction or early recovery. Parents. Spouses. Adult children. Siblings. The person inside the addiction has resources written for them everywhere. These tools are for the people in the next room who do not know what to do, what to say, or whether they are making things worse.
Are these tools a substitute for therapy or treatment?
No. They are built to help you ask better questions, recognize red flags, and figure out your next move. Use them alongside a therapist, your loved one's medical providers, and free resources like the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-4357. If your loved one is in immediate danger from overdose, suicide, or violence, call 911 first.
Who built these tools?
I'm Brandi Mac, MSN, APRN, ACNP-BC. I work clinical shifts as a critical care nurse practitioner. I am also the mother of a daughter in long-term recovery from fentanyl. My book, Do What You Can Live With, is on Caron Treatment Centers' recommended reading list for families. Everything on this page is built from clinical training plus the years I spent figuring this out the hard way.
Love and boundaries can coexist.
You do not have to figure this out alone. Pick a tool. Come back for the others when you can.