Episode Summary: In this episode, Empowering Change at Home: How Parents Can Help Their Adult Children Rise and Thrive, Dr. Barry Gregory Ed.D., M.Ed., BA breaks down why so many young adults become stuck at home—isolating in their rooms, avoiding work or school, and losing motivation—and how this pattern quietly harms the entire family. Barry explains the “reinforcement trap” that keeps everyone stuck, the impact on the young adult’s development and identity, and the emotional toll on parents and marriages.

Using proven strategies from psychology, family systems, and behavioral science, this episode offers a clear roadmap for parents to create a healthy structure, set boundaries with love, use effective contingencies, and guide their young adult toward independence and confidence. This is a hopeful, research-backed guide for any family wanting to bring change, peace, and direction back into the home.

For recovery support services or coaching, contact Barry at 561-689-5022.

How Parents and Family Members Can Use Contingency Management to Support Recovery

In this episode of Break Free From Addiction, host Barry Gregory introduces one of the most effective and research-backed tools in addiction science: Contingency Management (CM). Listeners will learn how CM uses simple, immediate rewards to reinforce positive recovery behaviors—and why it consistently outperforms willpower alone.

Barry breaks down what CM is, why it works, and how parents and family members use it to strengthen motivation, rebuild trust, and support long-term recovery. You’ll hear practical examples of how to set up a CM system at home or in aftercare settings, how to choose meaningful reinforcers, how to reinforce progress (not perfection), and how to remove reinforcement from unhealthy behaviors without shame or confrontation.

This episode offers a step-by-step guide to building a recovery-focused environment that makes healthy behavior immediately rewarding and sustainable. Whether you’re a parent, counselor, coach, or community provider, you’ll walk away with tools you can use today.

Recovery grows where reinforcement flows. This episode shows you how to make that

Disclaimer: This podcast is not medical advice, and we recommend that people consult with a licensed medical doctor and/or mental health professional with questions about their health and care.

The Break Free From Addiction Podcast is a free resource for individuals, families, and communities seeking science-based information about addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery. Each episode breaks down evidence-based strategies, practical tools, and real-world insights to help people understand addiction, support loved ones, and build healthier lives. Whether you’re in recovery, helping someone you care about, or working in the field, this podcast empowers you with the knowledge and hope needed to break free and stay free.

Pro Bono Speaking Engagements Available That Advocate For Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery In Our Communities.

Contact Information

Barry M. Gregory Ed.D., M.Ed., BA

Recovery Coach Trainer and Consultant

Phone: 561-685-0222

Email: ⁠barrygregory1955@gmail.com

Episode Summary: How Reinforcement Shapes Addiction and Recovery

In this episode of Break Free From Addiction, host Barry M. Gregory breaks down one of psychology’s most powerful principles—reinforcement—and explains how it shapes both addiction and enabling. Drawing from B.F. Skinner’s behaviorism, Barry explores why addicted individuals continue using, why parents (especially moms and dads) unintentionally enable, and how both sides get trapped in a cycle of negative reinforcement.

Listeners learn what Skinner would recommend today to reduce addictive behaviors: removing reinforcement for use, avoiding intermittent rescuing, allowing natural consequences, and powerfully reinforcing sober actions through contingency management and environmental changes. Barry also shares the most effective types of reinforcers for building recovery: tangible, social, privilege-based, identity-based, natural, and personalized rewards.

This episode gives families clarity, offers practical tools for breaking enabling patterns, and provides a roadmap for using reinforcement to strengthen recovery rather than addiction.

Podcast Episode Description:

In this episode of the Break Free From Addiction Podcast, Barry Gregory, Ed.D., M.Ed., BA, a professional recovery coach, challenges the outdated “tough love” approach and introduces SMART Love — a smarter, evidence-based way families can support a loved one with addiction without enabling.

Discover why tough love often backfires by increasing shame, isolation, secrecy, and despair, and learn the five pillars of SMART Love:

• S: Support without Enabling
• M: Motivation through Empathy + Boundaries
• A: Accountability with Respect
• R: Resilience for the Family
• T: Tools Based on Evidence (not emotion)

I share powerful motivational strategies and cognitive reframes to stop enabling and rescuing thoughts and beliefs, practical SMART Love scripts you can use today, and why connection, compassion, and clear boundaries are the real keys to lasting recovery.

Tough love pushes people away. SMART Love brings them closer — and closer to healing and recovery. A must-listen for anyone supporting a loved one through addiction. For more information about smart love and recovery coaching, call us directly at 561-685-0555. Send comments and feedback to barrygregory1955@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: This podcast is not medical advice, and we recommend that people consult with a licensed medical doctor and/or mental health professional with questions about their health and care.

The Break Free From Addiction Podcast is a free resource for individuals, families, and communities seeking science-based information about addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery. Each episode breaks down evidence-based strategies, practical tools, and real-world insights to help people understand addiction, support loved ones, and build healthier lives. Whether you’re in recovery, helping someone you care about, or working in the field, this podcast empowers you with the knowledge and hope needed to break free and stay free.

Pro Bono Speaking Engagements Available That Advocate For Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery In Our Communities.

Contact Information

Barry M. Gregory Ed.D., M.Ed., BA

Recovery Coach Trainer and Consultant

Phone: 561-685-0222

Email: ⁠barrygregory1955@gmail.com

This episode of the Break Free from Addiction introduces the Smart Love approach, an Informative, compassionate, and empowering approach for parents and families coping with a loved one's active addiction. Host Dr. Barry Gregory Ed.D., M.Ed., BA explains that common "rescuing" behaviors stem in part from deep fear, guilt, and trauma-driven thoughts and beliefs (informed by CBT), which, though loving in intent, often enable the addiction and delay recovery.

Smart Love shifts the focus from fear-based rescuing to smart love strategies, emphasizing the need to set firm, loving boundaries (which are seen as protection, not abandonment) and allow natural consequences to motivate change. Drawing on principles from evidence-based practices, the episode offers practical strategies such as stopping financial enabling, replacing lecturing with active listening, and prioritizing self-care, ultimately helping the family reclaim peace and pave the way for genuine recovery for both the loved one and themselves.

Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and we recommend that individuals consult a licensed medical doctor and/or a mental health professional with questions about their health and care.

The Break Free From Addiction Podcast is a free resource for individuals, families, and communities seeking science-based information about addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery. Each episode breaks down evidence-based strategies, practical tools, and real-world insights to help people understand addiction, support loved ones, and build healthier lives. Whether you’re in recovery, helping someone you care about, or working in the field, this podcast empowers you with the knowledge and hope needed to break free and stay free.

Pro Bono Speaking Engagements Available That Advocate For Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery In Our Communities.

Contact Information

Barry M. Gregory Ed.D., M.Ed., BA

Recovery Coach Trainer and Consultant

Phone: 561-685-0222

Email: ⁠barrygregory1955@gmail.com⁠

Description

Introduction To The Breaking Free From Addictions Podcast

Addiction is a relentless destroyer, claiming more American lives each year than the combined fatalities from World War I, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. It shatters families, fuels fatal overdoses, and traps millions in cycles of alcohol, drugs, eating disorders, gambling, pornography, internet, and phone addiction—often in silence, as society's big secret. Whether you're battling it personally, grieving a loved one, supporting an adult child, or healing from a chaotic upbringing, the pain, hopelessness, and isolation can feel insurmountable.

The Breaking Free From Addictions Podcast pulls back the curtain with raw, honest, science-backed truth—no platitudes, no quick fixes. Hosted by Barry M. Gregory, Ed.D., M.Ed., BA, a current professional recovery coach with over three decades of research, training and clinical work on the front lines of the addiction crisis, it delivers weekly tips and tools to help individuals, moms, parents, and family members prevent overdose, end relapse, and get the tools they need to build a healthy, balanced lifestyle and a life worth living.

We focus on enhancing your motivation to change, uncovering root causes of addiction often caused by trauma, and equipping you with proven and practical skills for immediate relief from past and current pain and for building a new, rewarding, and fulfilling life.

Through our CBT-Based Recovery Coaching Support Services, we provide personalized guidance to address those root causes head-on, boost your drive for change, and help you craft the fulfilling life you deserve—free from addiction's grip. If you're ready for a better life in recovery, please text or call to schedule a free, confidential consultation. Thank you for listening. Please share this podcast with someone you know who might benefit. Tune in next week to our episode entitled "Smart Love Recovery Strategies for people impacted by addiction in the family.

Disclaimer: This podcast is not medical advice, and we recommend that people consult with a licensed medical doctor and/or mental health professional with questions about their health and care.

The Break Free From Addiction Podcast is a free resource for individuals, families, and communities seeking science-based information about addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery. Each episode breaks down evidence-based strategies, practical tools, and real-world insights to help people understand addiction, support loved ones, and build healthier lives. Whether you’re in recovery, helping someone you care about, or working in the field, this podcast empowers you with the knowledge and hope needed to break free and stay free.

Pro Bono Speaking Engagements Available That Advocate For Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery In Our Communities.

Contact Information

Barry M. Gregory Ed.D., M.Ed., BA

Recovery Coach Trainer and Consultant

Phone: 561-685-0222

Email: barrygregory1955@gmail.com