Behavioural couples’ therapy is one of two interventions (along with contingency management) highlighted as having ‘particularly strong evidence’ for effectiveness among people being treated for substance use problems. And yet, along with contingency management, it has not become a mainstay of treatment services. The SSA’s Rob Calder talked to Dr Grace Heaphy about what it is, how it works and how it’s been delivered during lock-down. Dr Heaphy is a family therapist and is the course director for family therapy training at the Institute for Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience at King’s College London.