Debra Jay, MA

Debra Jay is a nationally recognized addiction specialist, author, lecturer, creator of Love First Family Lab, and creator and host of the Best Minds Podcast. She is the co-founder and co-principal of Love First, a private practice established in 1994, and has devoted her career to helping families become active participants in lasting recovery.

Why Love First Family Lab?

Throughout more than three decades of clinical work, Debra observed that families are deeply committed to helping a loved one achieve lasting recovery, yet they are rarely given meaningful guidance about how to participate in that journey. While their loved one receives structured treatment, families are often left to navigate recovery largely on their own—both individually and as a family.

Love First Family Lab was created to fill that gap. Drawing on decades of clinical experience, academic learning theory, and the principles behind Structured Family Recovery®, Family Lab gives families a meaningful, practical role in recovery—one day at a time. By learning and growing together, families strengthen the connection, understanding, and sense of belonging that help sustain lasting recovery.

Throughout her career, Debra has challenged the traditional view that addiction treatment belongs primarily to the individual. Her work has consistently demonstrated that when families are equipped to participate in recovery together, the likelihood of lasting change grows stronger. Family Lab is the culmination of that lifelong commitment.

At this stage of her career, Debra’s goal is simple: to place the very best of what she has learned into the hands of as many families as possible. Love First Family Lab was intentionally designed to remove financial barriers, making world-class family recovery education accessible to any family willing to take the journey together.

Leadership and Clinical Practice

From the beginning of her career, Debra has helped advance the professional practice of clinical intervention through her writing, training programs, and her insistence that clinical intervention should be practiced by experienced addiction professionals rather than treated as an entry-level specialty. Under her leadership, Love First employs only seasoned addiction clinicians who have served as inpatient counselors and meet the highest qualifications to guide families through intervention and ongoing recovery.

Although Debra no longer conducts interventions personally, she oversees Love First’s team of highly skilled clinical interventionists and Structured Family Recovery® counselors, ensuring that families receive experienced, compassionate guidance.

Innovative Professional Training

Debra designed the Love First Clinical Intervention Training and Structured Family Recovery® training programs, both recognized for their rigorous standards and innovative educational design. Admission is reserved for experienced clinical professionals, and she also developed a specialized leadership track for treatment administrators. These programs integrate current research in learning science with immersive, action-based instruction and attract professionals from across the United States and internationally.

Author and Thought Leader

Debra is the author and co-author of several influential books, including Love First: A Family’s Guide to Intervention; It Takes a Family: Creating Lasting Sobriety, Togetherness, and Happiness; No More Letting Go: The Spirituality of Taking Action Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction; and Aging and Addiction. Her work has become a trusted resource for both families and addiction professionals.

Debra is also the creator and host of the Best Minds Podcast, created to provide a space where families and many of the most respected voices in the addiction treatment field can come together. Through conversations with leading clinicians, researchers, physicians, and treatment professionals, the podcast extends her commitment to making expert knowledge practical, accessible, and deeply relevant for families seeking lasting recovery.

Clinical Background

Debra began her clinical career at Hanley-Hazelden in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she carried a full inpatient caseload for both men and women. She became the first coordinator of the Older Adult Track, facilitated the family program, designed the outpatient family program, and served as interim supervisor for both the women’s unit and the Fellowship Club.

Teaching, Recognition, and Service

Debra taught for fourteen years in Wayne State University’s graduate program in substance abuse studies. She appeared over three seasons on The Oprah Winfrey Show, as well as Oprah After the Show. She also appeared on The Dr. Oz Show. Her board service includes Ascension St. John Hospital’s Care Continuum Board, Dawn Farm, and Brighton Hospital.

In 2026, Debra received the NAATP Michael Ford Journalism and Writing Award. In 2025, she received the George Mann Spirit of Community Award. She also received the Sister Letitia Close Award at the 54th Annual Detroit Bishop’s Dinner for her work on behalf of women affected by addiction.

Since 1996, she has written a newspaper advice column focused on addiction and family recovery.

Education

Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from The Ohio State University and a master’s degree from Thomas Edison State University, where her graduate work focused on multifamily group programming in the addiction field. She also completed the 14-month Addiction Professional Training Program at Hanley-Hazelden, followed by a three-month inpatient clinical internship.

$36 per family