Intervention Helping Someone Struggling with Addiction

Intervention Helping Someone Struggling with Addiction

Many people struggle with addiction and simply can’t see or accept that they have a serious problem.

Those people who are addicted to alcohol or drugs often deny that a problem exists or that the problem is as severe as it actually is.

Addiction can make it impossible for those people suffering from the addiction to recognize the damage their addiction is doing to their life or to the lives of those people who care about them. Begging, pleading or threatening an addict person often has little or no affect on them leaving those who love them feeling helpless to help the person they love.

However, studies show that staging a formal intervention can often be beneficial in helping someone struggling with Addiction.

What Is An Intervention

An intervention is a carefully planned process involving the addicted person’s friends, family, church members, and sometimes employers under the supervision and with consultation with a doctor, professional drug or alcohol counselor or professional Interventionist. During the process, each person present calmly confronts the addiction person and does the following:

• Provides specific instances of the addict’s destructive behavior and the impact that these behaviors have on specific family members and friends. (i.e. a teenager may talk about how they can’t invite friends over because their parent may be calling them names or engaging in abusive treatment.)
• Offers a Prearranged treatment plan detailing specific steps and goals that the addicted needs to strive for. (In many cases, a bed in a treatment facility may be all ready arranged for so that the addicted can go straight into treatment after the intervention while the desire to get help is the greatest.)
• Spells out what each person will do if the addicted does not seek treatment. (i.e. An employer many tell the addicted that they will no longer employee them, a spouse may tell the addicted that they will seek a divorce etc.)

Preparing For an Intervention

An intervention is not something to enter into lightly or on the spur of the moment. Keep in mind that an intervention is going to be highly emotionally charged and every member of the intervention needs to be prepared for the anger and pleading of the addicted person when confronted with his addiction.

Here are the steps needed to plan a successful intervention.

• Get Professional Help- Any intervention should begin by speaking to and getting the assistance of a professional counselor who has training in staging an intervention. This may be an addiction specialist, a mental health professional, or a professional interventionist. Speak to them regarding how to stage the intervention, what to expect, and other issues involved in dealing with an emotional and ill person.
• Do Your Research- Learn the extent of your loved one’s problem and the treatment options that are available to treat the problem and choose one that will be the most beneficial to the addicted person.
• From the Intervention Group- Carefully choose the people who will participate in the intervention. Plan the date and time and how to get the addicted person to the venue without revealing what is going to happen. Plan what you will say keeping the message consistent, practice what you will say and if possible role-play the intervention to help prepared you for the addicted person’s reaction so that you can remain calm.
• What Will the Consequences Be?- Each person that is part of the intervention will have to decide what consequences they will give the addicted person if they don’t seek and treatment and be prepared to follow through on those consequences.
• Hold the Meeting- Keep calm, follow your agenda, and be prepared to help your addicted love one enter treatment immediately if they decide to do that. Also, be prepared for their refusal and to go through with the consequences if they do not seek treatment.
• Follow Up- If your loved one does enter treatment then be prepared to help them in any way possible by seeking counseling yourself, joining in their counseling sessions, changing everyday patterns of behavior to help your loved one fall back into their destructive behaviors.

While staging an intervention may seem like a harsh move, it may just help to save to your loved one’s life and their future.