About
This page has been created to address several common questions regarding intervention, how it works, and what it can accomplish. The information provided here is based on the experience of our intervention specialists.
What is Intervention?
This is the question we are asked most frequently, and we want to provide an answer that will put the myths and misunderstandings about intervention to rest.
In its broadest form, intervention is simply a structured meeting that takes place between the addict and the people whose lives are most effected by the addict’s behavior.
Many people assume that an intervention is akin to what might transpire between a sergeant and a new recruit in boot camp. Someone will berate the addict, showing him or her all the failings that have gone before, and bully the addict into submitting to treatment. This is a common misconception. The reality is that, while some confrontation may be involved in an intervention, the process is not an attack on the addict.
The objective of intervention is to bring about an awareness of what the addict’s behavior is doing—not only to him or her self, but to the people who care about the addict.
What Can Intervention Accomplish?
Many family members, friends and employers of addicts see intervention as their last, best hope to bring about a change in the addict’s behavior. They have tried many times, and in many ways, to encourage the addict to stop using drugs and get help. It can be extremely disappointing to have tried so hard and so often, with no lasting result.
Intervention can be the tool that allows an addict to see how his or her behavior is affecting those who care about the addict. It also gives those who care an opportunity to express a new set of boundaries with regard to the addict’s behavior. These boundaries will differ from case to case. As an example, family members may choose not to allow the addict into the family home until he or she agrees to get treatment.
Intervention can be the catalyst to encourage the addict to agree to treatment.
How Does Intervention Work?
Addicts live in an altered state of reality. The things that matter to most of us are of secondary consequence to addicts. First and foremost in most addicts’ minds is the need to find and use more of whatever they are addicted to.
Intervention is designed to break through the addict’s altered state, and present the reality of his or her situation in a compassionate yet concrete manner.
Intervention can do this when other attempts have failed because intervention is not concerned with rehashing past disappointments, failures or relapses. Many times, families attempt to focus on the addict’s failings in the past to emphasize the importance of treatment. Instead, intervention focuses solely on how to create a better future for the addict and those who care about him or her.