Intervention FAQ's
Answers to Some Common Questions about Intervention
Q. What exactly is an intervention?
A. Any attempt by a person or persons to get an alcoholic or addict to stop using and get help could be considered an intervention. A professionally facilitated intervention, however, is a carefully structured process carried out by a trained, rehearsed, united group of people to present reality to a person who is out of touch with reality in a way that he is able to receive it.
Q. What is the purpose?
A.The purpose is to help the addict/alcoholic to see clearly the negative impact of alcohol or drugs on his life and the lives of others and to accept the need for professional help to address the addiction.
Q. What is the goal?
A. The goal is for the addict to go to a form of drug and alcohol treatment either straight from the intervention or as soon as possible depending on the type of intervention.
Q. What are the chances of success?
A. Over ninety percent of the interventions I have done have been successful. My definition of succes is when the addict goes straight from the intervention to treatment. The rate of success among good interventionists depending on the type of intervention they use is from about 80% to over 90%.
Q. What makes interventions work?
A. First, they address the right issues. Then they are very carefully structured to work. They are done with love and caring and without blame and judgment. I often describe interventions as a celebration of love and caring.
Q. I have been told that an addict has to hit bottom first and that he has to want help before you can help him. Isn’t that true?
A. Both statements are myths. Intervention raises a person’s bottom so that worse things do not have to happen. A change in approach by concerned family, friends, etc. will give the addict an opportunity to change whether or not he wants help.
Q. What if ours is one of the ten percent that is not successful?
A. An intervention is never wasted, or really unsuccessful, if the family and others doing the intervening make the changes they need to make. They will begin their own healing and be able to move on with their lives no matter what the addict does. As long as they keep the system changed so that the addict always encounters their reality, they still give the addict an opportunity to accept the need for help. Also, they will know they have done everything possible and will not have to feel guilty for not having done something before it was too late.