It is never easy to see a loved one suffer from the ills of any addiction. Whatever the form of the addiction, it takes a toll on your loved one’s holistic well-being and the financial health and mental peace of the family. But, the good news is that you can break the cycle of suffering by staging a planned intervention with a team of well-versed close friends and family. The purpose is to let the loved one know about the ill effects of the addiction, and that help is available without getting confrontational. The foundation of every intervention is hope, love, and the option of availing rehab for an addiction-free tomorrow.
However, you must also remember that you are not in their shoes, and they are not in yours. Both sides may find it frustrating, and each side has aggravating elements. Often, a lose-lose situation results, but with careful planning, you may change everything. So, to help you and your loved one deal with the situation, we will examine the principles of an intervention, how to carry one out, and considerations for the duration of the procedure. It’s not an easy journey, but someone needs to intervene before it’s too late.
What Exactly is it?
An intervention is a carefully planned procedure that can be carried out by family members and friends, under the guidance of a professional such as a registered alcohol and drug counselor, or under the supervision of an interventionist. Sometimes it involves a member of your loved one’s religious community or other people who are concerned about them.
These individuals get together for the intervention to confront their loved ones about the effects of addiction and urge them to accept treatment.
The intervention:
- Gives particular examples of harmful actions and their effects on your addicted loved one, their family, and their friends.
- Provides a predefined treatment plan with precise procedures, objectives, and instructions.
- Specifies what each party will do if your loved one rejects treatment.
During the intervention, it is important to help the loved one understand the ill effects of their addiction without playing the blame game. Avoid making accusations and hurtful or gratuitous statements at all costs. Such careless remarks may incite the abuser to refuse help and turn hostile. The motive is to highlight the importance of signing up for treatment and the consequences of rejecting the same. The whole intervention process focuses on the holistic well-being of the addicted person.
The Different Steps
We now know the basics of a planned intervention and the role of a professional interventionist in achieving the desired goal. Let’s move on to the different steps involved in the whole process.
1. Seek Out the Help of a Professional
This is not a one-person task. A successful intervention requires the support of friends, family members, and an experienced de-addiction professional. Especially in cases where the subject has a history of documented mental illness, violence, suicidal tendencies, or mood-altering medication.
The presence of a trained professional helps keep the intervention on track. As an intervention venue, the psychiatrist’s office can ensure smooth execution with proper treatment and a follow-up plan.
2. Gather Friends and Family
While chalking out the guest list for the intervention team, it is essential to include those in the immediate vicinity of the person involved, close friends, a social worker, or mental health practitioner (optional). However, if the friend or family member is battling substance-abuse issues or other mental health concerns, it’s best to give them a miss.
3. Lay Out a Specific Plan
Please note that intervention is far from a friendly family gathering with the occasional altercation. Schedule every minute detail, right from the day, the date, the venue, the time, the guest list, and a guideline about what each member will say. The planning should be done without letting the subject know. An intervention can get messy with build-up resentment, mud-slinging, and anger outbursts. Thus it is advisable to include a trained professional to focus everyone’s attention on breaking the addictive pattern.
4. Educate Yourself About Addiction
They say ignorance never lit lamps, so it is sensible to educate yourself about:
- the effects of substance abuse or addiction
- withdrawal symptoms, if any
- treatment or rehabilitation programs
- whether your health insurance covers the same.
Prepare a thorough follow-up plan to prevent chances of relapse.
5. Write a Personal Statement to Share
The power of words is amazing; they can render indelible wounds or soothe recalcitrant scars. Each member on the guest list should write a few personal statements to share with the loved one. These statements can show the adverse effects of the loved one’s addiction on the member’s mental or physical state. The whole motive behind the intervention is to steer the loved one to calmer waters where the sun shines and the soul is healthy!
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6. Be Ready to Provide Support
Healing comes with the love, care, and support of people who matter to the person. Each intervention team member must be ready and capable of providing help. This may involve driving the loved one to the rehab care center or offering to attend group therapy sessions. Like an accountability partner in the gym, a solid support system aids a smoother road to recovery. Let them know that they are not alone in the journey of leading a better, addiction-free, and more fulfilled life.
7. Have Realistic Expectations
While everyone wants a positive end with the acceptance to sign up for the rehabilitation program, real life may not pan out that way. The intervention has the potential to turn in any direction. So it is best to lower expectations with a proper plan of consequences for the loved one, such as the request to move out if they refuse treatment.
8. Stay in Touch
The intervention process doesn’t end with the loved one signing up for or rejecting the detox offer. Follow-up is an essential part of the journey to wellness that one should not overlook. Ask a spouse or a best friend to keep tabs on the progress or lack thereof. This will prevent relapse and enhance the healing process. You can expect improved accountability. The person battling addiction issues also experiences less stress.
The Different Types
There are many intervention models at the disposal of professional interventionists, and each style has its own exponents. Let’s delve into some of these intervention methods:
Crisis
Although a crisis intervention can occasionally be conducted independently, it usually takes a direct approach. For those who find themselves in urgent situations where time is not a luxury, these actions are extremely crucial. Crisis interventions are appropriate for those struggling with addiction, mental health issues, or both.
Brief
Brief interventions refer to a short, one-on-one counseling session between the counselor and the individual struggling with substance abuse problems. These can be staged at hospitals where the person gets admitted after an overdose, at school if a pupil is caught abusing drugs, or in a community-based activity. Brief interventions, as the name suggests, are shorter than traditional treatments. For instance, in a binge drinking brief intervention, counseling may be limited to one to four sessions instead of conventional alcoholism treatment.
The Johnson Model
The Johnson Intervention Model is highly popular. This is because the burden of caregiving is distributed amongst many caregivers, not just one. The fact that many people are invested in the individual’s hope for betterment catalyzes the patient to enroll themselves in the rehab program. Here the sole focus is on catalyzing the subject’s entry into a treatment program with no substantive emphasis on the caregiver’s well-being. However, the burden on the caregiver can be reduced if professional interventionists take charge.
The preliminary stage involves the caregiver assessing the subject’s social network and the probability of getting them on the intervention team. Two sessions involve briefing the section on the risks involved in enabling, the goals of the intervention, and ways to meet the caregivers’ needs. The last session includes the execution of the rehearsed confrontation with the subject in the presence of the trained therapist.
ARISE
The ARISE Intervention Model is a modern take on the Johnson Model with greater emphasis on engaging the whole family into drawing in the addicted person in treatment programs with lesser chances of confrontation. Simply put, it involves less conflict and encompasses the needs of both the subject and their family, in addition to increasing rehab enrollment rates by presenting case examples.
SMART
With a greater emphasis on measuring the change brought about by each intervention, the SMART Intervention Model is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-specific community-based programs. Here the goal is to bring about measurable positive changes in the life of the addicted individual and benefit society in a holistic manner. It can be incorporated in the follow-up part of a family-based intervention or a program evaluation part of community-based interventions for substance abuse programs.
Family Systemic
Family Systemic Intervention Model considers the well-being of the family and the person struggling with addiction issues. When one family member stops functioning at par with the rest, much like a rusted cog in the wheel, the wheel runs a greater chance of coming undone. This holistic model of intervention catalyzes the whole family unit into family therapy, specific support groups, in addition to individual therapy, and other forms of treatment.
For instance, if a husband is an alcoholic who comes back late at night without spending quality time with the kids and beats the wife, the wife may develop depression, and the children will exhibit signs of trauma and anxiety. The family systemic model is very different from regular intervention models.
- In a traditional intervention, all meetings held prior to the day of intervention are hidden from the knowledge of the subject, and they come into the picture only on the day of the intervention. Whereas in the family systemic model, the subject attends all the meetings with the therapist and his family.
- Regular intervention is restricted to one-to-one sessions for effectiveness. However, there will be several meetings in the case of the family systemic family, which can continue for months.
What Not to Do
Any intervention’s purpose is to break a loved one’s destructive patterns and help them begin afresh on a new note. The basis is always love, support, and empathy. Demotivating the subject with gratuitous remarks and shame-inducing comments will only have negative repercussions. As a yardstick, it is best to steer clear of the following behaviors:
- Avoid labeling the person with derogatory terms like “alcoholic,” “tripper,” “pill popper,” “junkie,” etc. You may trigger the person and push them further down the abyss of despair.
- Emotional outbursts: Though easier said than done, it is best to keep your emotions in check, so the situation doesn’t become unsalvageable.
- A huge guest list: Nobody likes to feel belittled in public. Thus the guest list should be a small group of close friends and family who care about the person in question.
- An inebriated subject-state: In case the loved one is intoxicated at the scheduled time of intervention, it is best to be prepared for them to return to sobriety for the intervention to be effective.
Who Should Be Involved?
As explained in the previous sections, the intervention team must include only those who are capable, close to the subject, of sound judgment and are bereft of addiction or mental health issues. The choice of having a professional interventionist on the team is yours to make. A social worker or trained psychologist can help diffuse unpleasant outcomes and offer a non-judgemental outlook on the situation. They can also help if the subject turns violent or has a history of mental illness.
What Should You Do If They Don’t Want Help?
If the subject refuses the treatment offer, one must comply with the terms and conditions for such consequences. Family members must cut ties of codependency and put a halt to enabling behaviors, and ask the subject to vacate the family home. This may seem harsh, but one cannot control the behavior of the subject. Instead, one always has the option to distance oneself and children, if any, from disruptive behaviors.
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If the subject has a history of turning violent or has mental health issues, a professional interventionist can help moderate the intervention by diffusing any potentially emotionally disruptive situation and keeping the members focused on the issue at hand. Genuine support and trained professional psychiatrists and counselors are just a call away at DocVita. Log in to experience seamless, hassle-free mental health care now!