Intervention
Interventions
An interventionist's job is to help your family see clearly where things stand, and to build a plan for getting your loved one into treatment and your family into recovery. He is not there to give a motivational speech, to act as a therapist, or to dig through the past for causes. He is there to help you act.
What a professional interventionist does for you
The first conversation
It starts with a call about how we can help your loved one, whether the problem is drugs, alcohol, or a mental health crisis. We ask about each person in the family: what role they play, how they have been coping, and how ready they are to go through with an intervention. This is where we explain what an intervention is and give everyone room to say what they think and feel about moving forward.
Scheduling and assessment
Once your family decides to go ahead, we set the dates. We send you an assessment and an information packet, and we talk through treatment options based on what you tell us. Each family member gets guidance on the letter they will write to your loved one. Last-minute doubts are normal and expected; your interventionist is available to talk them through.
Family education
In this meeting your interventionist walks through your situation using our addiction intervention manual as a guide. Understanding addiction helps you understand what your loved one is going through. It also helps you see how the ways you have been coping have, without meaning to, made it easier for the drinking or using to continue. Seeing that clearly is what gives families the confidence to hold the boundaries they set.
The intervention itself
On the day, the interventionist leads. Family members are brought in when it is time to read the letters they wrote and reviewed during family education. By this point you have decided on your boundaries and committed to keeping them whatever your loved one decides. The conversation can be short or take most of the day. If it is moving forward, we keep going until your loved one accepts help. If they dig in, the interventionist steps back and regroups with the family.
Acceptance or refusal
Your loved one either accepts the help or declines it. Either way, you are prepared. If they accept, they leave for the treatment program that day, usually with the interventionist. If they decline, the family lays out its boundaries and what will change. Holding those boundaries, no matter how hard your loved one pushes against them, is what makes the difference; any further conversation is about what happens if they do not get help. Your interventionist stays with you through this until your loved one agrees to accept the gift of help.
Continued support
Whatever happens, the days after an intervention are emotional and unpredictable, and your interventionist stays available. If your loved one declined, you need direction on what to do next. If they accepted, you need help with the emotions and the separation. Families want to reach out, react, or step in, and there will be moments when someone has to talk you out of interfering with treatment. Even good change is hard. An intervention that ends in acceptance needs more support afterward, not less.
The day itself is the part everyone pictures. The support that follows is the part that takes the most time, and the part that matters most. Your interventionist is your family's temporary treatment team and the bridge to long-term care.
Who this is for
Situations where this service is often used
Confidential · Nationwide
Talk with someone today
Confidential consultations are available. We will walk you through the options and what a coordinated next step looks like.