Intervention Services
Nationwide Drug Addiction Intervention Services
Addiction is the only potentially fatal illness where families and substance users fight to stay sick.
Interventions for Drug Addiction
An intervention often occurs either because either the family or the substance user is at a breaking point. The family realizes the loved one cannot or will not stop without an external impetus. It is inevitable that a drug user will require some form of intervention in order to recognize the need for change. Much of that realization derives from the substance user’s perception of a problem and coming to grips with just how bad the problem has become. In some cases, knowing and acknowledging there is a problem may not be sufficient motivation to do something different.
Over time, the drug addiction is the focal point while the real problem is pushed aside.
A drug addiction intervention endeavors to help families identify and change behaviors that may encourage the substance user’s actions. If the perceived benefits of drug use outweigh the consequences of that use, then change is unlikely to occur. Substance users may agree to address the problem when they realize their inability to manage it or even themselves. This can apply to both the family and the loved one.
The Focus Should Not be How Much, How Little, or What the Person is Using.
Families and the Substance User Should be Looking at What the Use of Drugs is Causing to Happen.
Oftentimes, families call us and try to focus the conversations on what their loved ones may be using. The bottom line is this: if you found out exactly what that was, would it change anything, or the fact that the family and the drug user need help?
There are certain drugs that should be a greater cause for alarm due to overdose risks and physical complications. Regardless of the drug of choice, the behaviors are often similar. When substance users arrive for treatment, they are not going to be classified or separated by drug of choice. The focus is on processing life’s past experiences and acknowledging our feelings toward ourselves and others. Substance users are not taught how to stop using drugs. They are provided an opportunity to change themselves and their outlook in order to overcome the obsession to self-medicate.
Intervention Manual
Family First Intervention provides every family with an intervention manual containing 184 pages of information, including an in-depth breakdown of a substance user’s behaviors. There are references to behavior, reactions, and things that will occur during and after the intervention. To date, every family has been shocked at how accurately the manual describes their loved one using drugs and how the family has addressed the situation.
Why This Works for Families
Families actually believe at first read that the manual refers specifically to them and their loved one. We explain to them that the manual has been in use since we started performing interventions, and that it has been received and read by over ten thousand family members with very similar reactions. Although everyone has unique, individual qualities, those addicted to drugs appear to have almost identical behaviors regarding what they say or do. The common behaviors and reactions the family exhibits toward the substance user are not much different either, and they see themselves described in our manual. The takeaway from this commonality is this: there is a solution to the problem, and it is effective. Changed behaviors can and often do produce positive outcomes.
Our Intervention Services Process
Families generally regret having waited too long and wish they had done an intervention sooner. The reality of interventions is that we do not receive cases in the early stages of addiction. What professional drug addiction interventionists often face is a situation that needs attention sooner rather than later. We understand why it has taken this long for the family to come around. Fear of change is a powerful force even when the change could ultimately lead to positive outcomes and greater opportunities.
Who this Service is For
Serving the Family First
Interventions are intended to benefit both sides. The primary focus is helping the family stop protecting the alcoholic’s feelings and start thinking about what the family needs. Whenever we protect someone else’s feelings, we are really protecting our own.
The Connection between
Drug Addiction and Families
Look back at the start of the addiction. Things are most likely quite different now. A family may ask, “How did we get here?” and “How and when did things get this bad?” Over time, the substance user has taken the family hostage. Enabling and codependency become the norm as the drug addicted person employs guilt, hope, fear, and victim tactics to maintain a level of comfort. Even as the family adopts maladaptive coping skills and forms unhealthy roles to balance out the dysfunction, the drug user excels at the family’s expense. It is unlikely that a substance user could operate in such a way without the family’s assistance.
It is OK to help somebody. That can become a problem when the intention to help is to serve or fulfill oneself in doing so. Whenever we help someone unselfishly, with no expectations and for the right reasons, the outcome is often positive on both sides. When we do something for someone, expecting some kind of return or external validation, we become sick, angry, resentful, and full of anxiety. We then find ourselves obsessing, and our behaviors start affecting those around us. This is one way the addiction starts to tear away at the fabric of the family system.
The drug addiction strives to foment chaos and create diversions, beating the broken family into a state of confusion.
Over time, the drug addiction is the focal point while the real problem is pushed to the side, i.e., turmoil within the family. Individual family members all react and process differently, and anger and resentment build among them. Families are not on the same page and are unable to come to an agreement on the best course of action. None of this brings the family closer to a solution and certainly takes away their ability to find one.
Many interventionists try to play therapist and clinician while adding on family recovery and coaching services. None of these interventionists is qualified or licensed to do that. Interventionists must stay in their lane after the person accepts help. The best outcomes come from your loved one’s treatment team and the treatment center’s family program. If you choose an interventionist who offers support services after a successful intervention, it will create friction and discrepancies in your loved one’s treatment; we have gone down that road, and it does not work.
— Mike Loverde, MHS, CIP
Insight into the Drug User’s Patterns and Behaviors
For those using drugs, it is common to be selfish, restless, irritable, and malcontent. It is always someone else’s fault, and were it not for this, that, or the other, the loved one wouldn’t be in the current situation—in other words, always a victim, never the cause of the problem. As the substance use progresses, so does the ability to manipulate others and an inability to tell the truth. Many families are afraid to intervene because they are fearful of the drug user’s reaction, saying perhaps: “If you ever try to do an intervention or make me do something, I will never talk to you again.” Some make far worse threats.
Any Conversation Referencing How Things Need to Change is Met With Anger.
The Loved One Either Overpowers the Conversation or Walks Away to Avoid Confrontation.
Families are held hostage while holding their breath, waiting for something to happen. We have had many families acknowledge that they feel like prisoners in their own homes and have become the substance user’s housemates.
There are times when the drug user concedes a problem exists and promises to do something about it—yet nothing happens. Families lay out ultimatums only to give in on the day a promised change fails to occur. At times, a contract may be suggested where families have their loved ones promise to abide by rules. In our experience, contracts allow substance users to fine tune their dishonesty. These attempts by the family come with the hope the person will stop using drugs. At this point, the family has still to make the connection that drugs are not the problem; it’s the behaviors.
Occasionally, a Substance User Agrees to Get Help, Especially So When the Heat is On.
A problem that often arises is the person using drugs determines what to do and where to go. Typically, attending a meeting is suggested by the loved one, or finding a sponsor, or making an appointment with a therapist. These may be sincere attempts that provide the family with hope. Some families witness their loved one actually go to a detox, an intensive outpatient center, or residential care. The detox is a great first start, but for many, unfortunately, little to no follow-up occurs beyond that. As to the outpatient attempt, it is a valuable and effective level of care for some.
For drug addiction intervention clients or those who meet the criteria for a higher level of care, outpatient care is often not enough and is simply an attempt at a shortcut or a quick fix. Those who check into one of the 28 or 30-day centers often go just to recharge themselves but then wind up in the same environment that allowed the addiction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Drug addiction can destroy lives and any family if not confronted and handled properly. Most families are unaware of what to do or where to turn when a loved one is addicted to drugs. Fortunately for families and substance users, our intervention services are readily available.
With proper professional guidance, families can confront drug addiction head-on and begin getting their lives back in order. Until the family comes together and makes the decision to seek an intervention, drug users will continue to hurt not only themselves, but everyone close to them.
Drug addiction interventions are needed to break the cycle of excessive use, blame, and enablement. Family First Intervention teaches families to recognize attempted manipulations while helping the addict take responsibility.
Our drug addiction interventions are successful due to the fact many addicts actually do want to quit using. The problem, however, is that they do not know how. We not only help your family confront the situation, but we can also ensure your loved one is willing to accept help through accountability and responsibility for his or her addiction.
Severe drug addiction is a truly fatal problem, but it is also 100 percent treatable. In our drug addiction interventions, we explain to families and substance users how to make the family less accountable and the drug addict more accountable for the addiction.
Familial roles are always a major factor in interventions because the addiction has created a system that cushions and enables the drug user. Interventions teach families how important it is to change behaviors to make the addiction more difficult for their loved one. It is true that addicts need to feel some sort of a bottoming out, and that cannot happen if everyone is aiding and supporting the loved one’s drug habits.
Our intervention services are designed to get your loved one willing to accept help and go directly to treatment. It is important for families and addicts to understand that intervention is built on the premise that the problem is the addict, and not necessarily the drugs themselves.
A substance user is almost always willing to do the shortest and quickest level of treatment, close to home, and without proper intervention for rehabilitation guidance. This can cause serious problems because, as with everything else, drug addicts are focused on instant gratification and taking the path of least resistance. That is one of the reasons these individuals self-medicate by abusing drugs.
In many cases, the family pays the bills, provides the car, buys the food, and pays for a lawyer while the drug addict is running the show. Addicts convince their families that if confronted with an intervention, they would walk away or not follow through. They also try to manipulate their families and loved ones, convincing them that the way things are now is the way things should be.
Addicts try feverishly to convince their families that they can fix the problem themselves by going to meetings or seeing a psychiatrist. They also often promise loved ones that if something bad were to happen, they would simply stop using drugs. Almost all addicts sincerely feel they can just stop, or even control their drug use, if they try hard enough.
An intervention for drug addiction is based on the premise that your loved one is the least qualified person in the entire family to determine diagnosis and treatment. Until families decide to intervene, the addict’s preferred course of action will be to continue taking drugs. Until the individual is willing to accept responsibility for the addiction, his or her family situation will continue to get worse. It will eventually end with the addict in jail, institutionalized or dead.
Typically, when families call seeking an intervention, it is at a point where things have spiraled out of control and the drug user’s actions are significantly affecting the rest of the family. But it needn’t be that way. An intervention can and should take place as soon as addiction is apparent. Don’t wait for your loved one to hit rock bottom, because by then, it may be too late for him or her to accept help.
Family First Intervention operates in all 50 states and has helped more than 7,500 families since we launched in 2008. If you’re even partially considering looking for help for a loved one who is struggling with drug addiction, you should make a call and inquire about an intervention sooner rather than later.
Intervention Services
Explore Our Other Services for Mental Health Disorders, Alcohol, and Drug Addiction
Experienced Intervention Counselors Are Here to Help
In order to provide families and the substance user with effective solutions, a team approach is a necessity. Our experienced team works collaboratively, and each member builds on the strengths, knowledge, and motivation of others. We all have different experiences and varying degrees of education that we can bring together. No one person can accomplish these goals alone.
An intervention is not about how to control your loved one with a substance use or mental health disorder; it is about learning how to let go of believing you can.
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