What is an intervention?
How do I know if it’s right for me?
Common Questions (objections, fears, excuses)
- But he’s been to treatment 8 times before.
- He always does great but then he gets out and needs help to get his life going.
- He’s already been to jail. He’s reached his bottom.
Most families, unknowingly and often for years, provide support to their loved one thinking it is helping them with a car to get to work, with rent so they can keep their apartment with their children, with car payments so they are not late, etc. The reality is this kind of help is only providing support that allows the addiction to continue.
In order to stop the cycle of addiction in some families, it is necessary for the family to break down the current compartmentalized system in order to rebuild a strong family system that is fully oriented around recovery. Doing this will ensure all members of the family know how to respond to any situation that arises and so that they do not succumb to the fear in moments of weakness.
The reality is that addiction is a disease that must be treated professionally and stopping it is in a family’s control through intervening with the guidance of a professional.
- Family system intervention is for everyone in the family, not just the alcoholic.
- It begins by changing the family system that has developed around the alcoholic in order to create lasting change.
- Intervention is designed for the family whose loved one may have tried treatment before and/or who is demonstrating an unwillingness.
- The goals of an intervention are to get in between the person with an addicted brain AND the destruction they are causing to themselves and to others in their path…
- As well as to create a strong aftercare support system and for family to prepare for what is to come regardless of what their loved one chooses.
- Family Intervention creates a paradigm shift in all family members, in the family as a whole and in the mind, body and spirit of the person struggling.
The four stages of an intervention process are:
- Family Education
- Organize & Prepare
- Review & Approach
- Maintenance & Support
The history of Recovery Conversations(™) family intervention model is that through weekly family support meetings, we began to see people’s loved ones were getting sober and finding recovery. When you change the way you are dancing with someone, they have to change where they put their feet. We found that individuals were getting well simply by changing how the family speaks to, relates to, connects with and interacts with them during active addiction, while in treatment and while on a recovery path.
Here are common statements we hear during and after interventions from our clients:
“I had no idea what this really was and now I get it, this has been a game changer for our whole family”
“After we had our meetings we were so much more prepared than we had been!”
“No one ever told us what to do in all these frightful situations. We are so grateful for this process.”
“I never expected him/her to say THAT!”
An intervention is about providing a long term lasting solution within a family so that the family unit becomes stronger than the addiction.
How is the success of an intervention measured?
Many families focus on the result of a successful intervention being that someone accepts help. This is a small part of the success of an intervention though understandable that families want everyone to be well.
The success of an intervention lies within the family’s ability to follow the direction and guidance of the Intervention Professional.
Questions we ask the alcoholic:
What are you willing to do for your recovery?
Are you willing to try something different?
Are you willing to look within yourself at the ways you need to change?
Are you willing to do whatever it takes to save your life?
We ask the family the same questions when considering an intervention:
What are you willing to do for your loved one and your family?
Are you willing to try something different?
Are you willing to look within yourself at the ways you need to change?
Are you willing to do whatever it takes to save your loved one and your family?