Addiction Intervention

Addictions are very serious conditions and may require a professional intervention followed by evidence-based treatments in a rehab centre in order to overcome them. Many addicts will refuse to admit that they have a problem with drugs or alcohol and so will not seek treatment, even though they definitely need it. This is where the intervention will come in.

If you’re not familiar with interventions or if you know someone who is suffering from an addiction and you want to find out more about interventions, read on to find out everything you need to know about what an intervention is, how to stage your own intervention and the keys to a successful intervention.

What is An Addiction Intervention?

An intervention is a controlled type of persuasive confrontation that is designed to help break through the addict’s wall of denial. When an intervention is successful, it helps to motivate the addict to seek professional treatment. Many rehab centres can help with the process of interventions through an intervention specialist. They can give you advice on how to conduct your own intervention or they can put you in touch with an intervention counsellor who can take the lead in the intervention.

An intervention is one of the best things that you can possibly do to help your family member or friend with their addiction. When you get involved in the process of an intervention, you will be showing your genuine concern for your friend or family member’s health and welfare. This is often enough to help motivate the addict to realise that they do need help and to start the process of recovery.

Why Should You Conduct an Intervention?

Interventions are a very useful thing when you have a friend or family member who is suffering from an addiction. If the person you know with the addiction is refusing to seek treatment for their addiction, interventions can be very effective in helping to open the person’s eyes. The intervention can help them realise just how much their addiction is affecting their health, wellbeing, and the lives of those people around them.

Bringing friends and family members together in this way can be quite a powerful way to express the message to the person and it makes it much more likely that the person will end up listening to what is being said to them. This powerful experience can result in the addict accepting the messages from their loved ones and agreeing to go to a rehab centre to get the help they need to overcome their addiction.

What Happens During The Intervention?

An addiction intervention will consist of the person attending a pre-arranged meeting with their family and friends. This is often unbeknown to the addict until they arrive at the scene of the intervention.

Every family member or friend will need to write a speech directed toward the individual. This speech is read out loud at the intervention. The letters should typically aim to express how much the addict means to them, the effect that the addict’s actions and addiction are having on them, a description of how they want the relationship to work moving forward, and asking the addict to accept the proposed addiction treatments that are being put before them.

How to Stage an Addiction Intervention

Before you stage an intervention, you must take the time to prepare in full. You have to be completely ready to stage the intervention. Be sure that all of the attendees know their role in the intervention so that everything runs smoothly.

Below is a list of steps that may help you run a more successful addiction intervention:

• Select all of the people that are invited to the intervention. Be sure to keep in mind that the group should be a small group of people closest to the addict.
• Ask all of the attendees to think about what they want to share with their loved ones during the course of the intervention. Encourage each member to speak compassionately and sincerely.
• Remind all of the attendees of the goal of the intervention. Be sure everyone knows that the end goal is to get the person to go to recovery.
• Make sure everyone knows that they should avoid confrontations and criticisms.
• Make sure everyone is aware that the addict may react with frustration, anger, or resistance.

Keys to a Successful Intervention

When conducting an intervention, there are several things that you should keep in mind if you want to intervention to be a success. These include the following:

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