Effective Substance Abuse Intervention

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Oftentimes participants write out their feelings and concerns in letter form and then read their letters aloud to the addict in the group setting. Details should not be held back about hurtful and destructive behaviors and pointing out the physical and financial toll the addiction is taking and laying out likely consequences, such as divorce, loss of friendship, eviction, loss of job, going to jail, or not being able to see their children, if they do not stop. Everything should be an effort to get the person into treatment.

What if the intervention fails?

It hurts, but interventions can fail. You must be prepared to face this truth. A true professional will help participants prepare for the possibility that the person will reject their help and refuse treatment. An intervention can do more harm than good if not done properly. In most cases, an addict cannot be forced to go to treatment so you need to help them make the choice to pursue treatment for themselves. Participants are urged to remember that they cannot allow the situation to get worse for them. Even if the intervention does not go well, individuals in the addict’s life need to stop protecting the addict. Protecting them, enabling and/or rationalizing their behavior will do both them and their enablers more harm than good. Ceasing to enable them may provide the reality therapy they need to see the problem for themselves. Even when individuals can be coerced into treatment, such as when police and courts get involved, treatment does little good until the person wants recovery for himself.

 Recovery

Recovery does not often take hold until the person realizes there is a problem and proactively decides they want to stop. In fact, there is a high rate of recidivism in recovering individuals, which means that addicts may go through treatment several times before they stop for good. Again, addicts need to want to stop drug abuse for themselves. Recovery is also important for those involved in the addict’s life, they often need support.  A great group for those personally involved in an addict's life is called Al Anon. This group teaches friends and family how to lovingly detach. It’s a hard process and everyone involved will need some support.

 

 

 

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