Successful interventions are ones that manage to stay under control and help someone get the treatment they need for dealing with their addiction. Families often reach a point where they know that they can no longer tolerate watching their loved one struggle with an addiction. Sadly, someone’s dependency upon drugs or alcohol can cause them to damage their relationships by lying, getting into legal trouble and even stealing from their very own loved ones. It is also hard to see your loved one’s physical and emotional health decline. Once you’ve made the decision to host an intervention, you’ll want to make sure that you do it right. Knowing the eight components a successive intervention should have makes it more likely that your loved one will accept your plea for them to seek treatment.
How Do Interventions Typically Work?
An intervention is likely a lot like what you already imagine. You’ll pull together a group of your loved one’s closest family members and friends to hold a discussion about their addiction. While these types of situations can sometimes lead to strong emotions, they work best when everyone remains as calm as possible. Some families also include a counselor or intervention specialist to make sure that things don’t get overly heated, and this might be an option to explore if you anticipate heightened emotions from your loved one.
Once you’ve put together your group of people, you’ll all gather at a time when you know that your loved one will be available. Some people gather in the person’s home so that they’ll arrive and see everyone after they get home for work. Others plan to meet at another location and invite their loved one like it is a normal social gathering. If possible, try to plan this meeting for a time when your loved one will be sober. This helps to make sure that they soak up as much of what you have to say as possible.
How Do You Know If Someone Needs an Intervention?
Most people host interventions when their other attempts at talking their loved one into getting help have failed. Your loved one may need an intervention if they seem oblivious to the way that their addiction affects people around them. Having each member of the group share how they feel is an eye opening experience for someone who is dealing with an addiction.
For example, your spouse might need to hear about how their addiction is affecting your adult children, or a roommate may need to know that the rest of their housemates won’t tolerate having their money go missing any longer. Keep in mind that the main goal is not to overwhelm the person struggling with an addiction. Instead, you want to keep things positive. After sharing something hard, have each person offer options for making things better such as going to counseling together in the future.
What Should You Include In a Successful Intervention?
Every good intervention should have the following components to help it go smoothly and be effective.
- A group of close family members and friends
- A private and comfortable location
- A pre-planned order for speakers
- A carefully rehearsed script
- A list of possible solutions
- A list of potential consequences
- A goal of keeping things calm
- A plan to initiate treatment
You’ll first want to make sure that each member of the group has something meaningful to add to the intervention. While you want to include the main people in your loved one’s life, you also want to keep the group at a manageable size. Since each person will have an opportunity to talk, you don’t want the intervention to get so long that you loved one stops listening. It is also a good idea to rehearse what everyone is going to say.
This helps to prevent things from getting too repetitive. Each speaker will also project more confidence when they’ve had time to think about what they want to say. It also helps to plan the order of speakers carefully. Having someone that is closest to your loved one start talking first can help to get their interest. You might also want to finish up with the person who is most likely to get a positive response during the call to action. For example, having a spouse or child make the final request for seeking treatment could push the response in a positive direction.
Are you thinking about hosting an intervention? One of the most important components is to have a strong recommendation for a drug rehab. Give us a call today, and we’ll help you know where to suggest for your loved one to go to start their recovery. Call us at 844-639-8371.