An intervention can lead to an addict getting the help they need to break their addiction, but it is not only performed for the addict.  Intervention is also a process that helps everyone in the family.

When facing a loved one’s addiction, the family often feels powerless, helpless, and hopeless.  An intervention can give the family a sense of power.  Constructing an intervention can provide relief for family members who need it.

If the intervention is successful in persuading the addict to accept treatment, the family receives closure.  They also feel joy in the role they played in helping their loved one get well.  Even if the intervention is not successful, the family still stands to gain a feeling of peace of mind or resolution, knowing they did everything in their power to help.

A person who is abusing drugs or alcohol often feels that their addiction doesn’t affect anyone else. In reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth.  Addiction is like a ripple in a pond.  The central point is the addicted person, but the effects of his or her addiction spread out like waves, engulfing everyone around them and affecting the family and beyond.

Those closest to the addicted person obviously feel the effects the most.  Spouses are hit hard.  They live with a person with whom they fell in love and married, but that person doesn’t act like his or herself anymore.  The addicted spouse may say or do things, intentionally or unintentionally, to hurt their partner.  The supporting spouse may worry about the substance abuser’s ability to function normally.

Parents of an addict are also significantly affected.  It is the nature of a parent to feel a sense responsibility for their child’s actions; therefore, parents may feel as if their child’s addiction is their own fault, a result of bad parenting.  They will likely feel they should have done more to prevent their child from falling into this lifestyle.

Like parents, children of an addict may feel guilt as if their parent’s addiction is their own fault.  Even as young kids, they might feel ashamed or embarrassed by their parent’s behavior in public while under the influence.  As older kids, teenagers, or young adults, they are at high risk of developing their own addiction to drugs and alcohol.

An individual’s addiction can also spread to those outside the immediate family circle.  Grandparents and other family members also suffer and deal with the effects of their loved one’s affliction.

It is our firm belief that the addiction cannot change or be overcome without the family changing as well.  We will educate your family about addiction, intervention, and recovery.

We will help your family recognize how their own behaviors have contributed to the problem.  We will work with you to uncover and eliminate toxic dynamics and help your family learn to stand together as a solid unit. Bringing the family together as a unified front is our first order of business.

Our interventionists will teach your family about enabling and codependent behaviors and how to avoid them, and how to set boundaries so that the addicted family member is able to accept help.  The bottom line here is that addiction, intervention, treatment, and recovery are issues that affect and involve the entire family, not just the addicted individual.

Addiction interventions were first made known by the tv show Intervention, which has been out for decades and have helped many addicts find a new way of life. One thing that’s important to remember is that intervention is not only about the person, but about the family. We take the family model of addiction intervention serious because we know that’s where the focus needs to be.

Addiction Intervention is just as much about family healing as it is about the addict’s healing.  The addict, whose world generally revolves around themselves, don’t realize that the family is hyper aware of the problem and feels the full impact.  They must deal with these hardships day in and day out, which creates unimaginable amounts of stress and heartache.

The intervention process is a two-day event in which day one is all about starting the family’s healing process.  The addict’s family meets with the intervention specialist to discuss issues surrounding the family caused by addiction.  The counselor can help the family understand if and how they have enabled the addict.

They will learn to see through the addict’s deceit and break codependent cycles.  The family will learn what to do and what not to do during the next day’s intervention and how to free themselves of the responsibility of managing the addiction.  They will learn how to support their loved one when he or she returns home from treatment and, perhaps most importantly, they will start on the path to healing from the mental and emotional impact of addiction.

Addiction intervention will improve the life of the entire family. If your addicted loved one gets help, then it leaves room for things to settle down so that the family can also seek help for themselves. The process of healing and change starts with addiction intervention. Call us today.