If we can't get them to get help, why should we believe that an interventionist (a "stranger") could do any better?

The most obvious answer is that because you are family, you are already working at a severe disadvantage. The person already has habits with the family, ways of controlling people. He knows what buttons to push. He knows everyone's history, whose sheets to pull and how to manipulate the group through crisis.

An interventionist has an exterior vantage point that the family has long since lost. As a result, the interventionist can get the family onto a game plan, taking into consideration each person's individual truth . While a family, working within its own confines, often just argues about whose plan is best, or will end up executing plans of their own without informing anyone.

Also, people have an emotional history with other family members, and so they will get off course and not give it another thought. With an interventionist, you have someone who's your point person, keeping the goal and the strategy alive, working and in plain view, no matter how muddy the water may get.

An interventionist should also be someone who has experience with addiction, ideally. My best recommendation is not to hire a therapist or a doctor or a psychiatrist who thinks he knows how to do an intervention because he has read a book on it somewhere or has “done some interventions.” Always get references! The ideal candidate is someone who's actually been there, and can talk to the person from personal experience. This is what reaches the addict, and this is why I succeed, time after time. Not because of the books I've read or the certifications I have, but because I have an intimate history with just about every drug, over many years of use, and in many different circumstances.

A lot of families keep coming up with new conversations to throw at the addict, believing that this new conversation will be different: if we do this it will be different, if we say this meaningful sentence, this profound phrase, if we bring his attention to this consequence, that the addict will have the correct realization at last, see the error of his ways and will go into treatment. That, sadly enough, is what families get locked into, doing it over and over. Same endeavor, different script, same results.

If you are considering hiring an interventionist, then my advice is this: don't experiment on your own, stabbing in the dark with last-ditch efforts, and then when everything is totally screwed up, in chaos or worse, you call the interventionist. An interventionist can work best when he can put as many of his cards on the table as possible. You don't want to undermine everything the interventionist is truly capable of doing by playing the cards before he can play them as part of a larger strategy. Let the interventionist play the cards from the start. Let him orchestrate things.

What is an Intervention?

What is an Intervention?

Intervention has been defined in various ways by various people, since the concept was introduced about 50 years ago. Originally, interventions were oriented around confrontation and surrender; telling the addict how his destructive behavior was affecting the family, listing his wrongdoings, and giving the addict an ultimatum as a means of motivation and forcing him to eventually “give in” to the demands of the family. Many of these earlier models, some still in practice, insist that an addict must admit to having a problem, and to his need for help, as a measure of intervention success. These models, however common their practice, have left behind a legacy of as much wreckage as they attempt to solve.

Modern day professionals are apt to say that an intervention should be oriented around the love of the family, and designed to reach the part of the addict that wants to get better, while at the same time shutting down resources so that the person is essentially left with one solution, a way out, which is giving treatment a try. I agree with this approach more or less, when it is assisted by an experienced professional.

The sole purpose of an intervention is to guide the family, the circumstances, and the addict to make his own, personal choice to enter treatment, without force, humiliation, or intimidation.

Of course, this is vastly easier and much more quickly achieved with the help of a professional interventionist. Having an objective, experienced observer provides a sounding board for the family, a neutral dumping ground, as well as a “safe” terminal for the addict. A seasoned professional can direct you, and the rest of the family, minute by minute when necessary, through the labyrinth of the addiction to get the person into treatment.

It is equally important to talk about what an intervention is not , since there are a lot of ideas floating around. For example, an intervention is not a “wake up call” to get the person to realize he has a problem, and to get him looking for answers. Addicts know they have a problem, even though they lie about it in one way or another, and if you give them the task of “researching places to get help,” then you will really be in for a treat. The reason you're having the intervention is because the individual is not ethical or honest or making good decisions, so the ethic has to be forced in and the decision needs to be made by the people who know the addict, what he will like in a facility once he's there, and what will actually work, not what the addict wants to do.

Further, an intervention is not a time to get the person to admit to having a problem. This idea is usually the result of the family's desire to get control of the person, or for some sort of emotional payoff or satisfaction on the part of the family. But admitting something to one's mother is the absolute last thing an addict wants to do. It's humiliating. It should not be a requirement or prerequisite to go to treatment. If the person goes to treatment, it should not matter what he admits to his family, and whatever he admits, or doesn't admit, to his family should not be considered a measure of how badly he actually wants help.

Also, an intervention should never be a confrontation. Confronting someone who is already combative or isolated or hostile is the quickest way to get things undone and usually just results in worsening the situation.

In summary, an intervention is not a wake-up call. It is not a stand-alone event. An intervention, by design, is a means to an end, a way to get a person into treatment. A person does not need a wakeup call, he knows he has a problem, although he may not be admitting it to you. So an intervention is not a time to “open his eyes to the realities of what he's doing.” His eyes are already open – he knows it even though he may not be saying it, but he knows it. The intervention, in other words, is not therapy . An intervention is a way to get something done, to get the person through the front doors of treatment willingly and quickly.

Intervention Drug or Alcohol and Treatment

Basic Family Intervention Services

Family intervention services should be customized every time.

The goal of the family intervention is to get the addict to agree to go to treatment and to figure out the most likely way to accomplish this. It is not to have a family intervention meeting if there is some other strategy that will work better, for example. An alcoholic can have more severe physical issues, more severe withdrawal symptoms, and therefore need a very carefully planned and executed strategy which accounts for literally every hour of the final steps of the family intervention process. Transport should also be included. If these intervention services are not included then look somewhere else.

The Family Intervention Services Counselor

Hiring a family intervention services specialist is a very wise move for most families.

A family intervention is difficult even with a professional interventionist, much less the difficulties a family will encounter in trying to do a drug intervention on their own. An intervention services professional can bring a wide selection of intervention services for each problem encountered, and since they are not family, the interventionist can maintain a distance and neutrality during the family intervention, family members cannot.

More Than Hope, LLC Certified Family Intervention Service Professionals

We work with a few, select, family intervention service professionals who have shown themselves to be effective time and time again in the field.

They have a proven track record of family intervention success, and do not have a history of creating fireworks or confrontations. Our short list of family intervention service professionals are dedicated to their results and not their fees, and have shown loyalty and dedication to the families they work with beyond what is expected during a family intervention. If you would like truly professional family intervention services you will feel good about, please call our family intervention hotline at 1-(888) 864-7911.

Getting Your Family Intervention Started

If you would like to find out more about family intervention services, please call our family intervention services hotline at (888) 864-7911 for free, no hassle information.

Mythical Intervention

Any family, any town, USA…

“…so this guy my mom hired came and said he could help us, he even showed us his medal for being an addict. He had us write letters about how we felt toward John, about how his behavior is negatively effecting each of us…then, we all read and approved each others letters, thinking how right to the point it all was and how relieved we’d be if we didn’t get bludgeoned with one of John’s crises first.
Imagining the meeting, I had a fleeting twinge of anticipation softly twisting in my stomach as I ran the scenario over in my head; We’d read our letters and try to get him to say ‘yes,’ if we could… It never played out very well in my mind.
We grew restless as the meeting time approached. I had a very sudden, very intense desire to start running down the stairs and to get as far away as possible. I can’t help thinking that everyone else felt it as well, if only for a second. But we stayed together and agreed that we all just wanted to get it over with.
Eventually, John came home. As he walked in, we watched him take in the scene in a sort of surreal, slow motion - the six of us sitting around the living room, holding handwritten letters and all looking at him in a dead, unnatural silence. I realized that John must know what we were doing. Hell, I would. I started to panic. But much to my relief, and to our collective surprise, he came in, sat down, and listened as we awkwardly launched into the reading of the letters. Everything went smoothly for about ten minutes, through Bills letter. At that point, John said something about how Bill was getting pain medication from some mutual friend at work and how if Bill would go, then he’d go. My mom’s eyes opened in shock at this news…Bill what? Then it started. Volleys of defensive postures and offensive insults surged through the air between the boys; skeletons that made us glad to be in a house with thick walls were laid out and picked through, any morsels of blame hurriedly launched...Dad seemed to be inching toward the doorway and mom was now tearing, eyes open wide, staring into just-what-she’d-feared-would-happen. I just hoped she’d stay quiet now.
In the midst of this flurry however, some of us did manage to make it known to John that we were cutting off all of his support. We even managed a sorry attempt at delivering this crushing news “lovingly,” as we were instructed to do.
So there we were, hammering away at these ultimatums, these love-coated coffin nails.
My turn to read came and I made myself say to him – to he who had very recently sold my great grandfathers violin for $15 to buy drugs – to the guy I had blamed for our parents divorce just moments earlier, how much I love and miss him. At that point I just prayed he wouldn’t go postal on us. He wasn’t violent really, but he could cause damage.
The meeting went south completely, ending in embarrassment and frustration. He blew and we couldn’t find him for days. The intervention guy left. He said he’ll call and keep working with us, but…”

This is an exaggerated, albeit fairly accurate example, of common fears about family intervention services. It leans toward an intervention worst-case, to make a point. These commonly held ideas have been a bane to us professionally, since they would never exist in any family intervention. b Ask me what would be. Stevne K. Bruno 1(888) -864-7911

Family Drug Intervention Stigma

The Intervention Stigma
A family intervention, no matter the drug, is about getting the person into drug treatment or detox.

Contrary to some older ideas about what family intervention services should include, like getting the addict to admit to having a problem, or ask for help, I have found that complicating a family intervention with these additional agenda’s can severely bog down the intervention process and are, for the most part, completely irrelevant. I measure an interventionist’s success by the number of people in treatment, not by how many confessions have occurred during the family intervention itself. The fact is that an addict will admit whatever you want them to admit, if they think it will get them what they want. And, they will change their minds on a dime, so confessions should not be a big priority during a family intervention.

Whether or not an addict asks for help during a family intervention is not a measure of their willingness, or of how well they will succeed. It is only a measure of what you have managed to get them to say in the midst of the family intervention. I have seen addicts go to treatment willingly and fall flat, and I have seen them come in kicking and screaming and end up the brightest success stories ever. Statistically, addicts who go to treatment unwillingly do slightly better, in fact. Therefore, getting them to agree to go and getting them there is what is important as your number one family intervention goal, even if they are in denial. Bigger picture realizations can, and will, come after they are thinking like a human being again.

Family intervention services are not necessarily what you see on TV, or what you hear about at a 12-Step meeting. It is a larger set of solutions that should be well managed, which can succeed without fireworks, and which can be made permanent. Please call our family intervention hotline for more details.

After years of listening to what others, “already know,” about family intervention services, the following are FICTIONAL examples of things considered to be commonplace during a family intervention.The Intervention Stigma

After years of listening to what others, “already know,” about family intervention services, the following are FICTIONAL examples of things considered to be commonplace during a family intervention.

As you read, keep in mind that these are fictional examples of what a family intervention should neither become, nor ever include, presented as a story.

Any family, any town, USA…

“…so this guy my mom hired came and said he could help us, he even showed us his medal for being an addict. He had us write letters about how we felt toward John, about how his behavior is negatively effecting each of us…then, we all read and approved each others letters, thinking how right to the point it all was and how relieved we’d be if we didn’t get bludgeoned with one of John’s crises first.
Imagining the meeting, I had a fleeting twinge of anticipation softly twisting in my stomach as I ran the scenario over in my head; We’d read our letters and try to get him to say ‘yes,’ if we could… It never played out very well in my mind.
We grew restless as the meeting time approached. I had a very sudden, very intense desire to start running down the stairs and to get as far away as possible. I can’t help thinking that everyone else felt it as well, if only for a second. But we stayed together and agreed that we all just wanted to get it over with.
Eventually, John came home. As he walked in, we watched him take in the scene in a sort of surreal, slow motion - the six of us sitting around the living room, holding handwritten letters and all looking at him in a dead, unnatural silence. I realized that John must know what we were doing. Hell, I would. I started to panic. But much to my relief, and to our collective surprise, he came in, sat down, and listened as we awkwardly launched into the reading of the letters. Everything went smoothly for about ten minutes, through Bills letter. At that point, John said something about how Bill was getting pain medication from some mutual friend at work and how if Bill would go, then he’d go. My mom’s eyes opened in shock at this news…Bill what? Then it started. Volleys of defensive postures and offensive insults surged through the air between the boys; skeletons that made us glad to be in a house with thick walls were laid out and picked through, any morsels of blame hurriedly launched...Dad seemed to be inching toward the doorway and mom was now tearing, eyes open wide, staring into just-what-she’d-feared-would-happen. I just hoped she’d stay quiet now.
In the midst of this flurry however, some of us did manage to make it known to John that we were cutting off all of his support. We even managed a sorry attempt at delivering this crushing news “lovingly,” as we were instructed to do.
So there we were, hammering away at these ultimatums, these love-coated coffin nails.
My turn to read came and I made myself say to him – to he who had very recently sold my great grandfathers violin for $15 to buy drugs – to the guy I had blamed for our parents divorce just moments earlier, how much I love and miss him. At that point I just prayed he wouldn’t go postal on us. He wasn’t violent really, but he could cause damage.
The meeting went south completely, ending in embarrassment and frustration. He blew and we couldn’t find him for days. The intervention guy left. He said he’ll call and keep working with us, but…”

This is an exaggerated, albeit fairly accurate example, of common fears about family intervention services. It leans toward an intervention worst-case, to make a point. These commonly held ideas have been a bane to us professionally, since they would never exist in any family intervention.


Family Intervention Service Rules

In a family intervention, there is an objective which requires every bit of attention; the agreement and immediate admittance of the addict to the treatment center. At the end of the day, it is enough, and difficult enough as it is. Discussions which may crush, humiliate, shame, or otherwise lock up our communication with the addict are therefore avoided…

1. Never confront the addict, or allow for it. No subject warrants giving them traction (a good reason) to become stuck.
2. Do not talk about the problem, nor expound upon a list of their wreckage, unless the goal is an emotional payoff for the person delivering it.
It is a mystery that books and professionals tout such punitive methods. They probably spend a good deal of time dealing with the reactions and withdrawal that embarrassing or volatile subjects cause in the first place.
In any case, every meeting or dialogue we plan for is completely solutions oriented, with no mention of drugs or collateral damage. This way, even sensitive messages can be delivered effectively and without harm.
3. Any marked or prolonged hostility effectively ends whatever step is happening at the time. Hostility is never productive.
4. Do not attempt to get them to admit to their problem.
5. It is not necessary for them to tell the family that they are ‘ready to get help,’ as a prerequisite to get help.
It is ludicrous to attempt to get the addict to say these sorts of things, in light of how difficult the job already is, and the fact that very little of what an addict says is true anyway. Confessions and an appreciation for any help given are great milestones to look for as the addict gets well, but have no place in an intervention. If you can get them into treatment successfully, whether they admit to having a problem or not becomes immaterial.
6. No psychiatric evaluations.
Currently or recently practicing addicts get misdiagnosed as manic or bi-polar all too often, and are prescribed a lifetime of neurological drugs.
We encourage clean time measured in months before anything like a chemical imbalance would be considered a noteworthy conclusion. Any treatment center worth it’s salt will make good use of this time, helping the addict to clean up his past transgressions, in an effort to bring him back to balance in a healthy way.


As you read, keep in mind that these are fictional examples of what a family intervention should neither become, nor ever include, presented as a story.

Any family, any town, USA…

“…so this guy my mom hired came and said he could help us, he even showed us his medal for being an addict. He had us write letters about how we felt toward John, about how his behavior is negatively effecting each of us…then, we all read and approved each others letters, thinking how right to the point it all was and how relieved we’d be if we didn’t get bludgeoned with one of John’s crises first.
Imagining the meeting, I had a fleeting twinge of anticipation softly twisting in my stomach as I ran the scenario over in my head; We’d read our letters and try to get him to say ‘yes,’ if we could… It never played out very well in my mind.
We grew restless as the meeting time approached. I had a very sudden, very intense desire to start running down the stairs and to get as far away as possible. I can’t help thinking that everyone else felt it as well, if only for a second. But we stayed together and agreed that we all just wanted to get it over with.
Eventually, John came home. As he walked in, we watched him take in the scene in a sort of surreal, slow motion - the six of us sitting around the living room, holding handwritten letters and all looking at him in a dead, unnatural silence. I realized that John must know what we were doing. Hell, I would. I started to panic. But much to my relief, and to our collective surprise, he came in, sat down, and listened as we awkwardly launched into the reading of the letters. Everything went smoothly for about ten minutes, through Bills letter. At that point, John said something about how Bill was getting pain medication from some mutual friend at work and how if Bill would go, then he’d go. My mom’s eyes opened in shock at this news…Bill what? Then it started. Volleys of defensive postures and offensive insults surged through the air between the boys; skeletons that made us glad to be in a house with thick walls were laid out and picked through, any morsels of blame hurriedly launched...Dad seemed to be inching toward the doorway and mom was now tearing, eyes open wide, staring into just-what-she’d-feared-would-happen. I just hoped she’d stay quiet now.
In the midst of this flurry however, some of us did manage to make it known to John that we were cutting off all of his support. We even managed a sorry attempt at delivering this crushing news “lovingly,” as we were instructed to do.
So there we were, hammering away at these ultimatums, these love-coated coffin nails.
My turn to read came and I made myself say to him – to he who had very recently sold my great grandfathers violin for $15 to buy drugs – to the guy I had blamed for our parents divorce just moments earlier, how much I love and miss him. At that point I just prayed he wouldn’t go postal on us. He wasn’t violent really, but he could cause damage.
The meeting went south completely, ending in embarrassment and frustration. He blew and we couldn’t find him for days. The intervention guy left. He said he’ll call and keep working with us, but…”

This is an exaggerated, albeit fairly accurate example, of common fears about family intervention services. It leans toward an intervention worst-case, to make a point. These commonly held ideas have been a bane to us professionally, since they would never exist in any family intervention.


Family Intervention Service Rules

In a family intervention, there is an objective which requires every bit of attention; the agreement and immediate admittance of the addict to the treatment center. At the end of the day, it is enough, and difficult enough as it is. Discussions which may crush, humiliate, shame, or otherwise lock up our communication with the addict are therefore avoided…

1. Never confront the addict, or allow for it. No subject warrants giving them traction (a good reason) to become stuck.
2. Do not talk about the problem, nor expound upon a list of their wreckage, unless the goal is an emotional payoff for the person delivering it.
It is a mystery that books and professionals tout such punitive methods. They probably spend a good deal of time dealing with the reactions and withdrawal that embarrassing or volatile subjects cause in the first place.
In any case, every meeting or dialogue we plan for is completely solutions oriented, with no mention of drugs or collateral damage. This way, even sensitive messages can be delivered effectively and without harm.
3. Any marked or prolonged hostility effectively ends whatever step is happening at the time. Hostility is never productive.
4. Do not attempt to get them to admit to their problem.
5. It is not necessary for them to tell the family that they are ‘ready to get help,’ as a prerequisite to get help.
It is ludicrous to attempt to get the addict to say these sorts of things, in light of how difficult the job already is, and the fact that very little of what an addict says is true anyway. Confessions and an appreciation for any help given are great milestones to look for as the addict gets well, but have no place in an intervention. If you can get them into treatment successfully, whether they admit to having a problem or not becomes immaterial.
6. No psychiatric evaluations.
Currently or recently practicing addicts get misdiagnosed as manic or bi-polar all too often, and are prescribed a lifetime of neurological drugs.
We encourage clean time measured in months before anything like a chemical imbalance would be considered a noteworthy conclusion. Any treatment center worth it’s salt will make good use of this time, helping the addict to clean up his past transgressions, in an effort to bring him back to balance in a healthy way.

More Than Hope LLC offers a bright light to those looking for family intervention services.

99% of intervention success is the direct result of working with relationships and has had little, if anything, to do with drugs or alcohol. These, sometimes drastic changes, become the basis for creating balanced, manageable tactics, and permanent solutions.

A family intervention often requires the assistance of an intervention services professional who offers intervention services as well as family intervention counseling.

Intervention service professionals are usually ex-addicts, or therapists who have some degree of experience doing family interventions.

Personally, I have done around 200 family interventions, plus a number of difficult transports. I have over 20 years of experience as a practicing addict, and many of my family intervention services and strategies are the result of my years as an addict. My other arsenal is the result of working on the intervention service front lines for eight years, and has enabled me to have a 90% intervention success rate today.

Family intervention services should be, when done by a consummate professional, a larger set of changes in the relationships around the addict. You should look for an interventionist with this big picture perspective on what is possible during a family intervention.

The intervention will allow everyone a simpler viewpoint. You will be more able to offer the help you want to put out there as a loved one, without losing more than you already have.