Intervention Services

What are some of the intervention services available from a professional interventionist beyond the actual intervention? Clearly, the day of the intervention is the event the family has been waiting for, but there are many issues to discuss and decide, both before and after the actual intervention. It is important to find out what intervention services are available from your interventionist so that you may plan accordingly throughout the process.

Perhaps the first intervention service available from most interventionists is assessing the treatment needs of the addicted person. Information concerning the addict such as prior medical, social, education and employment history is very important to the assessment process. The addict’s alcohol/drugs of choice, prior treatment, legal issues and a wide variety of background information help determine what level of treatment care is necessary.

Another intervention services path might be recommendations on where the addict should treat. An experienced interventionist may have helpful information and perhaps contacts at not only local treatment facilities, but also facilities located throughout the nation. An interventionist might be able to provide helpful information concerning treating locally or far away, financing treatment, gender specific facilities, youth facilities and other information necessary to match the addict with the appropriate treatment environment.

As far as the actual intervention is concerned, an elementary intervention service is the preparation for the intervention. This is where a great amount of detail work takes place. Who will be on the intervention team, where will it take place, what time, how to insure the addict appears, what is said by the team members, how to handle objections to treatment and how to close the intervention are just a few of the issues that take place during the planning and preparation of the intervention.

After the intervention, regardless if the addict goes to treatment or not, there is more work to be accomplished. An important intervention service is the follow up. If the addict goes to treatment, some interventionists will continue to follow up with the family regarding the status of the patient and what the family can do to assist the addict in the recovery process. Since addiction is a family disease, most treatment centers will have an opportunity for the family to work on their own recovery. If the family is unable to attend the facility’s family therapy, the interventionist may be able to provide assistance to the family through local therapists or Al Anon meetings.

If the addict refuses treatment, an interventionist might be able to help the family with the creation of healthy boundaries to protect their own self interest. Generally speaking, addicts can’t be forced into treatment. If they refuse treatment, something in the family dynamic has to change. Otherwise, not only will the addict’s destructive behavior continue, the family’s pain will also progress. Creating healthy boundaries is the first step in the family’s recovery.

Organizing an intervention is the most loving thing a family can do for a person suffering from addiction. There is no need for them to suffer or reach their “bottom”, particularly since bottoms oftentimes include severe health and legal problems, not to mention the ultimate bottom of death. If you are considering using an interventionist, find out what intervention services they offer so that the overall process of intervention, treatment and recovery unfold as seamlessly as possible.

Affordable Intervention Services By keeping my fees reasonable, I'm able to reach more families, help more addicts and direct their expenses toward treatment rather than the intervention.