There really is no substitution for preparation when it comes to drug and alcohol interventions. You may hope for the best, but you better be darn sure you are prepared for the worst. Rare is the occasion when a drug and alcohol intervention goes exactly as planned.

I recently facilitated a drug and alcohol intervention where our intensive preparation paid off. The addict was a young 20’s female crack addict. In view of her serious addiction to her stimulant drug of choice, we spent a great deal of time in our pre-intervention meeting going over what the team needed to do in the likely event she goes for the door before we have a chance to even start the process.  Paranoia and anxiety frequently appear in drug and alcohol interventions where the drug of choice is a stimulant.

When the addict walked into the room, she said “hi” to all the members on the intervention team and then turned tail and walked out the front door.  At that moment, the team operated on auto pilot, performing exactly as instructed during our pre-intervention meeting, and managed to get her back into the room where we successfully completed our presentation.

I worked on another drug and alcohol intervention where the mid 30’s male alcoholic quietly sat through the presentation, but consistantly rejected treatment voicing deep concerns regarding his work status and his fear that he’d lose his job if he took the time off to treat. This was an issue that the intervention team had anticipated and discussed thoroughly during our pre-intervention meeting. The end result is that we had planned accordingly and were able to move ahead. The alcoholic graciously accepted the gift of treatment and was taken to a facility that day.

I could go on and on with stories about drug and alcohol interventions where the addict deviated from our best laid plans and forced the team into “plan B”.  (oftentimes it’s plan c, d, e and f!)  The point is that drug and alcohol interventions require extensive planning and preparation.  Quite frankly, I don’t leave a pre-intervention meeting unless all team memebers have been duly prepared, all questions answered, and team all memebers firmly believing that the intervention is the most loving act they, as a family, can do for the one who is suffering from addiction.