Friends and relatives of a person who is abusing or addicted to drugs often wonder if a drug intervention is in order.  The purpose of a drug intervention, which is a meeting between a drug abuser and people that the drug abuser can trust, is to confront a drug abuser about his or her behavior.  When is it time for a drug intervention?  The best time is when drug abuse is having a negative impact on the health and well-being of the abuser and on people who depend on and care about the abuser.

Waiting too long to plan a drug intervention can have catastrophic results.  Left untreated, drug abuse can become addiction and addiction can lead to overdose.  It may seem judgmental to step forward and confront a drug abuser or addict, but statistics show that most drug abusers and addicts will not seek treatment on their own.  Substance abuse puts an individual into a state of denial that blinds them to the crisis they are creating for themselves and their loved ones.

It's important to consult a drug intervention professional before initiating an intervention.  A professional interventionist can evaluate the situation and determine whether an intervention is in order.  Drug intervention is a serious process that should be initiated only under professional supervision.  When attempted without an interventionist, there is a risk of alienating the drug abuser and completely breaking down the lines of communication.

A professional drug interventionist will help determine who should be involved in the intervention – it may an entire group of family members and friends or just one or two.  Once it has been determined who will participate in the drug intervention, the interventionist can counsel everyone in preparation for the event.  Besides serving as the event organizer, the interventionist is an unbiased observer who can help everyone stay calm and focused.  Based on past experience with other drug interventions, the interventionist will know how to handle each individual drug abuse situation.

A drug intervention is never easy, but with the help of a professional interventionist and some careful planning, it can be one of the most important events in the life of a drug addict.  If not conducted correctly, an intervention can alienate the addict and may cause them to drop out of contact.  To avoid some common pitfalls here are some useful drug intervention tips to review if you are considering a drug intervention.

First and foremost, contact a professional interventionist.

A professional interventionist should be contacted to organize and guide the entire process.  The interventionist will evaluate the extent of the addict's problem and determine who should be present for the drug intervention.

Seek a safe place for intervention.

A drug intervention should be held in a safe, neutral environment.  It may be a familiar home or a public place, but it should be private.  Choosing a familiar location will help make everyone feel comfortable and protected during the intervention event.

Stay calm during the intervention.

Emotions can run high during a drug intervention.  The addict will deny there is a problem and try to make those who are intervening feel guilty.  Both the addict and those involved in the intervention are likely to express anger and resentment.  Be prepared for emotional outbursts and try to stay as calm as possible.

Follow through after the intervention is complete.

When a drug intervention is successful and the addict agrees to enter treatment, it is critically important that treatment begin immediately.  The interventionist will probably recommend that the addict go directly from the intervention meeting to a rehab facility.  Once treatment is started, family and friends should provide emotional support.  If the intervention is not completely successful and the addict does not agree to treatment, then consequences which were discussed in the intervention need to be carried out.

If an intervention fails, do not give up.

It is not uncommon for an initial drug intervention to be met with resistance on the part of the addict.  Denial runs deep among individuals who are addicted to drugs.  It may take repeated interventions to break through and change the addict's mind about treatment.

The drug intervention process has been proven to succeed because it confronts a drug addict with the impact of his or her behavior while at the same time showing that people care and want to see the addict get treatment.  A drug intervention is a life-affirming first step on the road to recovery and rebirth.  If you have a friend or loved one who has surrendered to addiction, drug intervention may be the only solution.

As a husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend, you know your spouse better than anyone else, and if they have a drug problem, you probably at least suspect that something is going on. Addicts can try to hide their habits, but within the home it is hard to keep these behaviors a secret forever. Whether through intuition or concrete signs of drug use, you are going to find out sooner or later, and when that time comes, a drug intervention may be the only way to get your spouse to see the necessity of rehab.

A few of the more noticeable signs of a drug habit include:

• Unusual hours, especially late nights
• Sudden loss of weight without diet or exercise
• A sudden change in your spouse’s overall attitude
• Secretive activities
• Frequent social outings to which you are not invited
• Moodiness, nervousness, or irritability
• An excessive need for his or her own space
• Chronic lying
• An unexplained shortage of money
• A rapid decline in personal care or hygiene

If one or two of these signs appear, they could easily be attributed to other causes such as work stress or undiagnosed illness. But if you notice three or four or more of them occuring simultaneously, you might want to look a little more closely at your partner’s activities and consider whether a drug intervention is called for.

If your spouse is addicted to drugs, it is also important to look at your own activities. Obviously, you are not to blame for your partner’s addiction, but you may unwittingly be engaging in enabling patterns. Over the months and years of a relationship, it can be easy to fall into these patterns without even realizing it. For example, if you are in the habit of leaving your spouse alone during the hours when he or she uses drugs, or if you regularly fill in for your spouse when they are incapable of fulfilling their responsibilities, this qualifies as enabling. These patterns can be hard to change, but must happen.

Meanwhile, you may feel that this problem is too big for you to deal with on your own, or perhaps you are worried about how your spouse will respond when confronted about the addiction. In this case, you might want to get in touch with a few other close family members to talk about a drug intervention.

A drug intervention may seem extreme, but it is appropriate if your spouse is likely to deny the addiction. The goal of an intervention is to show the addict that the habit has gotten out of control and has begun to negatively affect others. This can be a difficult thing to say without support, so work with others, and you may want to bring in a professional interventionist to guide you through the process.

Most people try not to pry too deeply into their co-workers’ personal lives. While we may get along quite well with our co-workers, many of us feel that it is not our place to interfere in a co-worker’s personal matters. But when someone’s drug addiction starts to affect the work environment, it is time to take action. Although there are many options, holding a drug intervention is often the best choice.

If you are reluctant to hold a drug intervention for a co-worker, consider this: is it really a good idea to pretend drug addiction does not exist just because you are at work? Of course not. In fact, if you are open about this issue involving your co-worker, you may encourage others in your workplace to seek help for their own addictions. As long as we pretend these issues aren’t there, we enable people to continue using.

Holding a workplace drug intervention can be disruptive, but keep in mind that there is more to life than just business. If your co-worker is in serious danger, then you can risk a little workplace tension or a temporary decrease in productivity. Plus, your addicted co-worker is probably hindering productivity as it is, so you might as well do something about it now.

How exactly you go about your workplace drug intervention depends on a few factors. If there are other people in the company who are personally closer to the addict, you might want to talk to them about it before you do anything. Also, find out if there are any company policies governing these matters. For example, maybe the company will cover some of the treatment costs. It can’t hurt to ask.

Before you go through with the drug intervention, you might want to get in touch with a professional interventionist. They can help you with all the practical planning. For example, you will have to decide where and when to hold the drug intervention, whom to invite, and whether to involve the family. These issues can get a little thorny, so seek advice from professional with extensive experience performing interventions.

When preparing for a drug intervention for a loved one, you might be surprised by the number of elements that you have to pull together to make the event work. In fact, a drug intervention can be so daunting that many people choose to work with professional drug intervention specialists to help guide them through the process. Whether you’re doing it on your own or working with an interventionist, here are the important elements that most professionals recommend having:

• Create a core team of three to five people who will be the primary organizers and speakers at the drug intervention. Choose one or two from this group to be the leaders.
• Make a list of how you and other people at the intervention have tried to help the addict in the past, and discuss why those methods didn’t work.
• Write letters to the addict detailing how the addiction has caused you hurt and explaining why you have chosen to take this step. These letters will help you organize your thoughts ahead of the drug intervention, and you can read them aloud or give them to the addict if you choose.
• Make a list of treatment options for the addict. Be sure to make note of how much they cost, how long they take, and what type of treatment they offer.
• Gather information about local support groups, including meeting times and group philosophies.
• Prepare a suitcase just in case the addict agrees to go into treatment right away.
• Create a plan for the event, which should include the order in which everyone will speak.
• Try to anticipate potential objections that the addict may give to seeking treatment, and come up with supportive and non-confrontational ways to counter these objections.
• Go over the logistics for the drug intervention. How will you make sure the addict doesn’t find out about the event in advance? Where will you park your cars? In what order will you arrive? How will you get the person there? These issues may seem small, but they could be crucial to the event’s success.

A drug intervention can be the most effective technique in getting a drug user to turn around his or her life. According to the Addiction Intervention Resources, 92% of people who go through an intervention follow through and go to treatment. However, how do you go about the intervention process if you are dealing with a user who is also gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender? In actuality, a gay and lesbian drug intervention works much like a typical intervention would.

If you hire an interventionist ahead of time, he or she will offer you a step-by-step consultation. You can discuss the major issues and problems during this initial meeting. Often the person hired to run the drug intervention will work with the friends and family of the user to customize the intervention based on the particular person’s personality. At this point, it is important to tell the interventionist about the sexuality of the drug user.  In some areas, it may also be possible to find an interventionist who specializes in working with the LGBT community.

One of the main reasons that it is important to involve the addict’s sexual preference in the drug intervention process is that gay and lesbian addicts will often be referred to a LGBT treatment facility. A person who is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender may be more likely to agree to go to a facility that takes the unique needs regarding his or her sexuality into account.  At a gay and lesbian treatment center, the counselors are more experienced in treating issues that occur in the lives of gay individuals.  This is a very important issue when it comes to rehab because often these users turned to drugs in the first place to deal with the shame that they felt due to society’s disapproval of their lifestyle.

Of course, the treatment that the drug user will receive will be similar to the process that anyone would go through. It will typically include detox as a first step followed by counseling and other types of therapy.  However, when the treatment facility focuses on treating gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender patients, the course of treatment will run much more smoothly.

Studies have shown that homophobia and discrimination that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community encounters can lead to drug addiction and alcoholism. Therefore, if family members are at a gay and lesbian drug intervention to offer their love and support, it can be truly transformative.

A drug intervention takes significant planning and organization, and anyone who has never been involved with an intervention may not know where to start. It’s also a very delicate thing, with any number of elements that can go wrong. That’s why it’s best to work with an intervention specialist or interventionist who can help you plan your event, coach you on what to say, and provide you with the materials you need to educate your loved one about treatment options.

What does an interventionist do?

Close family members and friends of an addict often have raw feelings about the issue. The mere act of discussing how the addiction has hurt them can be extremely difficult, and talking about it to an addict’s face can be overwhelming. That’s why you need someone who is not emotionally involved in the situation to take the reins at the event. When things get off course or overly emotional, the intervention specialist is there to keep the event moving forward.

But even before the event takes place, your intervention specialist will be closely involved with all the planning and preparation. Your specialist will advise you on when to hold the event, how to approach your conversation with the addict, and how to deal with any difficulties that arise. All in all, he or she will be the guiding hand ensuring that everything goes well.

How to find an intervention specialist

Drug interventionists are available from multiple resources. As you begin to prepare for your intervention, you’ll be doing research into the treatment options in your area. Call around to treatment facilities and find out if they have staff with expertise in interventions. Meanwhile, support groups often have organizers who double as intervention specialists either as volunteers or for a fee. It can’t hurt to call and ask.

For a drug intervention to be successful, everything needs to go right. It helps to have the intervention at the perfect setting and time, with all the important people in the addict’s life, and with all of the best treatment information on hand. Informal interventions can be effective without everything going perfectly, but if you’re planning an event after years of trying and failing to get your loved one to quit abusing, you don’t want to get things off track by doing it at the wrong time.

The first thing to consider is the addict’s comfort. Obviously, they are not going to be involved in the planning personally, so you’re going to have to rely on your knowledge of their habits. Try to have the drug intervention at a time when the addict is usually not on drugs, not tired or stressed out, and not liable to become defensive. In other words, schedule it at a time when he or she is most likely to be volatile.

While it’s important to have the intervention when the addict will be comfortable, it’s equally important to do it before the addiction gets out of control. Interventions may involve a lot of planning and preparation, but this isn’t like a wedding or a birthday party; time is of the essence, so try to schedule the event for the earliest possible time when all of the addict’s essential family and friends can make it.

Meanwhile, you also need to make sure that you have all the information about treatment options on hand. While there is plenty of easily accessible information about outpatient and inpatient rehab programs online, you might want to dig a little deeper in your research. Make a list of a few possible treatment facilities in your area, and also have on hand information about local support groups and addiction treatment therapists. Gathering all this information takes a little work, so make sure you have enough time.

Addiction recovery specialists recognize two types of drug intervention. There are formal interventions, which involve a high level of organization and planning; and there are informal inventions, which usually occur when a perfect occasion to have a talk arises unexpectedly.

In both cases, an intervention should occur whenever you feel the time is right. If your instincts tell you that a loved one is endangering himself or others with his drug habit, then it’s time to have a drug intervention as soon as possible. But even if your loved one hasn’t reached the dangerous stages of addiction, it’s never too early to show your support and make your feelings known.

Formal interventions

Formal interventions usually happen after family and friends have tried multiple other options to get the addict to stop abusing. Although a formal intervention is often thought of as the last resort, there’s no reason to wait until your loved one has gone off the deep end. As soon as you think it’s become a serious problem, start thinking about a drug intervention.

There are different formats that a formal intervention can take, but they usually involve having the addict’s loved ones gather at a set time and place to collectively and lovingly confront the addict about her habit. Many formal interventions are conducted with the aid of a trained professional. In fact, this is the preferred method, as poorly planned interventions can do more harm than good.

Informal interventions

An informal intervention may occur at any time and with no advanced notice. Some loved ones of addicts find themselves forced into this situation when an emergency arises or the addict becomes mean, self-destructive, or belligerent. In some situations, you have no other choice but to reveal your strong conviction that things have gone too far.

Of course, there are times when an informal intervention is to be avoided. For example, when the addict is high, he may not see the wisdom of the intervention. Also, an informal drug intervention should be avoided when there’s any danger that it will put the addict over the edge emotionally. Play it safe by having the talk in a warm, non-confrontational way. If you can recruit anyone to help you on short notice, all the better.

If your loved one has changed his or her behavior significantly, appears to always be happy and talkative, is continuously active, has lost his appetite, or exhibits signs of nervousness and rapid eye movement, you might be observing a meth user. While it is generally agreed that early intervention has the best odds of success when treating a crystal meth abuser, you should never attempt to intervene or confront a user while he is high. However, if you can talk to your loved one when he or she is not high, your support can be invaluable in helping this user recognize that he or she has a drug problem. This can be the first step to getting your loved one into a drug treatment program.

When it comes to crystal meth abuse, a person is rarely able to stop using on his or her own. No level of willpower seems to be sufficient to fight the highly addictive nature of methamphetamine. For this reason, it is important that you be persistent in your efforts to get your loved one into a treatment program. Family member support is considered a very important component to successful drug treatment.

You have made a great deal of progress in treating meth addiction if you can get your loved one to not only recognize that he or she has a drug problem but also to accept treatment. The next step is to detoxify the user. This is the process of eliminating the drug from his system. This stage of treatment can take longer with meth than with other drugs because of the staying power of meth. Additionally, more of the drug gets into the user’s brain than with other drugs. The detox process should take place under medical care to ensure safety. This step is critical, because as long as there is meth in the user’s system, he will be craving the drug. This is the primary reason that most users are unable to quit on their own.

Once detoxified, the real drug treatment can begin. For best success, it is recommended that the drug abuser enter a residential rehab facility for several weeks in order to have the structure and support that will be necessary to escape the clutches of meth. Current research indicates that the most effective treatments for addiction to methamphetamine include behavior modification therapy to help the patient modify thinking, expectations, and coping skills for dealing with the stresses of daily life. There is no doubt that recovering from meth addiction is challenging, but it is not impossible.

Now is the time for those who need help to seek treatment and to lesson the stigma associated with the disease through education and awareness. Besides being a platform to celebrate people in recovery this month serves to educate the public on substance abuse as a national health crisis and that recovery IS possible and addiction IS a treatable disease. Recovery month also demonstrates benefits for society as a whole when an affected individual receives the treatment they need. Family, friends, coworkers all benefit when those who need help seek treatment.

If you or a loved one is in need of addiction treatment, please click here for our list of preferred treatment providers.  If you are in need of a low-cost addiction treatment option, please click here.

Finding help for those you love can be very difficult. Understanding that you can help them with their substance abuse issues is very important because, at times it may seem that there is nothing you can do. The first thing you can do is a drug intervention this will be the opportunity to confront them about the addiction they have in their life and to talk with them about the options that are available. It is a good idea to talk with a treatment center about what you are planning to do because; they can help in the process.

For many people that need to go through a drug intervention they may never see that they have a problem. This is difficult because, it makes it so that they can’t accept or look for help on their own. They need to be forced into it and this can be hard on someone because, they will naturally reject what you are saying and protest against it. That’s why contacting a treatment program that has experience in these moments can be helpful. They can speak with you about the right things to say and how healing will occur.

Giving an addict a clear understanding on how a drug intervention will help them is very important if they don’t recognize this then it can become easy for them to ignore that help that’s available. By ignoring the fact that a person is getting help they may never do what is right and get their life back to a point where addiction isn’t an issue and they can live a fuller and better life. Do what you can for your loved one and contact a program so you can start planning on how you’ll help them.

You don’t have to view a drug intervention as a time of conflict. It can be a time of healing and giving also. When a person recognizes that they need help and that people love them and care for them it can cause them to want to seek out a way of healing and a motivation to do so. You can give your loved one this motivation by doing a drug intervention they will have the opportunity to also express what they have been going through which can be a very important first step in their recovery.

For many families that need help with addiction, there may not be enough support options to help them and their loved ones. You should contact a treatment center in your region to find the support that you’ll need. They’ll probably talk with you about a drug intervention. This will be necessary in order to get your loved one to a treatment center. Acknowledging that a person needs help is your first step to helping them. It can be very overwhelming for a family to take on the stress and logistics of having to talk with a person with substance abuse issues. Don’t feel that you have to do this on your own. Knowing that others can help you get care for someone you love can save your life and start you off in the right path.

By contacting a treatment center in your area, you can learn about using drug intervention to help your loved one. When a person has a strong addiction, it can be almost impossible to stop their addiction. You can’t just ask someone to stop using drugs because they may have such a strong dependency, that they don’t have any choice. Many times, a recovery program will prompt you on the steps you can take to help with beginning a conversation with your family member. They’ll give you advice on the best time to talk to that person. You’ll also get materials to give them so that you discuss going to a center.

It can be very difficult for families that have a member who is addicted to different drugs. The family may also need to use a treatment center as a resource for their own healing. As you talk with a program about what they can offer the person in you family, discuss with them strategies they can provide for you. You should also find the best things you can do after the drug intervention and in what ways you can be the most supportive. This can be difficult time, but you can be a voice of reason in the chaos.

After a drug intervention has taken place, it can be the hardest time on a family. You could feel that nothing may happen until the family member begins treatment. You may also feel that you tried and failed at getting help. Don’t let this time be discouraging. Know that you’ve done something and you have tried to help them is a very good perspective to have. Overcoming addiction doesn’t happen overnight and it can take multiple attempts. If your first drug intervention was unsuccessful, speak with the treatment center you consulted. Get their advice on what you can do next to help your loved one.