I am often asked if interventions really work. Facilitated properly, with family and friends who are completely dedicated to getting the individual who suffers help, 90% of the time we are successful. I couldn’t do intervention work if we only got people to go into treatment 4 or 5 times out of 10, it would be too heartbreaking.
Intervention is not a cure for anything. However, what we all hope for is once the person becomes stabilized by way of detox, they will come to understand that they have a fatal disease that is treatable and most importantly, they want to take the corrective actions to treat it.
If I could invent a pill called “Willingness” where anyone who took it would become willing to get help it would be a great start to curing the disease as we know it. But we all know that this little pill is far fetched in terms of creating.
I do intervention work for a number of reasons: first, I want to see people who are struggling with drug and alcohol addiction (often referred to now as substance use disorder) have a life free of the substances that will ultimately take their lives; second and just as important is I love to see the entire family get relief as a result of a successful intervention. Everyone gets to exhale when someone agrees to at least give treatment a shot.
I always educate the family that it really is a “Family Disease” because most, if not all the people who love and care for the person we intervene with has become both emotionally and spiritually sick as well. Al-Anon does a great job for people who love someone who is either active in the disease or sober. Just because an intervention is successful and the individual accepts help doesn’t mean our jobs are done, there is more work for everyone involved.
More often than not, families don’t choose to attend Al-Anon, I would say 70% don’t. If that’s the case, I help the family post-intervention to do what we refer to as continuing care work for at least 30-90 days. During this period, I have meetings with the family to help educate them on what their loved one needs to do to stay sober, assist in developing a program of accountability, and red flags to look for when the newly sober person is starting to revert to old and unhealthy
habits.
At the end of the day intervention does work, but it’s just the beginning. I have had the privilege and honor to work with hundreds of families who are glad they
gave it a shot.
Contact me anytime if you would like to discuss getting help for a loved one:
t: 833-468-7863
e: info@toddzalkins.com
