What is Drug Intervention

A drug intervention is a program developed to help get addicts into treatment. Prior to the use of interventions, most experts believed that the alcoholic or drug addict had to “hit bottom” in order to want treatment. In other words, the addict had to get so low, their lives turned so bad, that they simply couldn’t go on and consequently wanted treatment. The downside to this is that the addict’s life is completely ruined by this point, along with his, or her, health, finances, families are devastated, as are friendships, and the addict could potentially die or consider suicide. Usually addicts are too caught up in “the lifestyle” and procuring drugs to step back and look at the impact their addiction is having on others, as well as themselves. An intervention provides the structure, with a professional interventionist overseeing the process, that helps them stop and realize how their behavior has impacted others.

There are several different types of drug intervention programs commonly used. The Johnson model was created by Dr. Vernon Johnson in the 1960s and is a traditional, confrontational form of intervention in which the family confronts the addict with the consequences of his, or her, behavior. This is the typical “ambush” type of intervention people think of when they hear the term intervention. The Arise method of intervention is largely the same only invitational for the addict. Rather than a confrontation, it is presentational, exposing the addict to the ramifications of his addiction in a collaborative manner. Yet another version of intervention is the Systemic Family Model, which focuses on creating a patient, firm coaching for the addict, rather than being confrontational. All forms of intervention require extensive preparation, including finding a location, deciding who should be there, often letters to the addict are written and rewritten to attain the desired impact, etc. Most trained interventions will be familiar and use different models of intervention depending on the family, the addict and the situation.

There are literally thousands of interventions around the globe and no matter where you are you can find one. Many of the best interventions travel to where you are, they also travel with the addict to deliver him into treatment. We, at Lanna, have interventionists we work with all the time and we often discover new ones when they call us to bring in a client. Whether you decide to come to Lanna or not we can recommend an interventionist to you, in fact several, so you can find one you’re comfortable working with. We’re more than happy to help, just give us a call. If you’re looking for serious addiction treatment with a progressive program, call us today for more information or to get started on reclaiming your life.