What You Need to Know about how to Set Up an Intervention for an Alcoholic
An intervention is a confrontation by a group of concerned family and friends. The intervention should be a loving, gentle, and supportive strategy to encourage the alcoholic to admit to having a problem with alcohol and to agree to seek professional help in order to overcome the problems. The person who needs an intervention is one who is severely dependent and unable to see the severity of their addiction. Each intervention needs to be carefully organized, choreographed, and even rehearsed. The key to a successful intervention is preparation.
The participants in the intervention should be a loving and caring significant person in the alcoholic's life and should not be an alcohol abuser themselves. Each participant should have a positive regard for the alcoholic but a negative regard for the alcohol and should validate that the alcoholism is a disease and it is not the addicted person's fault. There should be three to eight people chosen to participate.
The first step toward planning the intervention is to have each participant in the meeting to write a letter to the alcoholic. This letter should include how much they love and care for the alcoholic but should state exactly how they feel about the alcohol abuse and how the alcohol abuse has negatively affected their life. It is important for the letter to explain that the person is not the problem but it is the alcohol that is the issue. Each person should specifically ask the alcoholic to seek treatment that day. Also prior to the actual intervention, the treatment place should be chosen and all arrangements including travel to the treatment site should be made.
The intervention should be held at a neutral place and not in the alcoholic's home or office. The setting needs to be a private environment where the person does not feel like strangers or other people can watch or hear what is going on. The intervention should also be held when the alcoholic is sober.
When the alcoholic arrives at the pre-determined intervention site, the first step is for each person to read his or her letter. The last letter to be read should be by the person who has the closest and most significant relationship with the alcoholic. It should be someone whose letter will break his or her heart. It is very difficult for denial to hold up in this atmosphere of love and honesty.
The following is a checklist to help with the planning of an intervention:
* Set up a planning meeting to put together the intervention and to choose a team leader who will be the main spokesperson during the intervention. During this meeting is important to discuss the need to keep the alcoholic from finding out the intervention is being planned. This is also a good time for the participants to discuss ways in the past they have tried to help but in actuality ended up enabling the alcoholic. During this initial process is when the treatment plans are set up as well as a plan for payment and any other financial issues that may come up.
* Going into the intervention all of the travel and treatment plans should be made and paperwork filled out. The participants should bring along a packed bag for the alcoholic.
* During the intervention, once the letters are all read, give the alcoholic a chance to respond and to agree or disagree to going into treatment.
* If the person does not agree to seek treatment, the intervention is still considered a success because the truth has been said and many times, it leads to treatment later.
* If the person does agree to seek treatment, a person should accompany the alcoholic to the treatment facility and help with the initial check in process. Alcoholism in the News
08/28/2008
Breaking the Bonds -- New Memoir Recounts the Author's Battle With OCD and Alcoholism (GlobeNewswire via Yahoo! Finance)
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio, Aug. 28, 2008 -- Do you keep checking little things over and over again? Are you caught up in routines you are compelled to do? Are there persistent thoughts that circle endlessly in your mind?
Breaking the Bonds -- New Memoir Recounts the Author's Battle With OCD and Alcoholism (GlobeNewswire via Yahoo! Finance)
08/27/2008
Hawaii Has one of the Highest Rates of Alcoholism and Drunk Driving (KHON 2 Honolulu)
Hawaii has one of the highest rates of alcoholism and drunk driving in the nation and the legislature may take steps to correct that. The house health committee held a hearing today to listen to the experts.
Hawaii Has one of the Highest Rates of Alcoholism and Drunk Driving (KHON 2 Honolulu)
08/29/2008
Jeannette Eyerly, Writer for Teenage Girls, Dies at 100 (New York Times)
Ms. Eyerly was one of the first writers for young adults to deal with themes like unwanted pregnancy, alcoholism and drugs.
Jeannette Eyerly, Writer for Teenage Girls, Dies at 100 (New York Times)
08/29/2008
David Duchovny's sex disorder likened to alcoholism (Reuters via Yahoo! Philippines News)
By Jill Serjeant
David Duchovny's sex disorder likened to alcoholism (Reuters via Yahoo! Philippines News)
08/29/2008
Beacon House celebrates 15th anniversary of service (Fond du Lac Reporter)
Beacon House of Fond du Lac recently celebrated 15 years of helping women who are recovering from alcoholism and/or chemical dependency.
Beacon House celebrates 15th anniversary of service (Fond du Lac Reporter)
08/29/2008
Native American Battle Plan with Alcoholism (KQCD-TV Dickinson)
Alcohol kills thousands of people every year, through things like car crashes and liver disease. A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds Native Americans are four times more likely than the rest of the population to suffer an alcohol-related death.
Native American Battle Plan with Alcoholism (KQCD-TV Dickinson)
08/27/2008
Hawaii Has one of the Highest Rates of Alcoholism and Drunk Driving (KHON 2 Honolulu)
Hawaii has one of the highest rates of alcoholism and drunk driving in the nation and the legislature may take steps to correct that. The house health committee held a hearing today to listen to the experts.
Hawaii Has one of the Highest Rates of Alcoholism and Drunk Driving (KHON 2 Honolulu)
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