5 Must-Know Steps on How to Stage an Intervention for a Troubled Loved One
When someone you love has become addicted to drugs or alcohol, they’re not only hurting themselves but everyone around them.
An intervention is a wake-up call to let an addict know that change needs to happen and that they’ll have a support system if they decide to recover. Even early intervention can prevent further problems and substance abuse down the road.
If you’re looking to stage an intervention for someone you love but you don’t know where to begin, keep reading our guide.
1. Find an Intervention Specialist
An intervention isn’t easy for either party and it can lead to a lot of fighting and damage to relationships. To try and keep things as calm and focused as possible, reach out to an intervention specialist to see how they can help.
A drug intervention specialist will keep the communication going and break the cycle of denial that many addicts struggle with. Working with a specialist is essential for any intervention; you should never try to stage an intervention without professional help.
2. Form a Support Group
Once you’ve enlisted professional help, you’ll want to form your intervention group. This group can consist of anyone the addict is close to who wishes to support them in the recovery journey. Reach out to their partners, parents, siblings, and close friends that are on decent terms.
If your loved one has any children or grandparents who would like to join, you can also include them. Just remember that once the intervention starts, things could go poorly and may get intense, so they should know what to expect to stay safe.
3. Learn, Write, and Rehearse
Once you’ve got an intervention group together, you can work with the specialist to plan out what needs to be said.
Before you write out what you’re going to say, you should take the time to learn more about what your loved one is going through. Educate yourself on how drugs or alcohol could be affecting their brain, and what treatment and recovery will consist of.
Rehearse what everyone is planning to say and try to imagine different reactions from your loved one. You can’t know what will happen for sure, but keep your expectations realistic and prepare for anything.
4. Stage an Intervention
Once everyone in the group has prepared what they want to say, it’s time to stage an intervention.
Try to pick a location that is familiar and non-threatening for your loved one, and schedule it for when they’ll be sober. It’s hard to know how long the meeting will last, but people should plan for it to take 2 hours at most.
5. Follow Up and Set Boundaries
Your intervention could go in any direction, so it’s hard to know what will happen afterward. If it goes well and your loved one agrees to start recovery, it’s important to follow up and be supportive of them so they don’t feel alone.
At the end of a good intervention, you’ll want to have an established treatment plan for your loved one to begin. If you’re not sure where to begin, take a look at these drug rehabilitation services that offer both inpatient and outpatient treatments.
If the intervention doesn’t go well, you may need to establish boundaries to distance yourself and other family or friends from your loved one. As painful as it may be, setting boundaries is necessary to stop the cycle of hurt between you and your loved one.
Find Help Today
Interventions are stressful for both parties, but they’re necessary and can save your loved one’s life. Hopefully, our guide gave you everything you needed to know on how to stage an intervention.
If you found this guide helpful, take a look at some of our other well-being content.
