Drug & Alcohol Intervention Strategies

Drug & Alcohol Intervention Strategies

 A Drug, alcohol or gambling intervention can be tricky. It can be the most difficult thing families have to do especially considering the fact that it may not always be pleasant to someone who has an addiction to either drugs or alcohol. Often times, family members don’t know how to handle these situations. Often times, family members hesitate to conduct an intervention over the fear that they will be confronting a loved one.

There are effective strategies that can be done in order to address the situation. Here are some of these strategies that are used by experts in handling addiction concerns.

Stopping the enabling behavior

A lot of times, family members are doing some things that enable the person to continue the habit of over drinking and using drugs. It can be in form of monetary support or condoning the act itself. It I also common that the family members or friends are making excuses on behalf of the person. These are behaviors that don’t help the addict. Once you have identified these actions, it is important to remove these things before an intervention can even start.

Getting help for yourself

A lot of times, it isn’t just the addict who needs help. It is important that the family members and friends involved are also going to seek help. There are support groups that you can join to learn from their experiences. Also, you will discover that you are not really alone in experiencing these things. Also, a lot of times, it is a common scenario wherein family members blame themselves for what is happening to their loved ones.

Consulting with an intervention specialist

Every case can be different. Every family can be different as well when it comes to interacting with their loved ones suffering from drug and alcohol addiction. Qualified and experienced intervention specialist can help provide guidelines on how the intervention is going to be done.

The expert can provide a contingency plan on how you can conduct the intervention and what to do given the possible drawbacks.

Choosing the family member to participate

Who exactly are going to be involved in the intervention? It is important to choose someone who doesn’t condone the action of the person suffering from addiction. It is a possibility that the addict is going to try to find an ally among those who are involved in the intervention. Thus, it is important that the consensus for intervention is unanimous to everyone in the group. In addition to this, the family members and friends should be someone the addict respects.

Providing consequences

It is important to state the consequences to the addict if he or she is going to refuse the treatment. It is important to convince the person that he or she has no other choice but to go for treatment. Often times, consequences include removing financial and emotional support until he or she decides to go with the treatment.

However, it is also imperative that the person involved in the intervention is not going to speak in anger. Positive reinforcement has always been effective in promoting a change in the behavior of an addict. It is imperative that the people involved in the intervention is not angry or be judgmental to the person.

Continuous support

Once the person addicted to drugs and alcohol has agreed to take the treatment, it’s important that the family and friends are supportive of the action. This can help the person recover and have the strength to say no to the bad habits that he or she established.

Staging an intervention to your loved ones can be quite a challenge. It is important to approach the situation with the right strategy in order to effectively change the attitude of the person involved. It has been proven over the years that supportive family and friends can make a huge difference in this process.