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ALCOHOL ADDICTION INTERVENTION

Are you ready for your alcoholic loved one to stop drinking? Feeling overwhelmed and want to give up? Dealing with an alcoholic is one of the most frustrating things a person could ever have to face. Alcohol is one of the most devastating substances in our society today and socially acceptable making addiction and dependence often go unnoticed for years. Performing an intervention for alcohol addiction can save your loved one’s life and put you back in control.

Alcohol Abuse Intervention

 

Alcoholism and alcohol abuse most often starts in the teen years, with many family members saying “We kept thinking things would change”. This often goes on for years before something is done. There are over 15,000,000 people suffering from addiction to alcohol and nearly 90,000 people die from alcohol-related causes each year.

Don’t be a statistic! You can do something about it! Addiction is ripping our society apart like never before. Don’t put your loved one or the lives of others at risk by not doing anything. Alcohol addiction intervention saves lives.

Having had his own struggles with alcohol addiction and having an intervention on himself, Robert Newman knows how to help families handle an alcohol addicted loved one. From personal experience he knows that underneath the chaotic confusion surrounding an addicts life there is a person who really wants help.

Without some sort of alcohol intervention early on the abuse continues often spreading throughout the entire family. Members often inadvertently contribute to the addiction with enabling. Loaning money, paying bills, raising children, making excuses, providing shelter and the list goes on.

Just like you need air an alcohol addict needs an enabler. Don’t be the fuel that feeds the fire, learn how to effectively perform an alcohol addiction intervention on your loved one. Letting your loved one continue the abuse even to the slightest degree means you are in agreement to just that degree. Left unhandled the abuse will only fester and grow and you will suffer the consequences of your loved one’s addiction to alcohol without an intervention.

Many in our society believe that a person will change until “ they want to change”. The fact is as long as you are contributing to the addiction even in the slightest way the person is not going to change. The addict must be allowed to suffer the consequences of their actions to realize the need for change. Shielding and protecting them only allows the addiction to continue.

How to Do an Alcohol Intervention

 

Conducting an alcohol intervention takes planning. Generally, it is best done with the help of a professional family interventionist. Yet, many circumstances require families to come together to perform the task without professional help.

Here are five tips to consider when planning an alcohol addiction intervention:

 

Decide to plan an intervention and organize a team of people to help: Someone will likely decide to do an intervention. The next step is speaking with family and bringing people together to help. Overall, these individuals are not antagonistic toward the addict or anyone who is enabling the addict. It should be people the addict respects, looks up to, and would likely listen to when confronted. 

Rehearse and plan everything that will be said along with consequences: Once the intervention team is formed, the next step is writing the script for each person. Doing this ensures nothing more or less is said that could derail the family intervention. Everyone can speak about how alcohol addiction has impacted the addict’s life. In addition, everyone involved decides on the consequences if the addict refuses help.  

Decide on a time and place to perform the intervention and arrange an alcohol rehab: This is a critical step because the intervention should not be done when the addict is intoxicated. Ideally, it should be planned when they are relatively sober but not in a severe state of withdrawal. The place where the intervention occurs should not be familiar to the addict. It is critical for everyone involved that the addict cannot find a way to leave quickly. The family should also have arranged an alcohol rehab. 

Perform the intervention as rehearsed: Stick to what was written and follow the plan, making it easier to handle any obstacles. Everyone says exactly what they wrote. Generally, one individual is selected to mediate and keep the process moving forward. Finally, if the addict refuses help, everyone follows through with the consequences, which were decided on before the intervention.  

Bring the individual directly to the alcohol rehab program: This is where most family interventions fail because there are delays from when the addict accepts help to when they leave for rehab. The alcohol rehab center should already be arranged, and the bags should be packed. Transportation should also be arranged, and someone should be selected to bring the person to the alcohol treatment center. It should occur quickly and without delay. 

It is not impossible to predict what could happen and how they would react, and this is part of the initial planning. Preparing the intervention thoroughly helps those involved be ready for the unexpected. Alcohol intervention should express love and concern. It is not a place to point the finger, blame, or attack the addict. 

Finally, family intervention begins the healing process and helps the family regain control, set boundaries, and ensure their loved one gets the needed rehabilitation. 

Do Interventions Backfire?

 

An alcohol addiction intervention would backfire if it were not planned adequately. Generally, the best approach involves hiring a professional alcohol interventionist. Yet, this is not always possible. The following tips would prevent an alcohol intervention from backfiring:

 Avoid spur-of-the-moment interventions with no planning—Successful alcohol interventions depend on proper planning. However, some opportunities present themselves. When an addict overdoses and becomes hospitalized, the family would want to immediately intervene and bring their loved one to an alcohol rehab program. 

Never enable the addict—Enabling is defined as giving someone the authority or means to do something. In this case, someone close to the addict is giving them the ability to keep drinking. For example, paying bills, and rent, giving them a place to live, buying alcohol, or bailing them out of legal problems. Alcoholism is being enabled by not providing help. 

During the intervention, do not verbally attack the addict—This is a sure-fire way to destroy a family intervention. When everyone in the room points the finger, places blame, and attacks the addict; it is impossible to convince them to get help. 

Have an alcohol rehab center prearranged—Once an addict agrees to help, they should be brought to the alcohol treatment center immediately. Any delay in doing this provides an opportunity for them to refuse help. 

Expect emotions to run high—Despite adequate planning and preparation, the emotions of a family intervention take most people off guard. It is critical to allow emotions to run the intervention. A mediator is usually needed to keep the intervention moving. 

While it may seem impossible to plan for everything, it is critical to take some steps. An intervention would only backfire without any planning. However, circumstances may present themselves that allow intervention to occur without planning. Generally, this is an emergency, such as an overdose, injury, or something life-changing that happened to the addict. 

Alcohol interventions work over 80% of the time. Interventions of alcohol addiction put the family back in control close to 90% of the time. Make no mistake, things can get difficult and seem insurmountable but anything worth doing takes some work and sacrifice. The rewards far outweigh the consequences.

Call 866-984-5417 now to find out more about performing an intervention for alcohol addiction and get your loved one in road to recovery.

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