Is someone not yet ready to help himself, but is it necessary? Then an intervention is a good option. By its nature, an addict will never starts the intervention process. It is the family or a business that arrange a specialist. In fact, an addict only wants to help themselves if he or she is completely down on the ground and does not see any other way out. Has he or she lost their house, job and partner? Then the lowest point, called hitting rock bottom, is reached. However, you do not have to wait until it’s reached this point, we can start an intervention program earlier.
What is an intervention?
In an intervention we confront your loved one with the consequences of his or her addiction. This always happens out of love and compassion; to show that there is a different way. Many people know interventions from the Dutch TV program ‘Addicted’ . In this TV program I worked the first two seasons together with Jim Geduld and Peter van der Vorst (famous Dutch TV personalities and producers). How an intervention plays out depends on various things. For example, the addict may not realize that they can no long continue like this. Or they may have given up hope on recovery – being free of drugs, alcohol or problematic behavior – a long time ago. An intervention is suitable for anybody, be it your child, partner, parent or employee. Part of this is that many things have already been arranged in the background, making expedited recovery possible.
Family intervention
In a family intervention, the purpose is to help both the addicted person to get the right treatment and to teach the family more about the addiction disease. Addiction is a family disease. In some cases it is hereditary, sometimes the causes are in their environment and sometimes it is due to the circumstances in which someone grew up. A combination of these factors is of course also possible.
Business intervention
Do you as someone of staff or as a manager suspect someone is addicted at work? For example, because you get the idea that sickness absence are due to addiction problems? We can work on an intervention step by step. Do you not want to omit or side-step their close relatives? In consultation, we can of course involve the close relatives to the intervention.
How do you know if an intervention is needed?
I understand that you do not want to start an intervention if you are not sure if the one in question is addicted. It is difficult to determine, because someone with an addiction problem is often in denial. On average, it takes eight to ten years before someone recognizes that he or she has an addiction problem. Often, the people in the immediate environment of someone with addiction problems have long known there may be a problem with him or her. In this case it is better to start an intervention instead of waiting until the person reaches this conclusions by themselves.
This way you recognize addiction problems
You can recognize addiction problems through the following:
- someone drinks or uses other substances daily or periodically (binge use)
- if you do not drink or use, withdrawal symptoms occur in the form of anxiety, strong mood swings and possibly depressive feelings
- Some people do not drink or use daily, but when they drink or use it, it requires a lot of effort to keep a slow pace
- Social contacts often stem from a legitimate reason to drink or use, but a step further and people get lonely and drink and use more, and hide the alcohol or drugs
- Inexplicable accidents, physical complaints, sickness absence and embarrassing moments are increasingly frequent
An intervention is not only recommended for the addicted person. The ones directly involved also learn a lot about addiction and how to deal with it.
What do I do as an interventionist?
I make use of different theoretical models for interventions. Per situation, I determine what the best course of action is. For everybody. I use (a mix of) models below.
Arise® Model Intervention
In this model, we involve family members and others involved in a joint intervention. This intervention is spread over several weeks or months.
Johnson Model Intervention
Also referred to as “Confrontational Intervention.” In this case it is central that an addicted person should not have to lose everything or reach rock bottom in order to receive help. By confronting the addicted person with the loved ones and making it clear what happens if they do not accept help, I will help you/your family to persuade the addicted person to accept the help.
CRAFT Intervention
CRAFT stands for Community Reinforcement Approach and Family Training. This means that the family is the driving factor. The close relatives must motivate the addict person.
What can you do as loved one of an addicted person?
Are you considering initiating an intervention program for an addicted person in your immediate area? That is admirable and to be praised. 85% of addicted people accept immediate help. In some cases, it takes several days or weeks after the intervention. In any case, you as a family benefit directly from an intervention program because you learn to better deal with the addiction of a loved one.
Do you need more information or do you want to get acquainted? You can make an appointment or ask questions by phone or email. I am available daily from 09:00 to 21:00 on 06-58969809 and info@peterterhorst.com.