No one wants to be an addict who has to go through an drug intervention. No matter what a person might say, the process itself is incredibly tough to experience. Even if the person deep down wants to become sober and seek drug addiction support, they need to feel encouraged enough by the people they care about to take real action. The point of having an intervention is to provoke an addict to change their negative behavior for good. Families and friends should come together and coordinate their course of actions for the best results possible in order for that to happen. Sometimes, providing the cold hard truth and exposing the person to the variety of consequences that sparked from their addiction is the way to go.

But how do truly great interventions  happen? Let’s walk through the important steps for designing a conversation that will hopefully change your addict’s life in the long term. It’s definitely an awkward and uncomfortable encounter for both parties to sit through. Tears may flow and hearts may be pumping, but the more realistic the intervention is for the addict, the more inclined they’ll be to jumpstart their journey back to health.

1. Who even needs an intervention? The fact is that any person who is addicted to illicit drugs and alcohol or consistently abuses prescription drugs needs one, especially if they often reject the idea of seeking addiction treatment. It’s highly crucial for family and friends to host a drug intervention as soon as possible, as abuse of strong substances dramatically lowers a person’s mental awareness. Over time, the damage can snowball into extremely damaged financials, weakened relationships, health problems, conflicts with the law, and harm possibly done to the community. The point of a drug intervention is to foster the addict’s sense of control again and reinforce their desire to get help. Sometimes, what an addict needs is to be reminded that they’re still a good person and the addiction doesn’t define them. They have the power to change the course of their life and the belief that they are stuck in their situation is completely false.
2. Do you need a team? The answer is yes, as you’ll want as much support as possible to host an effective drug intervention. Form a strong group of organizers made up of family, friends, and a professional interventionist if you can. Professionals offer the benefit of being highly experienced in helping addicts and can point them to a strong treatment plan. Only people who have a close relationship with the addict should be included as they genuinely care about his or her well-being compared to an acquaintance. If a person who’s interested to be part of the team happens to struggle with an addiction themselves, make sure they seek their own help before trying to help the addict first.
3. What about planning? Once you form a group who is willing to coordinate with each other to help the addict, you’ll need to lay out a detailed plan of how the drug intervention process will play out. This includes what day and place the intervention will happen, as well as what each person will say to the addict. Once you have those details set, everyone should write their own form of an impact statement that describes how they feel the substance abuse harmed the addict that they care about. These words should be compassionate, honest, and caring as we want the addict to realize that people in their life truly want them to get better. Avoid any phrases that are either highly critical or personally attack the addict which will destroy the process altogether.
4. How do you choose a treatment plan? After you have written your statements, formed your group, and are ready for combat, make sure you focus on recommending a single treatment plan to the addict as the drug intervention takes course. Being too vague or offering many alternatives will confuse the addict, which is the last thing we want to happen. Find a treatment center that has great reviews from their former clients and book an appointment for them early on so the addict doesn’t have to figure out those tedious details themselves. Even if they’re reluctant to go at first, pushing them to take the first step and seek an expert’s insight will truly make a difference.
5. Practice! Treat the drug intervention like any other important even in your life. Rehearse what you’re going to say and avoid coming off as condescending to the addict. Make sure that everyone in the group is on the same page prior to the conversation taking place as well. This way, each member will feel confident about their delivery and can become better prepared for any emotions that may run high during the process.

You Can Do It

Hosting an intervention for drug addiction support can be intimidating at first, but if you play your cards right you can change the addict’s life for the better. They may respond with anger or embarrassment, but deep down they will know that you are coming from a place of love if you are careful to watch how you speak. Spend enough time to find an interventionist to help you if your resources allow it, find a core group to form statements with, and practice your action plan to be as persuasive as possible!