Hope Answered
What if my loved one has already been to treatment before?
A professional intervention is still a viable option. It is not uncommon for a person struggling with an addiction, eating disorder, or mental health disorder to need more than one attempt at treatment in order to change their behavior and heal. Past treatment attempts may have been unsuccessful for several reasons including: patient’s lack of readiness to change or his lack of involvement in the treatment process. Other common issues include improper treatment placement, no solid discharge plan or noncompliance with aftercare, and/or lack of family involvement. People suffering from opiate or methamphetamine addiction or alcoholism often need to repeat treatment several times before they are able to break free from these powerful physically and psychologically addictive substances. However, there are many people who now live clean and sober lives who repeated treatment more than once. So do not lose hope! This may be the time that changes your loved ones life.
How do I know if my loved one and our situation is right for an intervention?
There are many factors we consider in determining if a professional intervention is appropriate for our prospective families and their loved ones. At Hope Interventions, unlike some interventionists we do not accept every family that comes to us for help. During initial phone consultations we gather information in order to determine if an intervention will most likely work in your individual situation. If we don’t feel like we are a good match, or that an intervention will most likely fail, we do not proceed with working with your family. Every family situation is unique and we customize our services to match those differences and needs. We will consider such things as family participation and support, the stage of change in which the addict is currently in, and what consequences the addict has a experienced as a result of his addiction.
Do you work with dual diagnoses or clients with issues other than substance abuse?
Yes! Because we are Licensed Master Level Clinicians we are equipped to deal with clients and families who have very complex issues. We are not merely lay trained people in recovery ourselves. This is an important factor in being able to assess and find the best fit treatment and to successfully intervene with people who have mental health issues. We work with people who have mental health disorders, eating disorders, sex/love addictions, technology based addictions, trauma and attachment issues, gambling, or other issues. In fact most of our clients have more than one issue they are dealing with.
Why do we need to hire an Interventionist? Why can’t we just facilitate our own intervention?
There are many resources available to assist families in planning and executing their own substance abuse intervention, and in some cases this may work. However, when relationships are already strained and tensions run high there is an increased risk for the intervention to go south. Tempers may flare, arguments may ensue and what started out as concerns expressed by loved ones now falls on deaf ears leaving the addict and loved ones more frustrated than prior to the intervention. Most families have already made several informal attempts at expressing their concerns to convince their loved one to accept help. These attempts may have been in the form of family meetings, talks, letters, and threats. If these previous attempts have not worked, and were not received well by the addict the chances of a non-professional intervention working is lower.
How do I decide which treatment center and arrange for treatment?
This is an important step towards the well-being of your loved one and often an overwhelming and daunting task. In the age of Internet and advertising access to information has become easier, yet discerning which treatment center is reputable and the best fit for your loved one has become harder. We aim to match our clients with the best possible treatment fit. We will provide you with recommendations and assist you through this process. We only refer and present to our clients treatment options which have met our high standards including careful screening via our 8 page provider questionnaire and that we have personally visited. Additionally, we follow our clients after their treatment to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment they received and to gain a better understanding of what types of individuals respond best to various treatment settings.
What is Addiction Consulting?
Addiction consulting is any other services a family and their loved one may need through out the recovery process. While, we do not provide all needed services ourselves we will refer out and make recommendations to assist you in finding the best options for your needs. This may include referring clients to intensive workshops, individual and family therapy, sober houses and extended treatment, intensive outpatient programs, and other services. Some families do not need an intervention because their loved one has agreed to treatment. In this case, families may use our services to locate viable treatment options and to coordinate those services. Other families may not need a full professional intervention, but need a third party to help mediate discussions or family meetings in order to assist getting their loved one to treatment. We can provide this guidance and support, which makes the process much smoother. For more information visit services we provide.
Who should be involved in the actual intervention?
Anyone close to the individual with the self-destructive behavior or anyone who has influence over that person. This may include: parents, siblings, extended relatives, neighbors, friends, pastors, and employers. We will assist you in determining who to include and not to include in the intervention. The number of people participating in an intervention varies and generally is between 4-10 people.
An intervention seems scary. Is it really as dramatic as the TV show? What if my loved one becomes angry?
No, typically they are not as dramatic as the highly dramatized TV show Intervention. First of all, your loved one is not being lied to and misled about why they are being filmed talking about their addiction. In fact, they are not being filmed at all. Our interventions are conducted with honesty, integrity, love and respect. They are well thought out, planned and orchestrated. We work together as a team to facilitate the intervention towards a successful resolution. Yes, your loved one may become angry, but often during the course of the intervention that anger is replaced with shame and sadness as the individual realizes how much they have hurt those they love and how dire their situation has become. This then prompts the desire to “fix” broken relationships and through the intervention it is made clear that stopping their self-destructive behavior is the only viable option to accomplish this. However, if done incorrectly an intervention can make already strained relationships worse.
What Intervention model do you use?
We view each family as unique and may use a combination of multiple styles and intervention models when working with your family. We try to find the best fit and most appropriate model for you family’s individual circumstances.
However, Hope interventions normally uses a combination of the two main Intervention Models. The Johnson Model is based on surprise or confrontation, where the addict is caught off guard. The Systemic Family Intervention is more invitational and educational with a bigger emphasis on the family and their need for healing and education about addiction. Our interventions are always conducted with respect, concern, and empathy for both the person of concern and the family. We believe that the family is vital to their loved ones recovery and that it is necessary for each loved one to do their own “work” or healing in order to restore family functioning, and to support the addict’s recovery. However, we also know that at the time of intervention families are usually in crisis and their main priority is getting their loved one into treatment. That said, we do not believe a 2-3 day intensive family workshop is necessary or appropriate prior to conducting an intervention, and that deep level of family work should be done at a later time, usually when a loved one is in treatment. Instead, we provide families with briefer education on the addiction process, co-dependency, and enabling in conjunction with the intervention planning meeting.
We also believe parts of the Johnson Model to be important. The point of an intervention is to get an unwilling individual to accept help and often an avenue of surprise is sometimes necessary. Confrontation is not done in a shaming, demeaning, or angry way. Instead, we present the person of concern’s behaviors and consequences, and the loved ones feelings about those as facts that can not be disputed.
For some families it is important and beneficial to not use a surprise model, but a more invitational style intervention. We have used this model successfully with families when preferred and deemed appropriate.
What happens if the intervention doesn’t work?
Even with the best case scenario an intervention is not always guaranteed to work. However, most interventions will have a positive outcome in which the individual accepts help. Even if the person of concern refuses help at this time the seed may be planted within that person to begin to contemplate treatment, and he may decide to seek help at a later date. Usually within days or weeks of the intervention. Regardless, of what the person of concern decides, family and friends participating in the intervention gain a sense of relief and closure that they have done all that is humanly possible to help their loved one. They are able to set firm boundaries and begin their own healing process which may involve learning to cope with an addicted loved one. In this sense, we view all interventions as beneficial and successful.
Will you still continue to work with our family if the person does not go to treatment the day of the intervention?
Yes! In fact, we spend more time on the back end of an intervention in which the client does not go to treatment the day of. We will work closely with you following the intervention to provide coaching on what to say and do in regards to your loved one during this critical period. If you continue to be engaged in the process following the intervention your loved one will most likely go to treatment. We will assist you with setting, implementing, and holding your boundaries. We will not give up!
What are your intervention success rates?
90% of the clients we intervene on go to treatment the same day as the intervention. Overall, 98% will eventually seek help as a result of an intervention. This means that 8% will go following the intervention if the family continues to work with us and follows are direction in regards to holding their boundaries. The 2% that never went were clients and families with extenuating circumstances or their families simply refused to hold the boundaries they had set.
What if we can not afford to do an intervention?
We are passionate about helping families and their loved ones recover. If an intervention is appropriate, and the family lacks necessary funding to pay for an intervention we will attempt to work out flexible payment options or a reduced rate. We want to help as many people as we can!