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5 Tips For Holding A Successful Intervention

16 September 2015

Lieve Boekholt

Interventions are uncomfortable, difficult situations. However, they are often necessary to get your loved one the help they need for their addiction. Knowing how to stage a successful intervention will ensure that you can get the results you need the first time through. Follow these tips to stage a successful intervention.

1. Assemble a Team

Assembling the right team is a critical part of holding a successful intervention. Having a team lends legitimacy to your perspective and can help push your loved one into a support group, rehab, or detox program. When choosing people for your intervention team, pick those people your loved one likes, cares for, and respects. Leave out anyone who is not close to your loved one or who causes tension. You can talk to a place like Evergreen Recovery Centers for suggestions on who you should or shouldn't include.

2. Have a Plan

Don't begin an intervention without a solid plan in place. To ensure that everyone knows their roles and can stick to the plan, follow these steps:

• Make a script. A successful intervention script will start by describing feelings, will move on to descriptions of addiction-related behaviors, and will finally outline a plan of action for treatment. Each person may have a part to state, or some people from the team may sit quietly. Either way, it's important to have a script that everyone can agree upon.
• Hold rehearsals. Get together with your team before the actual intervention and stage a rehearsal. During the rehearsal, you'll decide the order in which everyone will speak. During the rehearsal, everyone will read directly from the script. This will help reduce the chances of surprises occurring during the intervention.

3. Wait for the Right Time

Avoid holding the intervention at a time when your loved one is likely to be under the influence of an addictive substance. If you know of a time when your loved one is likely to be sober, choose that time to stage your intervention.

4. Do it Somewhere Neutral

Holding an intervention in your loved one's own home could result in your loved one retreating to a place of privacy, essentially calling an end to the intervention. It's harder to run from an intervention that's being held in a neutral location away from the home. Pick a spot, like a friend's house, hotel conference room, or a therapy office, where everyone involved is likely to be on good behavior.

5. Have a Backup Plan

Run through every possible scenario as you plan the intervention, and come up with responses to the potential negative outcomes. This will ensure that even if the intervention doesn't go as you wished, you'll still have the potential to get a positive outcome.

For more information about how to stage a successful intervention, speak with an experienced addiction counselor.

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