Professional Intervention Help

When To Hold An Intervention

An Intervention is defined as “when a group of friends get together to help out another friend who has a problem, like drugs, manic depression, beating his wife, etc. usually involves an informal get-together during which the friends all sit down and talk with the person having problems.”

If you have a family or friend and have considered an intervention, you may have been wondering when to have an intervention.  An intervention can motivate someone to seek help for alcoholism, drug abuse, eating disorders or other addictive behaviors. Discover when to hold one and how to make it successful.

People who struggle with addictive behaviors are often in denial about their situation or are unwilling to seek treatment. Often they don’t recognize the negative effects their behavior has on themselves and others. An intervention presents your loved one a structured opportunity to make changes before things get even worse.

There are many different warning signs that might indicate that someone close to you is using drugs. A sudden loss of interest in things that once seemed important to them, getting moods swings, a sudden increase in the amount of money they spend, and other sudden, drastic changes in their lifestyle can indicate that a person is using drugs. Many people who are addicted to drugs have a hard time keeping a job, or even getting one to begin with. They also tend to be short on cash quite frequently and they will steal from people to get money for their drugs. They may get angry if you ask them where they have been or other questions that they see as intrusive.

Before holding an intervention, it is important to be sure that they are suffering from an addiction and not depression or other mental illness. Since drug addiction is also a mental illness, they share many of the same warning signs. It is also important to remember that drug addiction is an illness and that they cannot control their addiction. The purpose of an intervention is to let the person know that there is a group of people who are there for them and who want to help them through their addiction, but that they must help themselves or there will be no more support from you.

An intervention is a chance for you to tell them how much you care about them and that you want to continue to be there for them, but that you will not enable them to continue to use drugs. They are slowly killing themselves and you do not want to help them do that. There should in no way be any blame placed on them for the addiction or any negative remarks made toward them. The intervention is a place to vent your frustrations and to offer help if they are willing to get help for their addiction. It is also a place for you to put your foot down and tell them that if they continue to use drugs, you will walk out of their lives. They need to feel like they will have to choose between the drugs and the people that they care about the most. If they feel like it is either one or the other, they will more than likely seek help for their addiction.

If you have a friend or family member that is in need of help and you are considering professional help with the intervention, we are here for you.  At familyfirstintervention.com we specialize in planning and orchestrating your intervention for your loved one.  Our goal is to help you convince them to get the help they need.  Call us today and we will hit the ground running.

Re-learning How To Live Life

What Are the Signs, Symptoms, and Help for Drinking Problems

Americans have a complicated history with alcohol. At the end of the 19th century, politicians, women’s groups, and churches banded together to convince lawmakers to outlaw alcohol. In 1919, the U.S. Congress passed the 18th Amendment, making the sale and distribution of alcohol illegal. Alcohol consumption declined but did not stop. In 1933, Prohibition ended and since then, millions of Americans have made alcohol a part of their social life.  In the 1960s, E. M. Jellinek pioneered the idea that excessive and harmful use of alcohol was a disease. Within a decade, public campaigns were launched in the United States to educate people about alcoholism as an illness.

It’s not always easy to see when your drinking has crossed the line from moderate or social use to problem drinking. But if you consume alcohol to cope with difficulties or to avoid feeling bad, you’re in potentially dangerous territory. Alcoholism and alcohol abuse can sneak up on you, so it’s important to be aware of the warning signs and take steps to cut back if you recognize them. Understanding the problem is the first step to overcoming it.

Alcoholism, also known as alcohol dependence, is a chronic, progressive, and potentially fatal disease. Characteristics of alcoholism include the following:

• Drinking excessive amounts frequently
• Inability to curb drinking despite medical, psychological, or social complications
• Increased tolerance to alcohol
• Occurrence of withdrawal symptoms when the person stops drinking

Substance abuse experts make a distinction between alcohol abuse and alcoholism (also called alcohol dependence). Unlike alcoholics, alcohol abusers have some ability to set limits on their drinking. However, their alcohol use is still self-destructive and dangerous to themselves or others.

Common signs and symptoms of alcohol abuse include:

• Repeatedly neglecting your responsibilities at home, work, or school because of your drinking
• Using alcohol in situations where it’s physically dangerous.
• Experiencing repeated legal problems on account of your drinking.
• Continuing to drink even though your alcohol use is causing problems in your relationships.
• Drinking as a way to relax or de-stress

If you are having issues with alcohol, whether it be alcoholism or alcohol abuse, we can help.  At familyfirstintervention.com, our professional staff will work with you to plan an intervention for a loved one or to assist you in getting into the program that is right for you.

What If They Don’t Want To Go To Intervention?

There are times when we get calls at family-intervention.com from families that have a family member who clearly has drug or alcohol addiction or substance abuse problems and are in complete denial, or worse, simply do not want help.  What can these families do?  They know their loved one needs help but at the same time they know that they will not be able to convince them to get the help they need.

family-intervention.com understands these family problems and realizes that by the time a family member is calling, it is because they cannot withstand the terror of the addiction any longer.  They realize that their family member needs help and that the family will need some assistance in order to provide that help.

Family-intervention.com is a full service facility that is available to the addicted as well as the families when needed.  We can schedule a time to meet with the family and then guide the client into the meeting where, with the help of professionals, we can lay all the cards on the table and let the client know how they are affecting others in the family in a negative.  This is called a family intervention.  We work towards ending the meeting with a commitment by the client to enter our treatment facility to get the needed help.

Once the need for help is determined, we then relocate the client, either by airplane or by car to our facility.  Our nice, stress-free, relaxing facility is the perfect place to work down the path to a complete recovery.  Our clients, upon arrival, will be able to assist us as we design a treatment plan with them in mind.  This plan will be the guide to recovery and a happy life.  It will be designed with the client in mind and will allow enough stability to keep the client focused on their recovery while allowing enough flexibility for them to function in their everyday lives without disruption.

If the client sticks with the treatment plan to the end, then they will make a successful recovery and begin a happy and addiction free life.  Family-intervention.com is the place that you will want to go if you are struggling with any addiction in your life.  Why not give us call today and see how we can help you.

What Is Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol abuse is any use of alcohol that harmful in any way.  Experts describe alcohol abusers as those who drink despite recurrent social, interpersonal, and legal problems as a result of alcohol use. Harmful use implies alcohol use that causes either physical or mental damage.

Alcohol abuse is different from alcoholism. While alcoholism is when you have signs of a physical addiction to alcohol and continue to drink despite physical health or mental health and social, family or job responsibilities.  Alcoholism can also control your life or relationships.

Alcohol abuse is when you’re drinking leads to problems, but not physical addiction.  Such problems could be drunk driving, public intoxication or leading to altercations with others who may or may not have been drinking.

Alcohol abuse could lead to a great financial drain as any arrest caused by drinking could lead to attorney fees, increased insurance costs, court fees and court ordered rehab costs.

If you are suffering from alcohol abuse and find yourself increasing your drinking and taking more chances, it may be time to seek some addiction help.  Take the time to talk to one of our counselors and see how we can design a program that is created with you in mind.  We will design a program that will give you the greatest chance of a relapse free recovery.  At family-intervention.com, our purpose is to assist you in beating alcohol abuse and returning you to a stress and alcohol free life. Contact us today to find out what we can do for you.

Change Your Path Now

What Is Family Intervention

A professional intervention is a carefully planned and structured process meant to specifically address the suffering of an individual and those closest to them. Its purpose is to interrupt addiction(s) and to provide guidance for the family that can lead to lasting recovery.

The process begins with an assessment that will provide the interventionist with information necessary to plan and implement the intervention, select appropriate treatment options and provide a continuing care plan for the entire family post-intervention.

Many people who consider participating in an intervention never complete the process.  There are a variety of reasons for this, with the most common being the myth that an alcoholic or addict must “hit a bottom” before they will accept help.  Uninterrupted addiction will plunge the addict through many bottoms. An intervention is meant to raise the bottom, minimize the damage, and begin the process of healing. It’s never too soon to start getting better.

Another “myth” is that addiction treatment won’t work unless the person receiving the treatment “really wants it.”  Addicts are in denial-you can’t expect them to be treated before they get treatment. Statistics show that motivation for recovery prior to entering treatment is not a reliable predictor of positive outcome.  Positive outcomes are best achieved when:

Families are organized by roles, rules, rituals, boundaries and hierarchy and the family processes this structure through the way its members communicate and interact with each other.

Living with addiction requires the family to take on unhealthy roles and beliefs. The rules become more about protecting unhealthy behaviors than providing guidelines for healthy family functioning. In addition, boundaries become unhealthy obstacles-often limiting autonomy and choice for the individual family members. Communication and interactional patterns are characterized by avoidance or defensiveness and as a result discourage honesty and spontaneity.

These adaptations a family experiences while living with addiction are undertaken both consciously and unconsciously in the interest of finding stability and safety amid an atmosphere of tension, fear, chaos, mistrust and unpredictability. But know this: The compensations the family makes are a normal response to living with addiction. That’s right – normal.  Unfortunately for everyone involved here, there’s a big difference between what’s normal and what’s healthy.

Sounds hopeless, but there is good news Addiction is a treatable disease and recovery is possible for addicts and their families. With education, guidance and support, entire families have an opportunity to experience the health, happiness and growth that recovery can bring.