5 Qualities of a Healthy Interventionist
Professional intervention can help your family recover with the proper drug and alcohol treatment plans. However, successful intervention does not stop when your loved one goes to treatment.
Intervention should go beyond drug and alcohol rehab. It continues after treatment with outpatient programs, counseling for mental health, A.A. meetings and sometimes medication.
Here is a list of qualities and characteristics you should consider when hiring an interventionist.
1) Accountability
It will no longer be necessary for you to hold your loved one accountable.
Whether you are parents looking to help your son or daughter or a spouse, it will no longer be necessary for you to make sure your loved one is doing what he or she should be doing.
Interventionists should take accountability off your hands. An interventionist should make sure your family member is going to all their meetings, seeing their counselor, and doing what their discharge plan says from treatment.
2) Approach Loved Ones With Love and Tolerance
Getting sober is stressful on the addicted person and the entire family system.
Family members need your love, tolerance and support, whether they are the alcoholic or drug addict or a family member affected by someone who abuses drugs and alcohol.
When we try to hold the addict or alcoholic accountable, we feel guilt and shame when our loved ones start using again. We think it is our fault.
Having the interventionist lets you give the reins of worry and control over to someone else. Then you don’t need to take care of the accountability aspect, which helps you stay in a place where you are more loving and tolerant with your family members.
3) Trust and Confidence
When you are doing an intervention with a family member, it’s important to have someone who understands addiction, has recovered and can help your loved one.
The Alcoholics Anonymous book states, “The ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours.”
People who are recovered can gain an alcoholic or drug addict’s confidence where others have failed.
4) Knowledgeable of Treatment Field
Your interventionist should be knowledgeable of treatment centers and options. Not every treatment facility or sober-living home has your loved one’s best intentions in mind.
Some don’t have a solid foundation for recovery. Sober Caddy has relationships with many facilities and knows what programs have solid recovery options and which ones don’t.
5) A Continuous Intervention Program
Many interventionist programs and intervention services are only worried about the actual intervention. But Sober Caddy has learned that families need help with the entire recovery plan from intervention to aftercare options.
Here’s what an interventionist should offer
Pre-intervention:
How should your loved one be approached? What do we need to know about him or her? Are they ready for intervention? It’s important to take all of these answers into consideration when you approach an alcoholic or drug addict.
Actual intervention:
You need professional interventionists who can speak to your loved one in a way that will have positive results. You need someone who speaks their language but has also gotten sober.
Treatment options:
Interventionists should know the best places for treatment. Not all treatment centers are equal. Some have programs that don’t focus on the problem, others are expensive and do not get the results you want. It’s critical to take them to the right rehab or center for treatment.
Aftercare options:
This is where accountability really arises. When they get out of treatment, are they going to all their meetings? Are they seeing their counselor? Are they being honest?
—
Behavioral health and substance abuse are long term disorders that need continuous care. Proper intervention is critical for your loved one to get sober.
Contact Sober Caddy if you are interested in our intervention programs or have questions about intervention.