An addict must decide for himself to quit.
But friends, relatives, even a boss may be able to push him to that decision through an “intervention.”
A reality TV show by the same name has popularized the intervention idea, but some relatives and friends may glean unrealistic expectations from the program, said Colleen Koncilja, director of clinical services at the Renz Addiction Counseling Center in Elgin.
“They show a professional meeting with the family, and then together they meet with the addict, and then he’s usually whisked off to some famous treatment center,” Koncilja said.
That scenario does occasionally happen, but some families can’t afford the services of an intervention specialist, or there are thorny insurance issues to work out when the addict does agree to treatment, Koncilja said.
On the other hand, intervention specialist Bob Poznanovich, president and CEO of St. Paul, Minn.-based Addiction Intervention Resources, or AIR, said he can provide an initial screening to decide if an intervention is appropriate and be able to make an assessment of necessary treatment and insurance coverage.
While a successful intervention ends in the addict getting treatment, a key part also involves family and friends defining how they no longer can tolerate certain behaviors.
The Renz Center doesn’t offer intervention services, Koncilja explained, but does sponsor seminars “where we try to work with the family members on how they can take care of themselves. We talk about how they can set boundaries and limits so they are not feeling crazy.”
Indeed, even addicts who enter treatment after an intervention may relapse, but the lasting value of the process is that family members know how to cope better. For a 23-year-old former addict from Chicago, an intervention last year via AIR followed a scenario much like what viewers of the A&E series hope for: After an emotional appeal from his older sister and others, he went for a month of inpatient treatment, followed by several months of after-care.
Without the intervention, he said, he never would have sought help. “I knew I had a problem. But your brain is clouded. I didn’t want to ask for help, and I didn’t even know about things like NA [Narcotics Anonymous].”
An intervention can be valuable because “it can be the one route to get someone to see a professional,” said Dr. Daniel Angres, a psychiatrist and director of Rush Behavioral Health.
The subject makes for dramatic TV, but many practicalities must be addressed. That’s where Web links to intervention resources such as the one run by The Partnership for a Drug-Free America come in handy (drugfree.org).
Even at that, however, interventions carry risk. Although strategies can vary, the scenario generally involves family and friends meeting with the unsuspecting addict and telling him how his dependency has wreaked havoc in his life and theirs. They present an ultimatum: Seek treatment or face certain consequences.
Such a confrontation can push an addict not into treatment but further from friends and family, warned Ronda Dearing, research scientist at the Research Institute on Addiction at the University of Buffalo.
AIR, which charges $3,000 to $6,000 for its services, has a counselor spend a day carefully rehearsing with family members exactly what they will say and prepares them for various reactions from the addict, Poznanovich said. The counselor also attends the intervention, then serves as a liaison between him and the family during treatment.
“Any intervention that is shaming and confrontational is not a good intervention,” he said.
For addicts who are business or professional people, a very abbreviated form of intervention — a boss who explains that the addict’s job is in jeopardy — can be effective, Angres said. “Someone who is addicted needs to have something held over them. For someone who is gainfully employed, one of the most [valued] things is their job.”
Many companies, especially larger firms, offer workers access to an “employee assistance program,” which may provide workplace interventions.
“What typically happens is that the employer notices a change in performance [of the dependent worker],” explained Dr. Richard Chaifetz, chairman and CEO of ComPsych, a Chicago-based EAP provider.
A boss can receive coaching from EAP about how to approach the worker, and he typically is advised not to mention the possibility of addiction, just to simply insist that performance must improve and suggest the worker contact the EAP.
In some instances, Chaifetz added, an EAP may arrange for an intervention outside of the workplace involving the addict’s family.
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On the radio
If you’ve been involved in an intervention that didn’t go well, Kathy and Judy want to talk about it. Tune in to WGN-AM 720 between 9 a.m. and noon Monday.
