Should you do a Florida drug intervention to try and convince a friend or a loved one to attend rehab?  Is it worth the effort?  Do people really respond well to an intervention and take real action in order to change their lives?  Or can the intervention create resentment and backfire on people?  Are there risks involved?  Are they expensive?

Lots of questions about interventions, and hopefully I can clear some of them up.  First of all, every intervention carries a small bit of risk with it, because yes, it could create deeper resentment and push the addict deeper into isolation.  However, you have to gauge how critical the situation is and whether or not it is worth the risk.  If the addict is truly out of control and headed for disaster, then it might not matter much and you might go ahead with the intervention even in spite of the potential consequences.  In that case it might be worth the risk and you will decide to do it anyway.

If you do organize an intervention yourself you have the option of having a professional interventionist help you out with it.  If that is the case then you will have to spend a chunk of money to hire that person.  The idea is that they have experience at convincing people to take action.  If you do hire such a person, I would not pin great hopes on them or their ability to persuade people.

Whether you hire in interventionist to help you or not, you should have a very clear and specific goal for the intervention.  In most cases this will be something like “convince the addict to check into this treatment center.”  You will have to call in advance to get the treatment lined up and have a spot available for them.  This is probably the best route to go because anything less provides too much wiggle room for the addict to not change and continue using.  If you can get them to commit to treatment then this is probably the most action you can expect.

Is it worth doing?  That is a judgment call and you will have to figure that out on your own.  I will say that most interventions do not work like the magic wand that we hope they will be.  Sometimes they might have the desired effect, but more often they are but a step on the path for someone.  They still might be important, but do not pin all your hopes on the outcome.  Instant success in this field is quite rare.