Alcohol Intervention
An alcohol intervention is an attempt to convince someone to get help for their problem. There are basically two types of interventions–formal and informal–and we are only concerned with the formal type here. Informal interventions are basically just conversations–short, unplanned confrontations with the alcoholic to try to get them to stop drinking or using. If you are considering a formal intervention, then you have already tried and exhausted a series of informal interventions at this point.
This is not something that should be rushed into, as there is a chance that the net outcome of an intervention could actually make matters worse. Therefore, we will start by examining the question:
Should we do an Alcohol Intervention?
A formal intervention should not be the first reaction from a concerned family. A series of informal interventions–simple confrontational conversations–should have been tried up to this point. The formal intervention should only be considered when other efforts have failed, or when the person’s life seems to be spinning hopelessly out of control. The addict in question should have suffered a number of different consequences from their addiction already, yet remain stuck in denial. This is an appropriate candidate for a formal intervention. If someone is simply suspected of addiction or alcoholism, but hasn’t suffered any real consequences or demonstrated their addictive capacities, then that is a poor candidate for an alcoholic intervention.
This is going to boil down to a personal choice, or a gut level feeling with the people who are closest with the alcoholic or addict in question. Chances are good that family relations are already strained because of this persons addiction, so understand that any attempt at a formal intervention could ultimately fail and result in even more tension and resentment than before. Things could get worse, not better. The intervention is a calculated risk. We are going to make every effort possible to maintain the peace during the intervention, but the risk of resentment is still there. Therefore, the decision to organize and perform a formal intervention should not be taken lightly. If you are not willing to risk further agitation with someone, you might be better off trying more informal conversations with them first. You can always encourage various friends or family members to do so without organizing a formal intervention. It is only when all of that has failed, over and over again, and the addiction continues to get worse and worse, that a formal intervention should be organized.
Do we need professional help for the alcohol intervention?
There are professional intervention services and agencies that you can hire to help you with this process. They often have an individual–usually a counselor in recovery themselves–who can come and help conduct the intervention with you. This person also helps by speaking to everyone who will be at the intervention, and instructs them on how best to communicate with the addict/alcoholic in order to convince them to comply. If you can afford such professional services, then this might be a good option for you. Keep in mind that those services are not cheap, and the outcome is far from guaranteed. A formal intervention is a step towards recovery, but having a paid professional does not ensure success. The determining factor is going to be the addict’s ability to break through their denial, and their willingness to try to change. Professional interventionists don’t have any magic tricks up their sleeve–all they can do is teach you how to communicate with the addict in a loving and supportive way. The remainder of this article is meant to serve as a substitute for those professional services, and hopefully you can use the information here to organize an effective alcohol intervention by yourself.
Planning the alcohol intervention
Photo by madmonk
Do not feel overwhelmed at the idea of planning an intervention. You are going to reach out to someone and try to make a difference in a loving and supportive way. As long as you are genuinely concerned, the following principles and ideas should be sufficient to guide you.
Basically, you are going to get organized and do some thinking about what the best approach will be. You are going to decide on a handful of close people to have at the intervention, and we are going to decide how they should best approach the situation. You are then going to set a time and a place to do the intervention and provide some brief coaching to the participants beforehand. Then you will do the intervention and hope for the best. You are going to try to reach out in a loving and caring way. The idea is not to force a change, because that is impossible. Forcing someone to do anything will only push them away from you. This is the best we can do….to intervene in hopes for a change.
Who to Involve
At one point in time, popular opinion held that you should get anyone and everyone associated with the person involved in the intervention. This would have included any friends, family, coworkers, classmates, and so on. More recent studies are showing greater success with a more limited selection of people–maybe about six to ten individuals. Obviously, the people selected to be at the intervention should be close to the alcoholic, and they should be able to describe how that person’s drinking or drug use has affected them. Don’t involve kids. If the person has drinking or using buddies, those are going to be poor choices as well. Many times the alcoholic will be in a relationship with someone who is also addicted–again, this makes a poor choice, even though they might be really close with their partner.
Here is another idea, but this one must be handled extremely carefully: Get the employer involved, if there is one. This can be very effective if it is done properly, but there can be a lot of problems with it. You don’t want to go to their employer and get them fired before you even get a chance to do the intervention. But most employers will be understanding and helpful if you approach them properly, and ask for their cooperation in sending the person to treatment. Ask their boss if they would be willing to give them leave to go get help, and guarantee their job when they come back. If the alcoholic has any sort of personal relationship with their boss, you may even want to have the boss present at the intervention–this can be extremely effective.
When and Where to do it
Photo by *clarity*
A successful alcohol intervention requires proper balance. On the one hand, you want to be loving and supportive and reach out and offer help without antagonizing or threatening the alcoholic. On the other hand, a bit of leverage can be useful in convincing the person to agree to treatment. When and where you do the intervention can play a big part in determining the outcome.
Think about your history with this individual and their pattern of drug or alcohol use to determine if there are any obvious opportunities for interventions. If they are a binge drinker, you might be able to stage the intervention so that it follows a day or two after the binge ends, before they have a chance to start again, and also when they are most able to listen to your arguments. Obviously, staging an intervention when someone has been using or drinking is not going to be very effective. You have to plan it out so that the person is relatively sober and at least somewhat receptive to what you’re saying. For some people, this might be after a night spent in jail for a drunk driving offense, or perhaps after losing their job or some other catastrophic event occurs. Doing the intervention after one of these events will take some patience, but it might make it that much more effective. You can still organize the intervention and alert the people involved to be ready for when you think the time is right. Timing can be everything. It’s all about when you think the person might be most receptive to listening and making the change.
Where you do the intervention might be equally important. There is potential to do something sneaky here and put the alcoholic in a corner–manipulating them into a situation where they are forced to listen to you. This is probably not a good idea. If the person feels threatened and manipulated, they are likely to shut down and things will just get worse. Try to find some neutral ground–a setting that is comfortable for everyone without being too threatening to the alcoholic.
Remember that it is very scary for an alcoholic to walk into an intervention. If the situation is too overwhelming for them, they will just shut down and refuse to cooperate. You are seeking a balance here. The idea is to be loving and supportive and yet still try to elicit compliance. If you are too overbearing or try to manipulate them too much, things will turn out badly and the intervention may actually be counterproductive.
If you choose to involve the employer, here is another idea that has shown some success recently: have the employer tip them off a few days in advance. Have the boss say something like “I need to meet with you on Friday after work for a quick meeting. It’s about your…..drug problem. Don’t worry, you’re not being fired. I just need to talk some things over with.” This way, the person is expecting a confrontation and won’t feel completely ambushed. This has been shown to have better results than catching the person completely off guard with the usual “surprise” intervention.
Specifying the Goal of the alcohol intervention
Those who organize interventions recommend that you come up with a goal ahead of time. You need to have a very specific and realistic goal for the intervention or it is likely to fail. It is not enough to get everyone together and simply express concern for someone’s drinking or drug problem. Having a specific goal is important. “We want you to stop drinking or using drugs” is not a realistic goal. While this is ultimately the desired outcome, it is not specific enough to be actionable. You need to have a very specific action that you want the person to take. The most popular example of this is to have them agree to go to a treatment center. Ideally, admission to an inpatient treatment center should be the goal of most interventions, because the controlled environment guarantees at least some period of sobriety, which then gives the person a fighting chance at staying clean and working a program of recovery. Anything other than inpatient treatment as an intervention goal runs the obvious risk that the person will simply continue using drugs or alcohol.
Unfortunately, most drug and alcohol treatment centers do not take clients on a walk-in basis. Part of your planning process will be to locate a treatment center and contact them well in advance of the intervention (at least two weeks prior). If you can set the person up for admission at a later date, then the intervention can be scheduled around that, so they can go directly to treatment if they agree to do so. This is the most ideal situation and best possible outcome for an alcohol intervention: for the person to agree to go directly to inpatient treatment, and having the ability to do so immediately.
Remember to emphasize that the goal is for the person to get help….the emphasis should not be on abstinence. Telling someone that they have to stop using drugs and alcohol forever is likely to just shut them down, and they will likely be more defensive. Get them to agree to treatment, where the emphasis will eventually be on abstinence anyway. Don’t put them off by overwhelming them with what sounds like a death sentence to a using drug addict or alcoholic.
Overcoming Objections
Photo by barto
The overall strategy that should guide the intervention is a loving and caring concern for the person involved. However, you are attempting to coerce this person into doing something that is going to be a bit scary for most people. To agree to suddenly stop using their drug of choice and enter a treatment facility is a really big deal for most addicts and alcoholics. They are going to have objections, and you need to know how to handle these objections. The best way to do that is to anticipate those objections and figure out a suitable answer in advance. For example, you might anticipate that the person will say that they cannot possibly go to inpatient treatment because they would miss to much work. You could either work something out in advance with the employer, or you could point out that the person isn’t going to be able to keep the job much longer anyway due to their drug use. For every potential objection they might have, you need to either work something out for it in advance, or have a reasonable and logical argument prepared to deal with it.
Setting Boundaries and Consequences
An intervention is a formal opportunity for communication to occur. One of the goals of the intervention should be for you and the others involved in the intervention to set some boundaries. These boundaries should include what behavior is unacceptable to them. For example, you might say “It is completely unacceptable that you continue to drink and drive on a regular basis.” This can then be followed up with the consequences that you will enforce if the behavior continues. “If you continue to drink and drive, I will call the police when I see it, and I will not bail you out of jail if you get arrested.” Or, you might say “I can no longer accept that you are using drugs more and more frequently these days….if you refuse to go to treatment, then you’ll be kicked out of the house.” The consequences you set should be specific and enforceable. Do not set consequences that you do not intend to follow through with.
To recap: If you are serious about planning an intervention, then here is what you need to do:
1. Decide whether or not to do the intervention
2. See if you want professional help and whether or not you can afford it
3. Decide who to have at the intervention and where to do it at
4. Specify the goal of the intervention and schedule at a treatment center if possible
5. Anticipate objections and rehearse overcoming them
6. Define your boundaries of acceptable behavior and determine consequences if they don’t comply
The final preparation will be a coaching session with all of the people who will be involved with the intervention. This will help everyone to be on the same page, and also to know a little bit more about what to expect during the alcohol intervention.
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{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
It is always important to come from a loving and caring place when you perform an Intervention. You want the addict to know that they are loved and you don’t want them to die and this is their chance to change their life.
J
Thank you for much for this information. I am planning my brothers intervention now. I was desperate and your web site has give me focus on how to help. Hopefully you have helped me save his life.
Good luck with your intervention attempt, Crystal. I hope everything works out for the best. God bless you and good luck.
I am so glad I found this website. I need to help my daughter. She doesn’t live close, this makes it even harder.
Thank you for the Information.
Hi there Ilona
Good luck to you and your daughter. Be sure to take things slow and don’t expect a miracle right away. Sometimes you have to plant a seed that won’t produce immediate results, but it is still worth planting! Good luck to you and God bless.
Thank you for the great advice ; i need to get help for my sister and didn”t know on how to go about it. Thanks to people like you’ my family and i know exactly where to start and what to do.
Regards Tina
If my sister does not get help with her addiction she is going to die. I fear for her and her children everyday. Her husband is also an addict and so is most of our family. Her husband is extremely abusive, and I fear she is not going to live whether by drugs or by the hands of her husband. I live 2000 miles from her. What do I do to save her?
Hi there Jackie
That sounds like a bad situation that your sister is in. Being 2000 miles away certainly doesn’t make things any easier. Even if you were there you might not be able to force a change, so perhaps the best you can do is to be supportive and encourage her to seek treatment. Unfortunately, there are no magic words….sometimes the best we can do is to pray for them (and sometimes that is enough)….
Are there any free treatment programs for a 28 yr old addicted to opiates? We live in rural TN. Thank you.
The age shouldn’t matter unless the person is under 18, then it is a whole different ballgame I believe (as far as treatment goes).
I’m not sure how it works in TN Kay, but here in Michigan there is usually a way for an addict to get help. People tend to pay for residential and detox treatment either with insurance, Medicaid, or by a grant through the State of Michigan. I’m not sure if TN has such grants or not available to people. Probably over half of the business at a typical treatment center here in Michigan might be through these types of grants. Unfortunately, I really don’t know much about these grants (such as who would qualify for them), but I know that many many addicts rely on them to get help. Hopefully you have some sort of similar funding in TN.
Your best bet is probably to call a few treatment centers in your area (you might have to travel a ways) and start asking questions. Good luck to you and your family.
My sister-in-law is living in a tent in Minnesota at age 50. She has a history of addiction to meth and other drugs. But after 10 years is still in denial that she even uses drugs. My husband and I want to help. She has burned bridges with eveyone else in the family. Including her own sons.
(she is my husbands sister) I will call treatment places tomorrow. I hope we can do something. Is it ever to late?
I just left my partner and now-ex-fiance because he cannot stop using pills, particularly opiates, and mostly Oxycontin. When they aren’t available, he turns to whatever else he can get his hands on. He recognizes he has a problem, and has made many proclamations of change and leading a conscious life…yet, the desire is always too strong. I’ve left because there doesn’t seem to be anything else I can do. I am afraid that he hasn’t got any sort of fighting chance unless he gets into a inpatient program, but without insurance or extra income – it’s virtually impossible. I live in California, home to endless rehab/detox centers, but can find NOTHING affordable, sliding scale, or even with a manageable finance option. Does anyone have any suggestions??
Hi there Adeline, thanks for your comment. I’m not sure how things work in California, this will vary by state, but in Michigan, most people in his situation can get funded through the state of Michigan (via a grant) for about 10 to 14 days in an inpatient setting. So you might call some treatment centers and/or helplines and see if they have any state funded options available.
Some doctors are also helpful in guiding patients through opiate withdrawal, though I have no specific experience with this. Might be worth making some phone calls over, though. Good luck to you Adeline and I hope your ex can find the path….
thanks so much now i think i know what im going to do…i really want to help out my dad i just really hope that this is going to help and he just isnt going to hate me after..but i have some of my family to help me so im going to try…i just really dont want to see my daddy die i want him to be able to live and see the day i get married and have kids..i dont want him to miss it for the world…well i hope this helps me save my daddys life…
thanks alot….
Good luck to you Brittany, hope everything works out for the best for both you and your father.
Thank you for the info on how to find treatment withoutinsurance or available funds. My son is 20 and has been out of control since the age of 15. At that time I tried court ordered treatment centers which of course when he came home did good for a awhile and at 17 moved out. And has moved from friends to friends to live. I let him move back in last year with hopes that we would be able to provide the setting in which he would see what he is missing with family and leading a sober life. It was like reintroducing a stray He is addicted to crack, marijuana,and who knows what else. After several failed attempts of going to NA mtgs and making him leave..this last attempt of letting him back in has failed once again. I thought things were going well, and I came home yesteray to find him drunk, and irratic. During this time he was crying and saying how he keeps messing up and there are voice in his head and that his is crazy. I found that he has taken money – $40 that I was holding for him as well as a bottle of vicodin that I had for a recent dental surgery. He’s still sleeping and I don’t know how to approach this so it doesn’t set off a fuse.. as I have a 2 yr old here with me, my 18 year old son just left for college and my husband is on the road for business. I’m hoping you see this right away as I really need help! Thank you!
Hi, I’m not sure if you check this. I live pretty far from my family at the moment – i’m away in college. My neighbor called me tonight to tell me that the situation with my brother is much worse than I’d thought (he’s still pretty good at hiding his problems.)
I don’t think (after reading this) that his situation warrants a formal intervention yet. He has a prestigious job and he is doing well- actually, he just got a promotion. However, he drinks a lot (but only at night and probably 5 nights a week?) He doesn’t always get totally blacked-out drunk but he does so on a regular basis. He also uses a lot of cocaine. I’m not sure how much but I would guess at least almost every day. I feel, however, that the situation is dire because he has a lot of health problems. He has a bad liver and has been told by his doctors that he can have “a glass of wine occasionally.” – like when out to dinner with clients every once in a while. In addition, he has numerous heart problems. He is on medication that is for people 50 years older than him (hes only 28) and it is still not working. His blood pressure is unbelievably high. My friend told me he shakes all the time and that he cant sit down, barely sleeps at all, and she can’t think of any negative force in his life, that he is always the one looking to go out, get drunk, etc.
I’m so afraid that he is going to drop dead of some complications because he is being so self-destructive. I don’t know what to do. My sister and i spoke tonight and we thought that the two of them might come see me. The two of us could try talking to him. I don’t want to make him feel trapped though. But, in the past when either of us have tried (or any friends) to confront him, he gets mad or denies any problem, he lies about his medications or about his state of health and he walks away. The thing is, I think he is scared about his health because he does break occasionally and tell me what his doctors say… Really confused. If you have any advice I’d be so grateful.
Thanks.
I just recently found out that my parents have been using cocaine…my brother first told me about it, that he found some in my mom’s purse. I didn’t believe him at first, but I began paying attention to my mother’s behavior…she say’s that she can no longer smell things, she is always sniffing and itching her nose, he always says she is getting a sinus infection, the other night she came home and had this enormous amount of energy, she stay’s up all night. My mom is the worst, but I believe that my dad does it when he is out drinking. They also have no money, they both have good jobs, yet they have bill collectors calling everyday and they have no good excuse for where all there money is going. The signs are all there, but I have no hard evidence that they are using all I have is hear-say. I’ve never confronted them about this because I’m not sure how to go about it. Do you have any advise for me? What should I do?
Great tips and it is natural that the person will be defensive. I think love and concern need to truly come through to help someone with any problem. Showing someone what they’ve lost in life can be helpful too and if they see it’s their own actions that caused things there is less likelihood to blame others or circumstances. Compassion is an important tool to have the wisdom to guide someone.
I read your article & agree that I’m not
covinced that intervention is the route
to take. Is this discussion to talk
about intervention or other options
as well? If so, this is a basic article
discribing the procedure involved.
My family and I are planning an intervention for a cousin that I’m very close to. This website helped alot. She is addicted to Xanax/Alcohol and we think she is an escort because she doesn’t work and always has alot of $$$. This is gonna be difficult because it’s not only the drugs/alcohol it’s the whole lifestyle she’s leading..I’m scared that she will go deeper into this if we don’t do it correctly. Do u have any helpful hints. It would be appreciated..Thank you
Hi there CT
Actually my knowledge of interventions has kind of stagnated since I wrote this article, although I have continued to learn more about addiction and recovery in other areas.
I tend to lean more towards not intervening as much these days, and more towards informal interventions. But I still think there is a time and place where the situation calls for a formal intervention….I just think it is less frequently then what most people expect. Good luck to you at any rate, that is a very dangerous combination of drugs and alcohol you are dealing with there…..definitely push for a medical detox.
My family has an extremely difficult situation and I am seeking advice. We are at the cross roads with my mom. There has been several serious consequences and subsequent actions due to her alcoholism. Any type of intervention doesn’t have any effect, and extreme things have happened. This addiction has been very real for as long as I lived. Me and my sibling had to go through the DSS process back in the day because of this; my father had to move cause of this; the police have been called numerous times in the past because of this; she has fallen down the stairs because of this, and luckily didn’t do any serious damage; we have had to carry her limp body to the car because she couldn’t move; we have seen her so bad many times to the extent that we stress out whether or not she is going to live; more recently in August, we found her incapacitated on the living room floor, we had to call the ambulance, they had to pump her stomache and admitted her in the hostpital for 4 days. She got set up with a psycho/therapist after her release and we thought that there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel, but she is still drinking. Its random and sporadic. She sees the psycho/therapist once a week, but the habbit always comes back, and for some new reason it seems. The doctor has prescribed meds for her anxiety, but now this is just something new for us to worry about. I still live with her and she is on a 3 day binge right now. We are scared and at our wits end! Its so bad that she has no comprehension of the lit ciggarette in her hand. She gets so violent and completely involent, that it is impossible to deal with. She will stay up until 7AM hollering for no reason, making us all feel bad about personal situations. She is seriously in danger and dangering all those who live with her. We love her very much, and there is a very apparant psychological issue here, as she has no recollection of anything she says or does when she eventually wakes up sober. The person she is when she is not drinking is the most loveable, caring, senstive, amazing person and mom you could ever know, which makes it all the more difficult to deal with cause its like there is another person that lives within her. She knows she has a problem, but any intervention has not had any lasting effect. Even the ambulance, the doctors, the sometiems long sober intermissions aren’t gaining any positive traction. I just got a call from my sibling. She called my work line to tell me that my mom is a mess right now. I don’t know what to do, and sadly, my hope is diminshing. Please help! Any suggestions
Hi there JD
There is hope for your mom. I have hope for her. The reason that I have hope is because I see people like this who come into the treatment center all the time, who are hooked on both booze and anxiety medications.
This is a particularly dangerous combination of drugs and my main message to you as such is this: convince her to seek a medical detox. It would be far safer for her to continue drinking then it would be for her to stop everything cold turkey without medical supervision. Coming off booze is dangerous, but coming off booze + anxiety medication is much, much more serious (based on what I have seen at the detox center over the past 4 years).
So that is point number one: get her to a medical facility if she is going to stop or at least dry out. Get her to rehab. Get her to treatment.
Point number two is how to convince her to do this. There is no magic bullet of course, as you are well aware of by now. I wish I had some profound wisdom for you here but I have said it all before on this website in various articles and that is really the extent of my knowledge. Sometimes the best you can do is to offer her support and let her know that you will take her to treatment when she is ready to make a change.
Treatment works and I don’t see someone like her making a change without treatment. Therefore I think the best you can do is to push the idea bit and let her know that you will take her when she is ready.
Good luck to you and your mother, JD…
I have an alcoholic brother who is turning for the worse recently, I have tried many informal conversations with him and other family members… but he continues this path… I am truly scared and worried to do a formal intervention with him because he is a bit aggressive and can easily over react. Today a few of my family members will come over to my house and discuss options to express our concern for my brother. I am just wondering if a formal intervention is the way to go… I have expressed different ways in which he could seek help, he’s tried one program but it wasn’t for alcohol and drug abuse… my brother recognizes he uses alcohol and drugs a lot and knows it isn’t good, but still hasn’t sought help or made a change in his life… I’m just wondering if perhaps a formal intervention is the way to go…?