What Does a Successful Intervention Look Like?
Many feel that allowing someone to "hit bottom" before getting help is the best way to help someone struggling with substance use disorder. While that is a reasonable and often effective approach toward getting someone the help they need, in some instances, other means must be used. One of these means is holding an intervention.
When an individual's dangerous choices and toxic behaviors become a threat to themselves and others, intervening may be the best alternative to letting the damage continue going unchecked. However, an intervention is not something to take lightly. After all, a person's life and often a family's livelihood are at stake.
Before taking the next steps toward enacting an intervention, a few questions should first be asked and answered, including:
What exactly is an intervention?
What does a successful intervention look like?
What do I need to do to make sure the intervention is successful?
What happens after the intervention?
Now that you have asked the questions let us try and give you some answers.
What Exactly Is an Intervention?
On its base level, yes, an intervention is exactly what it sounds like. In recovery, it means intervening in someone's life to help them get the help they need for their alcohol or substance use disorder.
But ultimately, an intervention is much more than simply intervening. It is a comprehensive process that takes incredible planning, attention, and communication to ensure that the individual becomes open to getting the help they need. However, getting the individual to be willing to listen is just the beginning. They must also be willing to take action and seek help.
Also, if that individual becomes ready to get the help they need, there must be a plan to follow through with the next steps. This may include detox, inpatient or outpatient treatment, therapy, or a 12-Step program. Successfully executing all of these steps and integrated parts leads to professional help. There is often a limited window to get an individual perceptive enough to get help, so getting it right can be crucial.
Understanding the Complete Intervention Process
At Next Level Recovery Associates, we understand the critical nature of a successful intervention. That is why we take a highly planned, professional, and individualized approach to our intervention assistance.
Our customized approach will allow for full communication and connection throughout the process. This includes family members, friends, therapists, and other healthcare professionals. By ensuring everyone is on the same page and the right track, there is less chance for uncertainty once the intervention is underway.
There is significant pre-planning that must go into a successful intervention. This includes a thorough assessment of the individual, discussion sessions with the family and friends, and logistical planning on where it will be held and how to get the individual there.
During the intervention, our trained and certified specialists have the skills, tools, and resources to keep the intervention moving in the right direction: moving toward getting them to say yes to the help they need.
Why the Intervention Is Only the Beginning
Once they agree to get help, Next Level Recovery Associates also has the resources and connections to get them the proper care they need. But, again, this window is also limited. As they say in many 12-Step programs, addiction is "cunning, baffling, and powerful," so once they agree to get help, time is of the essence.
Post-Intervention Needs
After the intervention, Next Level Recovery Associates can help facilitate the next necessary stages for continued recovery. This may include offering family coaching because we, too, believe that substance use disorder is a "family disease." Therefore, the entire family deserves to get the recovery they need.
Post-intervention may also include incorporating a Recovery Companion into their program of recovery. This is someone that can help positively guide the individual in the right direction while they may still be shaky in early recovery.
A Recovery Companion also holds the individual accountable for their actions, steers them away from potential triggers, and keeps them engaged with the other aspects of their recovery plan. Our Recovery Companions are also unique in that they have personally gone through the recovery process themselves. That reliability and ability to share their own stories can go a long way in helping someone stick to their recovery plan.
Why a Relapse Is Never the End
One of the most difficult aspects of recovery is that there is no guarantee. At Next Level Recovery Associates, we understand this, and we feel that any treatment facility that offers a guarantee should be taken with a grain of salt.
Sometimes, relapse happens. It is just the nature of this insidious disease. When this happens, it is not the end. It is simply a new beginning. Since it is not how we fall that defines us, it is how we get back up.
Understanding what a successful intervention should look like is the best way to ensure that your client has the best chance for long-term recovery. There are a few considerations that are key to implementing an effective intervention. The tone and structure must be considered. Having the necessary level of professional support is pivotal. Also, understanding that an intervention is much more than the event itself. Rather it is a long process that includes intensive preparation, proper implementation, and the appropriate amount of post-intervention care. An intervention is one of the most important events in a struggling person's life. Contact Next Level Recovery Associates at (561) 735-2590 for more information.