{"id":2225,"date":"2019-03-08T16:58:09","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T16:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/2225\/can-you-help-an-addicted-love-one-how-to-hold-a-successful-loving-intervention"},"modified":"2019-03-08T16:58:09","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T16:58:09","slug":"can-you-help-an-addicted-love-one-how-to-hold-a-successful-loving-intervention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/2225\/can-you-help-an-addicted-love-one-how-to-hold-a-successful-loving-intervention\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Help an Addicted Love One? How to Hold a Successful, Loving Intervention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 2017, there were over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.drugabuse.gov\/related-topics\/trends-statistics\/overdose-death-rates\">70,000 deaths<\/a> caused by an overdose\u00a0in the United States. That number has grown astronomically over the last twenty years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Seeing someone you love fall into the arms of a harmful drug addiction is extremely painful. You want to help them recover, but sometimes they don&#8217;t even realize they have a problem, and they have no desire to stop using.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If that&#8217;s the case, you may need to hold an intervention. It just might save your loved one&#8217;s life.<\/p>\n<p>Read on for all you need to know about how to do an intervention for someone you love<\/p>\n<h2>Before the Intervention<\/h2>\n<p>An intervention is not something you haphazardly throw together at the last minute. If you want it to be a success, you&#8217;ll need to carefully plan your intervention in advance. Here&#8217;s what you should do before holding an intervention.<\/p>\n<h3>Create an Intervention Team<\/h3>\n<p>The first step to an intervention is creating the &#8220;dream team&#8221;. Your intervention team will consist of people who the addict respects and loves. These are the people who will be sitting in the intervention circle, talking with your loved one.<\/p>\n<p>Choose people who can relate to the addicted person and who can share how their addiction has affected them.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll want around four or five other people on the intervention team, but most importantly, they each\u00a0need to serve a purpose. Don&#8217;t invite people to the team who don&#8217;t have anything to offer during the intervention.<\/p>\n<h3>Determine\u00a0When\u00a0and Where the Intervention Will Happen<\/h3>\n<p>Figure out a time that will work for each person on the intervention team, and a time where the addicted person will not be able to make an excuse to avoid it. After that, you&#8217;ll need to find the perfect place to hold the intervention.<\/p>\n<p>Avoid holding the intervention in places that will be triggering. If the addicted person has bad memories in their parent&#8217;s home, don&#8217;t hold the intervention there. You&#8217;ll also want to avoid holding it at the addicts home, because they may lock themselves in their room or bathroom.<\/p>\n<p>Try to find a neutral, private location for the intervention. Perhaps a close friend&#8217;s house or a relative that the addict has a good relationship with. Make sure the location is private and you won&#8217;t be interrupted.<\/p>\n<h3>Have a Rehearsal\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>Before the intervention, it&#8217;s important to rehearse the order you will each talk, and what you will say. Each person should say something unique, so it doesn&#8217;t get repetitive.<\/p>\n<p>Do a full run-through of your script and order of speaking. It&#8217;s important to be confident in what you&#8217;re saying before the intervention takes place.<\/p>\n<h2>During the Intervention<\/h2>\n<p>No matter how much you practice for the intervention, you&#8217;ll need to\u00a0perform well during the actual intervention if you hope to be successful. Here are some tips to keep in mind during the intervention.<\/p>\n<h3>Stick to the Script<\/h3>\n<p>Have you ever prepared for a speech, but when you get up there you completely forget everything you rehearsed and start babbling about nothing? Yeah, we&#8217;ve all been there. But don&#8217;t let that happen during the intervention.<\/p>\n<p>Bring a notepad and put bullet points with each of your talking points. You shouldn&#8217;t just sit and read off a script, but use the notes to keep you on track. That way, you know you&#8217;ll touch on each point you intended to talk about.<\/p>\n<h3>Don&#8217;t Let Your Emotions Take Over<\/h3>\n<p>Interventions can get heated, especially if your loved one has trouble holding back emotions. They may get angry, defensive, and even combative.<\/p>\n<p>But it&#8217;s extremely important that the intervention team stays calm. This is especially important if your loved one has a coexisting mental illness, <a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/322\/5-ways-to-support-your-loved-ones-living-with-depression\/\">such as depression<\/a> or bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n<p>If you react to their emotional outbursts in an equally emotional way, the intervention will quickly fall apart. Let your loved one have an emotional response, and remain calm and open.<\/p>\n<p>Once they calm down, return to your talking points in a non-emotional way.<\/p>\n<h2>After the Intervention<\/h2>\n<p>After the intervention takes place, your work isn&#8217;t done yet, especially if the intervention fails. Here&#8217;s what you need to do following\u00a0the intervention.<\/p>\n<h3>Have a Backup Plan<\/h3>\n<p>If your intervention is successful, you need to have a plan for detox and recovery. Look into local rehab programs and have one set in stone ready for your loved one to be admitted to after the intervention. Don&#8217;t give your loved one the chance to change their mind.<\/p>\n<p>It might be difficult to think about, but there&#8217;s a good chance your intervention will fail. This is especially likely if your loved one is not ready to admit they have an addiction problem.<\/p>\n<p>If your intervention fails, determine what you&#8217;ll do next. One option would be to regroup and plan another intervention. You could use different team members and touch on different talking points.<\/p>\n<h3>Don&#8217;t Give Up<\/h3>\n<p>Most importantly, if your loved one chooses to ignore what is said during the intervention, you can&#8217;t give up on them. Keep trying to reach out to them and help them understand their addiction.<\/p>\n<p>Even if your intervention is successful, it&#8217;s important to know recovery is a life-long journey. Be aware of common <a href=\"https:\/\/coastaldetox.com\/10-signs-impending-relapse\">signs<\/a> of impending relapse, and make sure you reach out to them when you fear they are using again.<\/p>\n<h2>Learning How to Do an Intervention Is Easy&#8230;<\/h2>\n<p>But holding a successful intervention takes hard work and dedication. You may not be successful\u00a0on your first attempt, but never give up on your loved one.<\/p>\n<p>By learning how to do an intervention the right way, you&#8217;re already on your way to helping your loved one and potentially saving their life.<\/p>\n<p>Looking for some self-improvement advice? <a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/category\/self-improvement-posts\/\">Check out our blog<\/a> today for more information on living a better life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2017, there were over 70,000 deaths caused by an overdose\u00a0in the United States. That number has grown astronomically over the last twenty years.\u00a0 Seeing someone you love fall into&hellip; <span class=\"read-more-span\"><a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/2225\/can-you-help-an-addicted-love-one-how-to-hold-a-successful-loving-intervention\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Can You Help an Addicted Love One? How to Hold a Successful, Loving Intervention&#8221;<\/span> <span class=\"genericon genericon-next\"><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}