Staging a Drug Intervention
Drug abuse is nearly as common as alcohol abuse and it sometimes comes to friends and family members to stage a drug intervention in order to try and convince the drug user to attend some kind of drug treatment facility, whether it be an inpatient facility or an outpatient facility. There are several things you need to do in order to stage a drug intervention.
You need to find a facility that will accept the insurance plan that the patient has and that has openings for the drug abuser. They need to know which drugs the patient is taking in order to decide whether or not they have the facilities to handle the drug withdrawal that will likely be inevitable. Some withdrawals are harder than others to go through and require more medical intervention. Choose a facility that can handle the individual's needs and has openings should the drug intervention become successful.
Think about having a drug interventionist who understands the way drug abusers think and how best to approach the problem of the intervention. They have usually gone to dozens of interventions in the past and understand addiction and its many faces. Some facilities offer the services of a drug interventionist in order to help the process go as easily as possible. They can help you decide when and where it is most appropriate to stage a drug intervention.
Decide who you will invite to the drug intervention. It should be people who have been most impacted by the person's drug abuse and who are the closest to the individual. This can include the individual's spouse, children, parents and other loved ones. Each has his or her own story to tell about how the drug use has impacted them and can implore the person in his or her own way to get the help they need to overcome the drug addiction.
Think about what kinds of resistances you will meet from the individual having the drug intervention. They will have all sorts of excuses as to why they don't have a problem or why they can't go into treatment. Anticipate those excuses and resistances, and have some sort of reasoning why the excuses are just that—ways to get out of what is necessary to happen.
Plan a good time for the drug intervention. It should be when the individual is as sober as possible but this cannot always be the case. They may be high on drugs at the time of the intervention but as long as they are coherent, it may be successful anyway. Point out that the person is high on drugs at the time of the intervention as just one reason why the person needs to seek help for their drug problem.
You need to find a facility that will accept the insurance plan that the patient has and that has openings for the drug abuser. They need to know which drugs the patient is taking in order to decide whether or not they have the facilities to handle the drug withdrawal that will likely be inevitable. Some withdrawals are harder than others to go through and require more medical intervention. Choose a facility that can handle the individual's needs and has openings should the drug intervention become successful.
Think about having a drug interventionist who understands the way drug abusers think and how best to approach the problem of the intervention. They have usually gone to dozens of interventions in the past and understand addiction and its many faces. Some facilities offer the services of a drug interventionist in order to help the process go as easily as possible. They can help you decide when and where it is most appropriate to stage a drug intervention.
Decide who you will invite to the drug intervention. It should be people who have been most impacted by the person's drug abuse and who are the closest to the individual. This can include the individual's spouse, children, parents and other loved ones. Each has his or her own story to tell about how the drug use has impacted them and can implore the person in his or her own way to get the help they need to overcome the drug addiction.
Think about what kinds of resistances you will meet from the individual having the drug intervention. They will have all sorts of excuses as to why they don't have a problem or why they can't go into treatment. Anticipate those excuses and resistances, and have some sort of reasoning why the excuses are just that—ways to get out of what is necessary to happen.
Plan a good time for the drug intervention. It should be when the individual is as sober as possible but this cannot always be the case. They may be high on drugs at the time of the intervention but as long as they are coherent, it may be successful anyway. Point out that the person is high on drugs at the time of the intervention as just one reason why the person needs to seek help for their drug problem.
