About one in ten Americans have alcohol use disorder, according to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics. Their friends and family members often want the best for their loved ones and often consider staging an intervention.
However, most interventions work best with the involvement of a professional. Someone with experience performing interventions can make better inroads than a motivated loved one.
Have you started thinking about reaching out to a friend or loved one? Keep reading and we’ll tell you why interventions are best left to professionals.
Why Interventions Are Best Left to Professionals
Professionals get better results. With an experienced person such as a substance abuse counselor or certified intervention professional leading the effort, you’ll get expert intervention tips and avoid common pitfalls.
Why Families Don’t Do It
Some families resist the idea of involving a pro. They think the family issue should stay within the family. They sometimes fear the blow to their ego from involving professional intervention services.
If you have to convince your family to get help from a recovery coach, remember that drug abuse has a physical element. Ask the resistant family members if they’d expect to do intra-family surgery.
Connections
One of the benefits of professional intervention many families don’t consider comes from the connections the pro has. Pros can connect your family with family counseling, social workers, and other experts. A case that feels hopeless could open up with the involvement of a more tailored expert.
Professional Interventions Work
Intervention success rates go up to almost 90 percent with a pro involved, as per the Association of Intervention Specialists. Professionals have the best chance of getting a loved one to enter addiction treatment.
If your first sit-down with the professional doesn’t lead to treatment, don’t lose hope. Many begin treatment a week or two later. Some people want their loved ones to prove their resolve or desire extra time to get to grips with how bad things have gotten.
More Than Alcohol Addiction
While most go to addiction counselors for physical drug addictions, a pro can handle many types of addictions. If your loved one has a gambling or sex addiction, the pro can help with that too. This breadth of knowledge can also help your loved one avoid developing a substitute addiction.
What Makes a Pro?
If you want to involve a pro, make sure they have certification. Certified intervention specialists get their certification from one of the member boards of the International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium. This organization oversees state-level credentialing organizations.
Your Loved One Deserves the Best Care
If you’ve been wondering why interventions are best left to professionals, you should now know. Professionals have more resources, a broad set of skills, and a certification that proves they understand current schools of thought in addiction counseling. It takes more than warm feelings to reach someone in the throes of an addiction.
A good intervention takes time and emotional grounding. At H.O.P.E., we aim to cultivate self-awareness, self-love, and self-discipline in everyone with whom we have the honor of working. If you or a loved one want to start down the road to recovery, contact us to schedule a complimentary consultation.
