Having Hope and Getting Help

When a loved one is dealing with a substance abuse problem, it is often a deeply stressful and traumatic experience. It may be something relatively new, or it may be a behavior that has caused the family a great deal of concern and heartache for many years. Often, when a family seeks assistance, it has been brought about by a crisis and they can no longer hope for the best or keep asking for things to change. The family plays an essential role in the treatment of and outcome for the individual who is struggling. Families often don’t know where to go for help, how to approach their loved one, what course of action to take, or how to go about choosing a professional or treatment facility they can feel good about for recovery and support.

As a professionally Certified Clinical Interventionist, I have worked with families nationally and internationally who are struggling with a loved one’s behavior that has spiraled out of control. Families may have tried on their own to encourage their loved one to get help, to stop abusing the substance, and the person may have even tried to quit before. But success in any meaningful way has eluded them. In spite of feared or mounting negative consequences, getting control over the behavior seems impossible.

The good news about an intervention is that we are not waiting for someone to “hit bottom”. We are instead attempting to raise the bottom so the individual doesn’t have to wait for life to become entirely unmanageable before getting help. We would like to avoid medical illnesses, bankruptcy, loss of homes and families, legal consequences or jail, and most especially, the untimely loss of life itself.  It can be so helpful and a best practice to have a professional guide take the lead in helping the family work through a carefully orchestrated process known as a formal intervention. This carefully trained professional should be familiar with and able to carry out different styles of interventions based on the situation. Planning and preparation for such an intervention will offer the individual an opportunity for another chance at recovery that has the highest chance of a successful outcome. Paige Stetson & Associates approaches each client family with dignity, respect, compassion, and understanding. Addiction is a disease of the brain that requires an intervention of the heart. And this is where the power of love enters in.