
Intervention is Essential
Staging an intervention is the most effective way to get a person with a substance use disorder to enter a rehabilitation treatment center. Between 2017 and 2018, over 18,000 people reported to have a substance use disorder in Oklahoma. So many people suffer silently because they are afraid to speak up about their condition.
You might be worried about someone who has considerably changed due to their drug and/or alcohol addiction. An intervention is where you start out helping them. Do not be afraid of confrontation: fear must not stop you from taking action. For over a decade, recovery specialists have been offering safe, medically supervised services for anyone who is ready to take the first step toward getting clean and sober.
What Intervention Looks Like
An intervention is a highly organized gathering that has the goal of convincing an addicted person to go to rehab. Individuals who care about the addicted person, including family members, friends, clergy members and coaches, organize to confront the relative or friends. They express their concerns about the drug and/or alcohol addiction and lobby for treatment. Many times, the addicted person will be in denial about their substance use disorder. Other times they’ll be unwilling to get assistance. However, do not let this deter the goal of the intervention. The purpose of this meeting is to give the addicted person an opportunity to make a significant change in his or her life and save it. During the intervention it is essential to discuss:
- specific examples of unhealthy behavior that the person is exhibiting and how the behavior influenced the addicted person and their loved ones
- the treatment plan along with objectives and guidelines that the addicted person must observe
- ultimatums to end all communication from every member if the person with the substance use disorder doesn’t enter a rehabilitation or treatment program

Different Ways to Speak Up
There are four types of interventions: simple, crisis, classical and family system.
- A simple intervention is just asking an addicted person to enter rehab. This type of action should be done before more difficult methods are attempted.
- Crisis intervention is used to address hazardous, precarious behaviors like reckless driving, violence or severe drug addiction.
- Getting an addicted person to agree to enter a rehab treatment program immediately is the goal of a classical intervention.
- Family system interventions focus on all the family members. They attempt to convince family members to change their behaviors because addiction and family violence often create dysfunctional environments. For this reason, everyone involved will need help in modifying their behaviors.
Intervention, however, is NOT the same as rehabilitation, and it alone will not make the addict quit abusing drugs or alcohol. Only in rehabilitation facilities will the addicted person learn about substance use disorder, how they can maintain long-term recovery and what their triggers are so they can be dealt with or avoided. We strongly recommend immediately following up on an intervention with a detox treatment and a rehab addiction recovery plan.
There’s nothing more disturbing than standing by as a loved one fights drug dependency. We can help by providing interventionists, more information about drug addiction in general, detox and the rehabilitation center. Rehab professional recovery experts are available 24 hours a day to answer your questions. So, call 405-583-4309 today.
What’s the Difference Between Intervention and Rehabilitation?
There is an essential difference between intervention and treatment. Nonetheless, both are necessary for the recovery process. Specialists encourage the addicted person’s friends, family members and other people that care for them to organize an intervention to get the help the addicted person sorely needs.