An individual who is suffering from drug addiction problems often desires to hide these problems from others around him, and will work very hard to do so. This means that even while deep down they may want to be freed from their problems with addiction, they don’t have the courage to reach out to others around them and admit that they need and want help. It is then up to family members to notice when their loved one is suffering from drug addiction problems, and step forward to perform an intervention even if they feel that the problem is not a significant one. Family members can usually tell when something is going on with their loved one–changes in behavior and patterns–and their instincts are quite enough to move forward on, especially when one considers that taking action may very well save someone’s life.
Hold to Prepare for and Hold an Intervention
Preparing for an intervention with your teen begins by making observations. You should note changes in their behavior, appearance, personal habits and work. It’s very true that all healthy individuals occasionally hit rough patches in their lives and may temporarily exhibit changes, but someone who is abusing drug substances will often show many of these changes all at once, and very pronouncedly. It is also very helpful to keep your eye out for drugs or drug paraphernalia, but keep in mind that if you actually invade your teen’s privacy and personal space in order to go searching for evidence of drug use, you will have to defend your actions to them and may find that your actions have further alienated them from you.
Once you have gathered enough information to be relatively certain that drug abuse or addiction is occurring in your teen, it is important to put together an intervention team. This should be a group of individuals who are concerned and care about your teen’s health and welfare, and are interested in pulling together to help enlighten your teen about the possible future consequences of continuing to abuse these substances, as well as the options they have for getting help.
The intervention team needs to plan and rehearse the intervention in order to determine exactly what will be said, by who, in what order, and what consequences will be outlined should your teen choose to continue their drug abuse and refuse to participate in treatment. Interventions are not intended to be confrontational meetings that guilt, shame or force an individual into receiving rehabilitation treatment, but they can always be highly emotionally charged. An overall meeting plan and good rehearsals can help the intervention team stay on task throughout the meeting, and find and eliminate any weaknesses that may arise along the way and cause trouble during the actual intervention meeting.
The actual intervention should be held in a place that your teen finds to be comfortable and non-threatening, and it should be held without their prior knowledge. Despite the fact that most drug abusers and addicts feel guilty about their drug use and truly wish they could be free from it, the fact remains that they are rarely able to speak up and admit their problems to others. If your teen knows an intervention is coming, they may well take action to avoid it.
You don’t actually need any hard evidence to successfully hold an intervention with your teen. You can refer to specific incidents or conversations you noted while making your preliminary conversations, and the fact is that you know your teen well. Your intuition that something is wrong is your strongest ally in doing what is best for your child’s health and happiness. It’s true that your teen may not take well to the intervention, and may actually fight you every single step of the way. They may even walk out of the intervention, refusing treatment and threatening to disappear. However, the seeds that are planted during a well-laid intervention can grow later, and your teen may return and ask for the help that you so willingly offered.
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