Careful Intervention Planning:
Defense and Safety Precautions

Dr. Patrick J. Hart:
Psychotherapist & Interventionist
National Services Can be Negotiated

What is an Intervention?

The following overview article is summarized from Wikipedia:

An intervention is an intricately orchestrated attempt by one or many people – usually family and friends – to motivate someone to seek professional help with an addiction, mental illness, traumatic destabilizing crisis, or other serious psychological challenge. The term is most often used when treatment is indicated for addiction to drugs. However, compassionate interventions can be tailored to motivate care for most any debilitating compulsive behavior or mental disorder.

Interventions have been used to address serious personal problems, including, but not limited to, alcoholism, compulsive gambling, internet gaming, drug abuse, compulsive eating and other eating disorders, self harm, suicidality, post traumatic stress disorder . . . and the sequella of life threatening victimization, torture and any form of cruelty, dehumanization or interpersonal abuse.

Interventions  are either direct, typically involving an intricately planned meeting with individual in question, or indirect, involving decisive work with  “co-dependent” family members or intimate friends. Some intervention strategies directly teach functional coping skills, discourage all forms of “enabling” and guide friends and loved ones to learn more effective ways of responding to the problems that confront them

Both models rely heavily on having the family as a whole enter a phase of dedicated reflection and the process robustly encourages self-discovery and self-preservation for each member.

It is frequently useful to gain perspective and diminish exclusive focus on the issues that impair the addicted individual. It is imperative to highlight the need for the entire family “system” to enact personally valued changes. Changes that uphold self- compassion and support well deserved — “self-preservation” — and liberty from the chaos created by another’s addictive behavior.

Strategies Must be “Tailor Made” to Fit Each Case

Intervention strategies need to be appropriately “customized” for each individual case. Numerous methods exist, and it is imperative that each strategy be carefully “tailored” to minimize defensiveness and maximize effective outcomes. All recommendations must be clearly thought out to preserve (mutual) well being and safety. Intervention counseling extends life-saving treatment if your loved one is plummeting dangerously out of control!

Helping You Help Your Loved One

This process helps both you and your loved one escape and avoid the devastating “rock-bottom” that invariably results when families remain tangled in the vicious web of addiction. Addiction-related crisis prevention services are extended nationally for urgent and delicate cases.

Precise Preparation: Defenses–Objections–Safety Precautions

In order to be effective, intensive planning is necessary so that participants are prepared to respond to all predictable outcomes during the actual event. I will consult you in a direct and on-target fashion. Our process is implicitly challenging, and this typically generates strong emotions, judgments, and dissonant ideas among members. We’ll cope with this!

Complete Readiness to Take Constructive Action!

We must dedicate our hearts and make up our minds to promote wellness. Together, we will construct an intricately strategized and “surprise-proofed” intervention. No intervention proceeds without a sense of readiness, and the complete willingness of all participants to proceed.

Conscientious Professional Guidance: Defense and Safety Precautions

Conscientious and clear guidance will be provided to you throughout our planning sessions. We won’t proceed with the actual intervention until all of your questions have been answered and you feel prepared and ready.

Independent Services for Cases Involving Dual Diagnosis or Co-occurring Problems