Family Intervention

Many times, the family uses varying methods to help the patient of addiction to quit his substance/alcohol but to no avail. It is seen that families are unable to help the patient no matter how hard they try, their love, their promises, their complaints, and their anger is unable to control the patient and his disease. 

The answer to this problem is that the families are not psycho-educated enough to understand the nature and ways of addiction and therefore are unable to differentiate between the patient and his illness, thinking that both are the same when rather the picture is quite different. 

Even though the patient wishes to quit his troublesome and addictive behavior patterns, he is not able to and at the same time feels incapacitated to accept his helplessness against the disease. This is where the power of family and his relationships can aid him with systematic training and guidance. 

What is Intervention?

The actual meaning of intervention is to act upon something with the desire to impact its outcome. 

In the treatment process, intervention is used as a method to make the patient understand the consequences of his actions because of his addiction. 

The family is guided and trained by mental health professionals to formulate a plan which is thoroughly discussed and worked upon wherein no sheer amount of data, conversation, or any other information is left to chance. The aim is to; 

  • Aid family in collecting data, particularly describing the destructive behavior patterns that have affected them
  • Create a prearranged plan with efficient goals and guidelines for treatment
  • Making the patient understand the need for acceptance and what will happen if he refuses treatment

What to expect in the family intervention process?

Generally, family intervention takes place in a methodically organized procedure that undergoes the following basic steps;

  1. Formulate a plan carefully and by taking desired time.
  2. Collect necessary information and data.
  3. Gather an intervention team with a specific date and time. 
  4. Make a note of what to say and how to say it.
  5. Conduct the meeting and keep a follow-up in the mind. 
  6. Do not waver from what needs to be said and stay on track. 
  7. Keep in mind that enabling and provoking are not to be a part of the intervention, it should be pure, honest, and factual sharing.
  8. Set boundaries and decide on specific consequences if the patient denies treatment. 
  9. Be prepared for anger and rejection. 

Family intervention at The Hermitage Rehab

Dr. JPS Bhatia for the last three decades has been helping families to fight against the deadly disease of addiction and through successful intervention approaches have saved thousands of lives. He firmly believes that families have a major role to play in saving the lives of their patients and with professional guidance, training sessions, and meetings can learn the direly needed skills of tough love and acceptance. 

Under his wing, the team at the Hermitage Rehabilitation Centre has been successfully psycho-educating families regularly and provides consistent training sessions as a part of both before and after-care plans. 

Interventions are a life-saving tool and can be successful when are structured, non-threatening, and curated in a manner to be implemented well.