Where do you start?

There are many "addiction specialists" out there claiming to be interventionists. However, it is critical that you find someone with exceptional credentials, references, and significant experience if you want your intervention to have the best chance at success. If you choose someone without the proper skills, at best you get lucky, at worst you alienate your loved one and make it even harder to get them to accept treatment.

The first place to go is the Association of Intervention Specialists. They have a code of ethics and a respected route to credentialing through their AIS Certification Board. Those who earn this certification will put the BRI-I or BRI-II credentials after their name. Confirm through AIS that the interventionist has indeed earned the right to use these credentials.

Many interventionists will have other degrees, such as an MSW, CCDC, or CSW. These indicate that they have taken the time to train and develop expertise in helping people with mental health or substance abuse issues.

When you call the intervention professional be prepared to give them some basic information about the person who needs treatment. Interventionists have varying processes, but most will want some initial background:

What substances is the person abusing?

How long has this been going on?

Did something recently precipitate this call by creating a new sense of urgency?

Have they been in treatment before or have you previously attempted an intervention?

They may also ask questions about other family members and friends who might be involved in the intervention process.

In choosing an intervention specialist, consider finding someone with case management experience.  An intervention is more than an event. It is a process that involves pre-intervention work, the actual intervention, finding the right treatment center, monitoring the treatment, and developing an after-care program. An interventionist with case-management experience can help you through each phase of the intervention. You most likely do not want an interventionist who stops as soon as your loved one enters treatment.

If you have specific concerns about problems or obstacles (resistant family members, for example) who might sabotage the process, be sure to talk to your interventionist about this. You want to make sure he or she is prepared to deal with any issues you know will come up during the process.

In the end, your goal is to hire an interventionist who has successfully gotten highly resistant people into treatment before. This may be your only opportunity to help your loved one – you want to do it right the first time.

An Interview with Interventionist Earl Hightower, BRI-II, CCDC.  Earl Hightower has performed over 2,000 interventions and has been doing interventions for over 20 years. Visit his intervention site for more information.

Without hesitation, Earl Hightower responds to the question, “Is there such a thing as a failed intervention?”

“You should never regret an intervention. It’s the beginning of a process. Even if the identified patient is unwilling to go into treatment right then, they now know that the rules have changed.”

Earl goes on to explain how intervention is not an event; it is a process.

“My opinion is that intervention is ongoing. You’re not done. And the mistake that a lot of interventionists make is that they hang their hat on that event within the process. They do the pre-intervention work to a certain degree, they go and they intervene on the person; if they don’t go into treatment, they’re out. That’s it, because they like that finite process and that’s what they believe they get paid for. We get paid a pretty substantial sum for what we do, and that’s for the process, and the whole process includes the post-intervention work.”

“If they say no to treatment, we remain involved with the family in helping to continue to press the agenda. What we try to tell every family we work with is that we need to present a fork in the road to the identified patient. There are options here and we understand that. And we understand it is a hard decision that we’re asking them to make: to stop using and enter into treatment. But what we want to make very clear is that neither fork involves going back to business as usual. It’s different now. If you intervene effectively you’re not going in and engaging in a dialogue; you’re going in and delivering information to somebody who is unable or unwilling to protect themselves. And we’ve come to protect them in the face of that. And this information that we’re giving them lets them know that we can never go back to the way it was. We’re through loving you to death; we’re through co-signing or giving you the impression on any level that this is okay with us, because it’s not. So we’re going to talk about the elephant in the room now. So the options before you do not include, you say no and we say okay nice try and go back to business as usual. Not going to do it.”

Earl says that an intervention re-trains the family on how to interact with the identified patient to move them toward treatment.

“We’re building a foundation upon which these individuals can survive the circumstances at hand: addiction. Our goal is to get them into treatment. Treatment is designed to break down their resistance to getting them involved in recovery. Recovery is where they’ll really heal. Intervention is this very short-term thing in the big picture, the tip of the spear. Treatment is really triage: stop the bleeding, stabilize the client, get them enough information to try, and get them across the bridge from treatment into recovery where they will ultimately live or die. That’s the arc. Stop this arc of addiction, get them into the arc of treatment, and do so understanding your role in that continuum. Intervening to start the process is what we do.”

If someone is considering tying another intervention, Earl asks them to tell him about the earlier intervention and the process they went through with the interventionist.

“Then I want to know about the intervention itself – what was the specific reaction to the circumstances. Tell me how it all unfolded. Let me know the specifics of the case. Then I can actually figure out what might have gone wrong – for example, maybe you went in too early, it’s still working for the guy, he’s still very entrenched. Here’s how you can continue to keep that process on the table.”

When Jane Mintz tells you that her 17 years as an LPGA golf professional helped prepare her for a career as an interventionist, you might smile when you imagine what she means. The truth is, Jane approaches addiction intervention the same way she approached golf: as a consummate professional who hones her craft through hard work, tenacity, and dedication.

“I came into the field after going to treatment myself for alcoholism. As part of my recovery strategy, I went back to school because I needed structure. I got my Master’s degree and became a licensed therapist. At the same time I cross-trained in all the addictions and process addictions,” says Jane.

As addiction intervention becomes one of the fastest growing segments of the behavioral health field, Jane has been developing her own unique blend of techniques to work with particularly complex and acute clients.

“I gravitate toward cases with lots of moving parts and highly reactive clients,” she explains. “I’ve developed a reputation of working with the most complex co-morbid cases.”

Jane has created her own model of intervention: the Field Model of Intervention.

“What I saw in the industry is that there are several models out there that address methodologies. That’s all well and good, and important in terms of how you’re going to strategize helping someone, a family, through a crisis. But none of these models really addressed the clinical underpinnings of the clients themselves,” Jane says.

Although Jane feels the other models are very competent in terms of how to do the intervention, they do not necessarily help you when the situation gets more complicated.

“The intervention client is the most complex client you’re going to come across because they’re so acute. People don’t need an intervention unless they’ve had a litany of failed attempts to help them. They are truly in crisis. What do you do if that crisis escalates? How do you assess for weapons or suicide risk? Are they a long Axis I or do they have some Axis II features? My goal is training people clinically, because the clientele is getting more complex, not less complex,” Jane says.

Jane describes the Field Model as an overlay to the other models. You can be a Johnson-style interventionist or an invitational-style interventionist, but you still want to be a Field Model Interventionist. It is based on the Johnson model, so it’s a fully functional model in and of itself, so rather than completing with other models, it’s complementary to them.

“The Field Model is about proper assessment of the client so you can set up strategies to prevent disasters in the intervention. You train on what to do in emergencies, how to use a PAT (Psychiatric Assessment Team) Squad, how to work with body guards or private detectives, how to predict the potential for violence. This is what a crisis interventionist needs to know,” she explains.

Jane calls it the Field Model because it specifically trains to techniques you can use in the field, during the actual intervention, should problems arise.

“I think you can prepare people, and we can come up with a strategy, but when it’s really live TV it never works out that way,” she says.

Jane believes the most critical element in the intervention is to get the family members to start to align.

“These are fragmented people. They have different opinions. I often use the example of the herd. In the wild, animals survive by traveling in herds. It’s always the animal that strays that gets picked off. That’s what the addict is looking for during the intervention: that one lone ranger who thinks they can save the day. Then it’s over.”

Jane structures the intervention in such a way that the different family members begin to feel like they are part of a greater good. During the first conference call, she invites everyone who is concerned about doing the intervention or has questions or information that might be helpful.

“When they get their questions answered and they feel their concerns are being heard and addressed, they start to become part of the fabric of this team,” she explains. “The intervention is as much about the families as the affected individual. They’re in as much crisis. When the client figures out the family is moving forward without them in a different way, they panic. They like the drama, the spinning plate routine. They are the masters of illusion, telling this half-truth to one family member, this lie to another. When the family aligns and confronts them in a firm but loving way and tells the addict we will do anything possible to support you in your wellness, but will no longer participate in your illness, it’s creates a powerful shift.”

With addiction, families often become enmeshed and co-dependent with the addict. During the intervention they must come to understand the difference between co-dependency and responsible relationships.

“I have a simple litmus test: are you a part of the problem or are you a part of the solution? This litmus test helps people redefine their relationships. They can ask themselves: What am I doing today? Am I moving somebody further away from their disease or allowing them to stay sick longer? This is often a huge revelation to people.”

Jane’s success rate in getting people into treatment is close to 98%.

“It’s very rare a person doesn’t go into treatment. It’s usually a certain profile, young, antisocial males, who are the most resistant,” Jane explains.

Jane recently launched 3IS, a training program for the Field Model of Intervention and the first online training program in the intervention and addiction fields accredited by the Association for Intervention Specialists Certification Board as well as The National Association for Addiction Professionals.

“I personally don’t believe that anyone who has not been trained should work as an interventionist with families. They need to adhere to some professional code of ethics. I ask those interventionists to further their education, take a training course, and become accountable. If they take it one more step and become a credentialed interventionist, they can become a real professional with credibility with major treatment centers. They become part of the greater good,” Jane says.

Jane lives this philosophy by continually improving her own training. She has a Master’s degree, and also holds the following credentials: Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Board-Certified Professional Counselor (BCPC), and a Board Registered Interventionist (BRI-II).

To learn more about 3IS and online training in the Field Model of Intervention, visit http://www.3isonline.com. To learn more about Jane Mintz’s intervention practice, visit http://www.realifeinterventions.com

If you have a friend or family member who may need an intervention, there are some important things you should know before you begin the process.

First, an intervention should only be orchestrated by a trained professional. In order to be sure that everything runs smoothly and to ensure the greatest chances for success, you need to find someone who is an expert at conducting interventions. Do not assume that all therapists are experienced at this type of activity because they are not. Because of this, it is very important that you do your homework before choosing a professional.

As you search for a qualified professional to help you with an intervention, do not be afraid to ask questions. Conducting your own independent research is the best way to determine whether someone is the best candidate to help you and your loved one through such a difficult time.

Intervention specialists (or counselors) are trained specifically for these types of activities. If you are having trouble finding qualified individuals, you can consult the National Intervention Referrals network at http://www.nationalinterventionreferral.org. Remember that there are intervention specialists who have been trained in a wide variety of areas, so you should be able to find someone who has training and experience in the area in which your friend or loved one needs help.

As you search for an intervention specialist, be wary of anyone who tells you that there is an exact formula for talking to addicted individuals and persuading them to participate in an intervention. There is no single method that is effective for everyone, and a qualified specialist will know this and give you a fairly clear idea of what to expect. To conduct an intervention that will be successful, the professional that you choose will create a strategy that is the most appropriate for the situation.

There are actually a number of different aspects to conducting an intervention. It is much more than simply surprising someone with a one-time “ambush” in an attempt to make him or her suddenly realize what has been going wrong. In many instances, media hype tends to portray interventions in this way, so it is understandable that many people would have this misconception about the entire process.

Overall, having a trained professional to help guide you and your family members through the intervention process is the safest, most effective way to ensure that your endeavors are met with success.

Review a list of licensed addiction intervention specialists