Alcoholism Intervention

Interventions should be carefully planned and developed by professional substance abuse counselors who are experienced in such procedures. The only purpose of an intervention is to get the alcoholic to go into a treatment program.

Most alcohol and drug treatment centers have counselors who are trained to help families prepare for the confrontation, which always takes place in a “controlled” environment, specifically selected to put the alcoholic in a position in which he is most likely to listen. Many times these interventions take place at the workplace, with the full cooperation of the employer.

Sometimes, the intervention comes as a total surprise to the alcoholic, but recently new techniques have been developed in which the members of the intervention team tell the alcoholic that they are talking with a counselor about his drinking problem several days prior to the actual intervention.