Substance Abuse Intervention

Do you know someone who needs an intervention for substance abuse? I know a lot of people who have. As a matter of fact, I am one of them. When alcohol or other substances become a tool for survival instead of something to do for enjoyment, only that’s when it becomes a problem.

I enjoyed alcohol. Other things too, but alcohol was my best friend. Alcohol wasn’t always a problem for me. In fact, it was my solution. It was a solution to problems I didn’t know I had. I knew it was probably going to be a problem before I could drink legally. But I was young enough and resilient enough to bounce back. Repercussions were minimal, aside from hangovers, health problems weren’t an issue, yet. Sure, I got thrown out of my parents house for drinking and lived in a sports car for a while, then a tent. No biggie. These were acceptable repercussions as long as I got to keep drinking. But I knew I drank differently.

Most people have a drink or two, feel a little effect and then stop, right? For me that was never the case. I loved alcohol. In fact the only thing I loved more than alcohol was more alcohol! I would throw parties and host the bar. Not only because I was having fun, but the bartender can drink with everybody and that rotation makes it harder for people to tell how much you are drinking. I was clever that way. A sneak drunk in the making.

A form of intervention service was performed on me by the Police early on. I was forced to attend some substance abuse support meetings. They weren’t for me, yet. I still thought I should be able to handle it, in my own way… I would intentionally take some time off from alcohol just to prove to myself I could do it. And then reward myself by getting hammered–celebrating a period of sobriety by drinking is like rewarding success with a failure! Crazy, right? I always went back to drinking, Hoping against hope that this time it would be different. It never was. In fact, it was always worse.

Alcoholism is a mousetrap, and alcohol is the cheese. That cheese looks tempting…I know what happened last time, but maybe I can just nibble at the edge a little bit…just some controlled nibbling and I won’t get the crap beaten out of me this time. I’m sure that’s right, this time will be different then WHAM! Here I am again. Hung over, overwhelmed by feelings of guilt, shame, remorse and self pity. Bewildered that somehow I’d been duped again.

I’d tried everything and everything I tried failed. I never believed recovery would work for me. Because of that I was not going to seek it out on my own and ultimately I became convinced I would die drunk. Fortunately, my wife had different ideas. With guidance, an intervention program was implemented. A series of consequences were explained to me and a course of recovery was laid before me that I could not refuse. When I was faced with the fact that things were going to be different going forward with or without me, all I could think of at the time was “thank God, things are going to change.” I didn’t care what or how, but the pain of things staying the same was worse than the fear of change. More than the fear of not knowing what was to come, was a deep feeling of relief. Relief that it was out of my hands and I was finally getting the support I had been too ashamed to ask for, and too afraid to use. That was almost 20 years ago and no one is more amazed by that than me! Without a doubt, a professional intervention saved my life. 

This is hard, we really do understand. A Family Intervention is scary and without skilled guidance, a bad situation can very well end up worse. We strongly encourage you to let our Intervention Service and Family Intervention Program help you be better equipped to get some relief for yourself and those you love. Give yourselves a break. You’ve earned it.