Family members are often the ones who first contact an interventionist to initiate the event. Since they interact with the addicted person on a daily basis, they are familiar with the damage the addiction is causing to that person’s life and to those around them.

Family interventions can be held at the family home since it is beneficial for the person to feel comfortable during the process. Families may also choose to hold their intervention questions in a neutral location, such as an unused office space, church, or healthcare center. Discuss possibilities with your interventionist to determine the best locale.

There are various techniques involved when staging an intervention. Team members commonly read letters aloud that they have written to the addicted person, detailing how the addict’s behavior has hurt them.

These letters are written beforehand, with the help of the interventionist and may be revised based on feedback from the entire team. It is important to stress that the intervention is taking place because all team members love and support the addicted person and want to see him or her live a healthy life.

An effective intervention should also plan for what happens if the addicted person does not accept help, and detail the consequences from loved ones.
Workplace Intervention
Workplace interventions take place when a boss or coworker notices persistent addiction issues with someone in the workplace. Oftentimes addicted people have trouble maintaining their jobs.

They may show up under the effects of the substance, come to work late, or miss work altogether due to their addiction issues. Since addiction takes priority in a person’s life, other responsibilities take a backseat to the addiction.

When those at work can no longer ignore their colleague’s addiction, they may choose to stage an intervention. Professional interventionists have experience in conducting workplace interventions, which have different dynamics than family interventions.

In a workplace intervention, it’s important to only involve those who are close to the addicted person. Having casual acquaintances at the intervention can do more harm than good. As interventions may often take an entire day, it’s advisable to hold it in a location where privacy is available. Reserving a conference room for an entire day can work well.

In the United States, workplaces often use the screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) strategy to identify addictions or those who are at risk of developing addictions.

The SBIRT strategy applies early intervention techniques, and motivates addicted people towards accepting treatment services. This method involves the development of a workplace management plan and contains guidelines on how to perform an intervention. All workplace interventions should include efforts to educate the addicted person about the dangers associated with their behavior, and offer clear steps they can take to seek treatment after the intervention.

Types of Intervention Programs
There are many different approaches to interventions and it’s important to choose one that you feel would be most effective for your loved one. A professional interventionist can help you with this process. The main types of interventions include:

The Johnson Model.
The Systemic Model.
The ARISE (A Relational Intervention Sequence for Engagement) Model.
The Johnson Model
”Johnson
When most people think of an intervention, they likely picture something similar to the Johnson Model. This type of intervention involves family and friends confronting the addicted person about their behavior. Loved ones are educated on the risks of their enabling behaviors, desired outcome of the intervention, exploration of their needs, and a plan to conduct the intervention beforehand.

The intervention team members make it clear that they fully support the addict in their recovery. However, consequences are spelled out should the addicted person choose to not seek treatment. These consequences may include no longer providing him or her with housing or money. It’s important for team members to enforce the consequences if the addicted person does not seek treatment.

While the Johnson Model is effective in many cases, it doesn’t work for everyone. Some addicted people feel great shame and anger at being confronted in this manner and may become defensive.

The Systemic Model
This type of intervention works better for those who don’t respond to confrontation well. The addicted person is involved in all meetings with the interventionist and loved ones, where all participants, including the addicted person, speak about how the addict’s behavior has affected them, allowing for a discussion rather than a confrontation.

This process may take several months, and the preferred outcome is that all involved commit to receiving counseling services, such as the addicted person attending a rehab facility and the family members attending family therapy sessions.

The ARISE (A Relational Intervention Sequence for Engagement) Model
This type of intervention is still aimed at getting the addicted person into treatment, but is less confrontational that the Johnson Model, does not incorporate the element of surprise, and takes into account the needs of the loved ones along with the addicted person’s needs. This model has three stages, the first of which is a call from a loved one to a specially trained ARISE interventionist.

The second stage involves 3 to 5 meetings between the support network, the addicted person, and the interventionist, and the third stage is the actual ARISE intervention, although he or she can accept treatment at any stage. The intervention itself employs a range of pressure that matches the level of resistance the addicted person displays to receiving help, by discussing how the addiction has affected loved ones, consequences if the support network is willing to enforce them, and a discussion and negotiation of treatment options.

There are some types of interventions that don’t fit a specific model. A professional interventionist can assess the situation and then opt for a strategy that will work best. Since the ultimate goal is for your loved one to seek treatment, it’s important to approach them in the best possible way.