Drug Intervention Case Study

Kelly, Susan’s 22-year old daughter, had become distant. She had dropped out of school and couldn’t keep a job. When she moved out with her new boyfriend, Susan became suspicious, but didn’t want to encroach on her daughter’s privacy. It took a conversation with one of Kelly’s friend’s moms to fully realize that she was beginning to lose her daughter to meth.

Because Kelly was 22 at the time (legally an adult), there was little that Susan could do. Tensions were high between her, her daughter, and the rest of her family. Susan decided to turn to the internet to search for options for treatment. There, she took a leap of faith and worked with an interventionist to stage a drug intervention for Kelly. The intervention was not only successful in sending Kelly to treatment, but also in restoring family relationships - and ultimately saved her life.

How does a

In previous intervention approaches, the individual was unaware of the intervention planning and only told to meet the family at a specified time and place. In more modern approaches, the individual is given a heads up that the family is speaking with a mental health professional about the addiction problem. This approach is less likely to result in the individual feeling attacked or caught by surprise.

Since this model is family-focused, the persuasion to enter treatment is carried out by the loved ones expressing how much they care for the addict and how the addiction is affecting everyone. Each participant will read aloud their preconceived love letter to the target individual. The focus of the letter is to emphasize how the addiction has made the person feel (i.e. frightened, frustrated, worried, etc.) and how it has affected the person 's life. For instance, a spouse may feel unable to trust the addict or feel like the marriage is no longer a