Intervention today......is it still the Wild West or have we learned from the errors of the past?

Intervention is something that is clearly misunderstood. A lot of people have the impression that the family sets up an ambush on their loved one, where a stranger comes into a family setting and grabs the loved one, bundles him in a car and delivers him to an unsuspecting treatment center. The loved one then spends the next 30 days planning retribution on his family and what would be better than to relapse just to show you! All of this time and energy having gone into a process which was doomed to failure from the outset.

Fast forward from the days from the Johnson Institute where their intervention or surprise approach usually sees the person often react defensively, which can compromise the intended outcome--treatment. Now we have a generation of TV watching the A&E reality series Intervention. People seem to be addicted to this show and have become Intervention groupies. They have their favorite episodes, their favorite drug, their favorite drama and their favorite interventionist. From my vantage point the show veered very close to being over the edge ethically by showing unabashed drug use in every episode. I wonder how many addicts watching the show recoiled into euphoric recall and finished up using because they had seen some unfortunate shooting up on the show? While the show may have been wonderful in breaking down barriers and introducing the nation to the concept of intervention it has also encouraged a huge number of well trained, certified, experienced interventionists to take pride in their craft and provide the service that the family is paying for in a caring, expert and compassionate way.

One hundred fifty odd interventions later I am now convinced that the only intervention that is a failure is one that does not happen.

On July 29, 2013 Alison Knopf, a writer with Addiction Professional, wrote a three-part article on intervention which was damning to the craft. Shirley Beckett Mikell, who heads certification programs at NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals was quoted as asking “Who’s watching over this industry? No one right now.”

Mikell further opined that Interventionists need to be clinicians, because they need to do on-site clinical assessments. “Even if you base the assessment on family information, the final diagnosis is made when the person is in the room,” she says. Mikell doesn’t see how it’s possible for someone to refer individuals to treatment programs without being a clinician. Even though information may be gathered from family members and others, someone with clinical training has to make the assessment, she says.

“How else do you tell a treatment service provider that this person is appropriate?” she asks. “I would send them a copy of my assessment, a diagnostic review, and a treatment plan—all standard clinical documentation. The person conducting the intervention is also conducting an assessment—and should make sure that the person ends up in the correct place.”

Jane Eigner Mintz who is a towering presence in what we do as interventionists said in that same article “What really concerns me is that many people should not be doing interventions at all. “Somebody just arrives on the scene and decides they’re an interventionist,” she says. “Maybe it’s a marketer, or a psychologist, or someone newly graduated from treatment themselves. This is a personal point of angst for me. It should be a licensed professional who has had multidimensional training on intervention styles.” And with that training has to go an ability to prepare correctly for the intervention as it is my belief that interventions founder when the planning process breaks down. Interventions should be designed to bring change to a family unit that has become maladaptive. Normally everyone in the circle needs some kind of attention, some kind of care. It is not only about the addict who is suffering. Everybody is suffering!

Rebecca Flood, another towering presence in this industry said in that article that “It’s unethical for a private interventionist to be paid a fee by the treatment center for delivering a patient. It’s also unethical for an interventionist to be paid by the treatment center and the family, she says. “These are black-and-white issues—you don’t do it, period.”

Transparency is important. As long as the family knows how the interventionist is getting paid, it’s fair. Some interventionists tell the family that if a patient goes to a certain program, they won’t charge for the intervention because the treatment center is paying them. The problem with that is that there is an inherent conflict of interest—the family is steered to a program that might not constitute the best match. I would always recommend that families make sure an interventionist is ethical before referring him or her to family members—for example, that the interventionist isn’t getting paid a fee by a treatment program and the family, and isn’t getting secretly paid by the treatment program. You must investigate and do due diligence, check references, check for insurance, check with treatment centers to see if they know of this”. I know many interventionists, they are wonderful people and for the most part they are well meaning and professional. By the same token there are cowboys who fly under the radar and contribute to the thought from the public that this is the "Wild West," as one noted interventionist put it.

So it should be said that we were deeply concerned by Alison’s brave article and for many of us it was a wakeup call as it asked us to take inventory and ask ourselves what kind of interventionist we really were. Were we a collect and drop artist or we were the skilled clinician who was working empathetically with the family to bring about holistic change?

What to look for in an Interventionist:

An intervention can provide fresh air and a return to sanity, helping to stop the cycle of addiction and allow the whole family to heal. It’s a wonderful opportunity, and often, interventionists are needed in order to ensure that the conversation moves forward as planned.

·         It is imperative that you find out about their credentials and training. 

·         Are they a well-meaning person in recovery who sees this as an opportunity to help and make a few bucks?

·         Are they nationally certified or hold a degree?

·         Are they clinically sound?

·         How long they have been in business, and what is their success rate?

·         Are they able to provide references?

·         Do they have insurance?

·         Make sure they are independent of any given treatment center and are not in the pocket of a treatment center as this leads to a conflict of interest.

·         You need to make sure that they have the best interest of your loved one at hand, not their own and their wallet. 

·         What kind of intervention would they recommend, and why?

·         What is their educational background?

·         Are they licensed, or do they hold a certification?  

·         Have they worked with similar families? Case Histories

·          If the intervention is not successful, are you able to help the family move forward?

·         When the intervention succeeds, will you transport the loved one to treatment?

·         What will your involvement be after the intervention? Will you stay involved after the Intervention? How?

·          What are your fees?

·         When are you available?

·         What treatment facilities are you familiar with?

How to find a Qualified Interventionist:

There are two very capable organizations who hold their members to a high standard and who make sure that the membership adheres to a rigorous code of ethics. These are:

·         Association of Intervention Specialists - https://www.associationofinterventionspecialists.org/

·         The Network of Independent Interventionists (NII) - https://independentinterventionists.com/

Interested in becoming certified?

The Pennsylvania Certification Board has been certifying Behavioral Health Professionals since 1979. For Interventionists look here: https://www.pacertboard.org/certifications/cip