How to Hold an Intervention for a Young Adult

As a parent of a teenager with substance misuse problems, you might feel desperate or hopeless. The bright, vibrant daughter or son you raised has become unresponsive, withdrawn and secretive. Their grades may be slipping as they continue down the path to a worsening addiction. You know you should do something to help, but you aren’t sure how to start the conversation that could save your child’s life.

A structured intervention can often be transformative – both for the person with the addiction and the team who has agreed to participate in the meeting. But for many people, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Here are some tips for intervening in the life of a teenager who needs help.

1. Identify a Treatment Center

Ideally, you should have a rehab facility already picked out and ready to admit your teen if your intervention succeeds in its goal of persuading them to enter treatment. Researching various options to determine the best fit for your son or daughter can take time, and it’s not a decision you want to rush into. With that in mind, make sure you have done your due diligence and found a qualified rehab specializing in the unique needs of young adults.

2. Plan the Details

TV depictions of interventions are almost always of dramatic, spur-of-the-moment events where one person has reached the end of their rope and begs the addict to seek help. In real life, the most successful interventions are carefully orchestrated meetings. You’ll need to decide on the details in advance, including who will attend, what time of day to get together and even where everyone will sit.

3. Write Your Remarks

An integral part of your intervention planning process includes writing what you will say and rehearsing it extensively. While you may feel as if your teen will respond better to off-the-cuff comments, an intervention is no time to speak extemporaneously. Tensions can run high during this meeting, and if you don’t practice what you’re going to say, chances are good you’ll let your emotions run away from you.

Phrasing is critical here. You and all the other members of the intervention team must avoid negativity or comments that blame or shame your teen loved one. Instead, frame your comments as “I” statements, such as, “I know addiction is a disease, and I want to help you get better.” You can also provide concrete examples of how their substance misuse has affected you, such as, “It scared me to see you passed out from drinking too much. I worry about how you are jeopardizing your future.”

4. Consider Hiring Help

For your meeting to have the best chances of success, you may wish to hire a professional interventionist who can help you plan and execute it. An intervention can keep the conversation on a productive track if things seem to be getting out of control or devolving into an argument.

5. Keep Lines of Communication Open

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, the first attempt at an intervention will not succeed. Some teens may need time to process the information they received and the emotions you have revealed. They might have to get comfortable with the idea of going to rehab and learning to manage their addiction for the rest of their life. If your teen doesn’t immediately agree to enter the treatment facility you’ve picked out, don’t give up. Remind them daily that you love them, and that you only have their best interests at heart.

Contact Hope Academy to Start the Healing Process

Hope Academy is a place where young adults can find the treatment they need to get sober and begin the work of addiction recovery. If your son or daughter needs help for substance misuse, please reach out to us to learn more about our admissions and insurance acceptance.

Lessons Parents of Young Adult Addicts Should Learn

Living with someone who has a substance misuse disorder can be incredibly challenging – even more so if you are watching your child struggle with the various issues related to substance misuse. Not only do you constantly worry about their well-being, but you may also find yourself in completely unfamiliar territory when it comes to how to help your son or daughter deal with their problems.

As a parent, you probably have an array of questions:

• What are they using, and how much?
• Is this a passing phase of experimentation, or a genuine addiction?
• Am I being overprotective, or am I right to be concerned?
• If I put my foot down and set ultimatums around my child’s drinking or drug use, will it push them even further away from me?
• Is this problem somehow my fault?
• Is my child’s future at risk?
• Should I be looking into qualified treatment facilities?

Here are the top four lessons you should learn about young adult addiction.

1. Parents Can Enable an Addiction

As a parent, you would do almost anything to keep your child from experiencing pain. You want their journey in life to be free of as many obstacles as possible. Unfortunately, those same impulses can cause you to develop the habit of enabling a child’s addiction.

You raised your child in the best way you knew how. It can be a bitter pill to swallow when you realize you can only do so much to support them, and at some point, they are responsible for the decisions they make. As much as you may want to smooth out the bumpy road to addiction recovery, your child must experience the natural consequences of their actions and do the hard work of getting better on their own.

2. You Can’t Help Someone Who Isn’t Willing to Accept Help

As well as you think you know your child, unless you have battled addiction issues yourself, it can be challenging for you to understand what they’re going through. Because of the denial that often accompanies addiction, addicted people may refuse to admit when they need help. When addiction takes hold of someone’s life, they often can’t walk away. However, coming to terms with this is a gradual process.

You can play a role in helping your child work through addiction by being there to support them, researching a treatment center and learning more about their substance of misuse and how it affects them, but your son or daughter won’t heal from an addiction until they are willing to accept they have a problem they can’t solve by themselves.

3. Be Patient

It takes time to heal from a drug or alcohol addiction. There are no shortcuts or quick-fix solutions, no matter how much you might wish there were. There will be easy days and hard ones. The best thing you can do is to be there to support your child and provide unconditional love when they are struggling.

4. Addiction Doesn’t Define Your Child

One of the most challenging lessons learned in addiction recovery is for the addicted person to rediscover who they are without the influence of drugs and alcohol on their life. Along the way, they will also need to accept that it’s fruitless to dwell on mistakes made in the past. You can help your child learn to live in the moment by encouraging them to try supplementing their therapy with approaches such as meditation.

Start Healing Your Family Today

At Hope Academy, we know how devastating addiction can be for families. Learn more about our young adult addiction services for ages 18 through 26, and get your child the necessary help to recover. Contact us today to learn more about our application process.

How to Support a Family Member in Addiction Recovery

Sending your son or daughter to rehab for drugs or alcohol means you’re going through an emotionally challenging time. You may be wrestling with guilt, fear and self-doubt, and asking yourself whether you made the right decision. It’s understandable you would be feeling the strain, but you should reassure yourself that you have done the right thing to help your family move in a positive direction. However, your child needs your support to make a full recovery. With that in mind, here are some things to remember.

They Are Receiving Quality Care

If you decided it was time for your child to enter an addiction treatment facility and are now second-guessing yourself, take a deep breath and rest assured they are exactly where they need to be to start the healing process. Under the care of trained addiction specialists, they will receive counseling, medical care and one-on-one coaching in an environment that provides much-needed structure.

Another benefit of addiction treatment for young adults is being surrounded by peers who have faced many of the same struggles and who can help lead to a journey of self-discovery. This peer group can be invaluable to someone with substance misuse issues, as they can provide perspective and advice along the path to recovery.

Ask for Help When You Need It

Addiction takes a toll on every member of the family. After shouldering your burdens for so long, you may be having a hard time keeping up, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of about getting help for yourself. For example, you and your spouse may decide you need professional marriage counseling because your relationship has become strained after dealing with your child’s difficulties. Or, you might seek individual therapy for yourself. Many family members of alcoholics and addicts have also found joining an Al-Anon family group can be a powerfully affirming experience.

You can also begin to educate yourself about how addiction affects every member of your family. The more you know about the role addiction plays in your family dynamic, the more you will be able to offer the encouragement and understanding your daughter or son needs to make a full recovery.

Manage Your Expectations

When you get your child into addiction treatment, you may feel an overwhelming rush of hope that things will get better right away. It can be disappointing to realize that the habits and patterns associated with addiction often take some time to change, and that your situation won’t improve overnight. After all, there’s a reason we use the terms “work” and “process” to describe recovery. It’s not a smooth path, and you will encounter hurdles along the way. People in early recovery may not be perfect, but you can still enjoy spending time together as a family.

Your Family’s Journey Starts Here

Has your child been struggling with addiction issues? At Hope Academy, we understand the challenges of young adult substance misuse disorders, and we are here to help you and your family heal. Contact us to begin the application process and start your son or daughter on the road to recovery.