If you want to try and persuade somebody to
come to a drug rehab in South Africa for
treatment an intervention can be a very effective tool.
Addicts are often resistant to admitting they have a
problem. A group of people focused on drawing attention
to the nature of the addiction can have a powerful
effect, far more intense than if each person were to
approach the alcoholic seperately.

Many families will struggle for months trying to get the
loved one to agree to enter an alcohol treatment clinic or
drug rehabilitation facility. They might try bargaining
around which center, for how long, or even make threats and
promises. But ultimately the alcoholic is steadfast in his
illness and refuses to listen to sense. A well planned
intervention can successfully confront the denial in the
alcoholic and force her to accept that she needs to seek
help in an alcohol rehab.

Staging an intervention is the most loving thing you can do
to a loved one who is in the grip of this progressive
illness. You can see his drinking spiralling out of control
and the increasing risks it places on his health, emotional
well-being, job, and other important areas of life. An
intervention can help break this self-destructive cycle by
pushing the addict to accept residential addiction
treatment where a comprehensive plan can be drawn up to
detox the patient and start leading her to addiction
recovery.

The intervention was pioneered by an American author,
Vernon Johnson, whose books "I'll Quit Tomorrow" (1973) and
"Intervention" (1986) were the first systematic discussion
of the intervention. His methodology has proven to work for
a spectrum of addictions - including process addictions
like gambling, eating disorders, work addiction, and sexual
compulsions.

Interventions are not yet popular in South Africa, possibly
because there is a lack of professional interventionists to
help facilitate these life saving episodes. This is a pity
because we receive many calls from family members (mothers
and wives especially!) who just don't know what to do to
help their loved one find a drug rehabilitation (rehab)
facility.

A professional interventionist would assist in laying down
the logistics of the intervention and prepping everybody as
to what they can expect. Even though the goal of the
intervention is clear (getting the addict into
rehabilitation treatment) the method of accomplishing this
might not be clear.

An intervention is an opportunity for a family to discuss
memories of events that were painful, embarrassing, or
frustrating. Maybe these events were "taboo" within the
family and haven't been spoken about since they happened.
In this case the intervention becomes a cathartic event
that opens up real dialogue in the family and sweeps aside
the (unspoken) rules about what is acceptable to talk
about.

People often say that a family with an addict in it is like
sitting around a room with an elephant in the middle of it.
They will talk around the elephant, under the elephant, and
over the elephant but never mention the elephant in the
middle of the room. Allowing the family to talk can be
a healing experience for all involved.