An unsuccessful intervention can be avoided if you follow the general guidelines on interventions, which people in the substance-abuse recovery community have been using for years to increase the chances of success. First, delve into your own feelings. Why do you want to do an intervention? The purpose of a successful intervention is always for the health of the substance abuser, so that he may seek help for his addiction with his doctor and/or treatment facility.

The motivation for a successful intervention should always be love. You wouldn’t put up with the addict if you didn’t love him in the first place, on whatever level that love is. You wouldn’t care so much about his recovery if he was some stranger off the street. An addict can only realize what’s at stake if this love is shown plainly to him in an intervention. Once the addict sees how much love is in the room for him if he can only ask for help, suddenly seeking treatment will seem less than impossible.

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