The second meeting is designed to plan an agenda for the intervention preparation process, topics will include: getting your loved one to the intervention meeting, understanding of addiction patterns, and mental health issues, orchestrating an intervention treatment plan including letter writing assignments, treatment placement referrals and a rehearsal meeting to go over all details of the intervention meeting prior to intervention day. Transportation will be arranged to support the patent directly to the treatment program on the day of the intervention. And lastly, the intervention meeting will have a structure agenda, intervention timeline, location, of the intervention and the intervention team will be prepared for intervention meeting!
Preparing for an invitational intervention. The purpose of a family engagement meeting is to foster open communication among family members, assessment on how the family has been affected by their loved one’s addictions and gathering evidence on the untreated person’s addiction or mental health challenges. It’s strongly suggested to not have the untreated person at the first initial family engagement meeting.
It will be important to figure out who is best to attend the two-family meetings and to invite your loved one, to meet the professional interventionist and to attend the family meetings, this is all directed by the interventionist. The first meeting involves an educational workshop on topics such as substance abuse addictions, mental health and trauma, the cycle of addiction in relationships, introduction of treatment, and recovery resources.
The second meeting includes a family process group, facilitated by the interventionist with open-ended conversations, addressing real time issues, current concerns, and providing recovery resources solutions for the entire family group.
In some cases, a family intervention meeting can be the only purpose, to intervene on a loved one struggling with addictions or mental health challenges, prepared written letters and a treatment plan in place to escort the identified patient directly to treatment on the day of the intervention meeting.
Many people don’t understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. They may mistakenly think that those who use drugs lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop their drug use simply by choosing to. Drug addiction is a complex disease and quitting usually takes more than good intentions or a strong will. Drugs change the brain in ways that make quitting hard, even for those who want to. Fortunately, researchers have found treatments that can help people recover from drug addiction and lead productive lives. Taken from: https://nida.nih.gov/
The number of deaths caused by drug overdose increased nearly 15% from the 93,655 lives lost in 2020 to an estimated 107,622 during 2021.
The 2021 increase was half of what it was a year ago, when overdose deaths rose 30% from 2019 to 2020. 140,000 people died from alcohol-related causes in the United States each year during 2015–2019, or more than 380 deaths per day.
Watching an individual struggling with addiction and/or mental health challenges can be one of the most painful and heart-wrenching experiences for a parent, family members and/or friends.
Mental illnesses, also called mental health conditions or disorders, refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviors. Many different conditions falling under this category can vary in degree of severity ranging from mild to moderate too severe.
Some additional facts about mental health include:
Nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (52.9 million in 2020). Mental illnesses are common, serious brain disorders that affect our thinking, motivation, emotion, and social interactions. Individuals who experience a substance use disorder (SUD) during their lives may also experience a co-occurring mental disorder and vice versa.
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/advisory-boards-and-groups/namhc/reports/genetics-and-mental-
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/substance-use-and-mental-health