As a parent you want to protect your children from harm, no matter how old they are. Sometimes you can’t stop them making poor decisions or getting into trouble. It can be hard to see your daughter struggling with a drink or drug dependency, especially if she refuses to listen to you when you try and express your concerns to her.
Alcohol is the most common addiction people need treatment for in 2009, accounting for over 40% of admissions to treatment centers, followed by heroin and marijuana. While 2.6million Americans received treatment in 2009 in a specialist center, 23.5million people needed treatment overall (1). It is so important that you help your daughter if you can see that she has a problem, and convince her to attend a specialist treatment center.
An intervention is a chance to make your daughter see the harm she doing herself and others. For many addicts, an intervention by family and friends is the moment they realize they have a problem. If the intervention goes to plan you will have succeeded in getting your daughter to take the first step on her journey towards recovery.
Is my daughter an addict?
An intervention could be required when someone has become addicted to drugs or alcohol. An addict is so dependent upon the substance that they can ignore or underestimate the severity of their dependency, believing themselves to be in control when in fact they aren’t.
Someone can drink heavily without being an addict, so before going too far into planning an intervention, make sure your daughter really does have an alcohol addiction. While you may not like your daughter using any kind of drugs, she might not be addicted to them. This is not to say you shouldn’t be concerned, just that an intervention is used when all other methods have failed. If it’s too late for prevention, then you need to start thinking about staging an intervention.
Some alcoholic behaviors that signal you may need to stage an intervention include:
Your daughter gets into trouble with the police for drink or drug related offences, such as drink driving.
She increases in the amount of drink or drugs she consumes as well as the frequency she consumes them
Your daughter ignores you when you voice concerns about her drinking or drug use
Your daughter changes her friendship group in order to spend more time with other drinkers or drug users
Because an addict is so dependent upon drink or drugs, your daughter may find it hard to accept that she has a problem. An intervention is often the best way to get through to an addict and convince them that they are damaging their health, their careers, and the relationships with family and friends.
Preparing for an intervention
An intervention is an emotional process. You need to carefully organize and rehearse it in order to make sure everything goes to plan. Your daughter needs to be sober at the time, otherwise she may not act rationally and could become angry or aggressive. The people who you choose should be those closest to your daughter, who are committed to helping your daughter through her whole rehabilitation.
Once your daughter has agreed to seek help she can come to a specialist treatment center such as those offered by Steps to Recovery. We can be involved in her rehabilitation before that, however. We are on hand to answer any questions you may have about staging an intervention, and can offer advice and support throughout the whole process.
1 – https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/treatment-statistics
