Lost in Translation: Drug and Alcohol Interventions
Ninja Drug and Alcohol Interventions
As with most attempts at communication, the message you intend to send can be easily garbled if the receiver has an entirely different interpretation. The original meaning can be so obscured that it appears completely different from what you were actually trying to say.
The case of the “Intervention Ninjas” from Clifton, New Jersey is one such example. Realizing that drugs were creeping into the lives of their friends, two courageous 20 year olds decided to do what friends do best: intervene and hope for the best. Except in this case, the lads decided to go dressed as ninjas – complete with swords, throwing knives and stars, nunchucks, masks, and homemade smoke bombs – delivering anonymous letters in the middle of the night to the homes of known drug abusers and dealers. That was the plan, anyway. Caught in the act by local law enforcement officers, the dysfunctional duo were apprehended running swiftly into the night soon after delivering the first letter.
Keep Drug and Alcohol Interventions Safe, Simple and Legal
Clearly, intention is not everything. These guys could have been killed if a homeowner happened to see them sneaking around the premises. Admittedly, though, the chance to personify your favorite superhero for a legitimate cause is almost too good to pass up. But the time these guys invested in dreaming up this plan and drafting threatening letters written in Shinobi-style prose to deliver under the cover of darkness could have been better spent reaching out to parents, peers, and teachers for help.
The Right Backup is Everything at A Drug or Alcohol Intervention
The best way to get the attention of someone who is in the grip of alcoholim or drug addiction is to approach them openly and honestly, gently and with an overflow of compassion. Focus on their good qualities, seek to understand the source of their suffering, offer hope through continued friendship and help through a commitment to rehab. Come prepared for emotional turmoil, and accept what happens. Insist that your needs in the relationship be valued and respected. Speak from the heart, and know that what you ask is both rational and reasonable.
Get your ducks in a row before the actual intervention. Know who will be there, who will say what, what you will do if the person accepts or rejects an offer for drug addiction treatment. If it seems like too much, lift the burden from your shoulders and hire a professional interventionist to take care of the organizing, delegating, and moderating of the process from start to finish. You’ll be free to focus on what matters most – how much you care about the dangerous situation your friend is involved in.
Tell Us: Have you ever taken part in an intervention? Put one together? Been the one intervened upon? Any pointers you want to share? Anything you wish you had known ahead of time?
Tags: alcohol interventions, Alcohol Rehab, alcoholism treatment, Drug Addiction Treatment, drug interventions, drug-rehab
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August 26th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Nice article and a point well made with a rather amusing story.
An intervention is an extremely powerful tool to get an addict into treatment. But it has to be done properly - with the necessary planning and preparation - because you only get one real shot at it.
So unless one is confident of being able to co-ordinate and pull it off successfully, then I agree that getting a specialist in to ‘run the show’ will be a great help and money well spent.
Me & my sister performed one on my mother. It never goes exactly as planned, but we knew exactly the outcome we were intending & the consequences of her not agreeing to the outcome (rehab). Any you need to be clear on the consequence & not back down no matter what. Mine was harsh - I was going to cut all ties until she agreed to treatment. But I needed to get the message across about how serious I was - there had been too many empty promises in the past - so this was it!
Any intervention is such a powerful tool if done properly. Don’t be afraid to make the effort to learn & do one. You could save someone’s life!
August 27th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Hi, C-P. It can definitely be a nerve wracking experience for the person running it. Congratulations on your successful intervention. Any tips you want to share for others contemplating the idea?