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| MORE ON INTERVENTIONS | | 
1. Assemble the intervention team (4 to 8 significant others.)
A leader who is not emotionally vested is needed.
Purpose - Emotional rollercoaster to break down defenses and denial.
2. Intervene the day after preparation. Let go of outcome.
3. Acknowledge that they are loved.
4. Acknowledge the problem.
5. Agree to get help today.
Letters (3 copies required)
Intro is a fact finding and feeling stage. “I am concerned that you are hurting yourself through your drug use. I am sad and frustrated that you are stuck.” Short and to the point. Paragraph #1.
Paragraph #2
Describe their qualities when clean and sober. Who you are versus what you do.
Paragraph # 3
Describe the future without help. Playing out the tape. Boundaries setting exercise.
“I can imagine” “ I can picture” (Deep & wide)
Paragraph #4
Describing the future with help provides motivation and hope.
Closing Paragraph
“I want you to get help today” Bottom line closing.
Outline
Keep focused on objectives.
I feel vs. you made me feel’
Don’t re-read to dilute emotions.
“ Because you have chosen not to get help I will be cutting myself off until you agree to get help.”
Role play creates vulnerability
Lower chair to allow eye contact.
Speak your truth which can be emotional.
Order to place people. Move from non-threatening to the home run of who will have the most impact.
ACCEPTING LIFE ON LIFE’S TERMS
And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation---some fact of my life---unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism (addiction), I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and my attitudes.
LET IT BEGIN WITH ME!
It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us. If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also. But are there no exceptions to this rule? What about “ justifiable” anger? If somebody cheats us, aren’t we entitled to be mad? Can’t we be properly angry with self-righteous folk? For us in A.A. these are dangerous exceptions. We have found the justified anger ought to be left to those better qualified to handle it.
Few people have been more victimized by resentments than we alcoholics. It mattered little whether our resentments were justified or not. A burst of temper could spoil a day, and a well-nursed grudge could make us miserably ineffective. Nor were we ever skillful in separating justified from unjustified anger. As we saw it, our wrath was always justified. Anger, that occasional luxury of more balanced people, could keep us on an emotional jag indefinitely. These emotional “dry benders” often led straight to the bottle. Other kinds of disturbances—jealousy, envy, self-pity, or hurt pride—did the same thing…..
Finally, we begin to see that all people, including ourselves, are to some extent emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong, and then we approach true tolerance and see what real love for our fellows actually means. It will become more and more evident as we go forward that it is pointless to become angry, or to get hurt by people who, like us, are suffering from the pains of growing up.
Such a radical change in our outlook will take time…
We have lots of evidence to prove that we are not the most patient people. This must be practiced over time in sobriety. (Step 10 12 x 12)
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