Absolutely not. Addiction is a disease. Just as you couldn’t cause heart disease or cancer, you can’t cause addiction. If someone never touches a drink or drug, they can’t become an addict; but if someone has the genetic predisposition for addiction, they could experiment as little as a handful of times and be triggered. Once the disease of addiction is triggered, there is no turning it off. Family dynamics, relationship stress, and life challenges can be underlying issues that inspire people to use addictive substances; but it’s the genetic predisposition that turns that usage into addiction.

We don’t recommend it. Addiction reduces the reasoning centers in the brain to 20% capacity. If people struggling with substance abuse could be rational enough to understand what was happening, they would help themselves. The fact that they don’t means they can’t; and that also means a rational conversation won’t have any effect. In fact, one-on-one conversations tend to push an active addict deeper into his/her addiction and denial. A structured intervention is a huge undertaking, but it allows you to touch the heart of your loved one, and that’s where success will usually lie.

It isn’t fair. Addiction is a disease, and different diseases have different lifetime effects – most of which are unfair. If your loved-one had diabetes, you’d deal with a lifetime of insulin shots. If s/he were wheelchair bound, you’d make your home handicap-accessible. Your family has been touched by addiction, and the most successful way to stay in healthy recovery is to go to meetings.

Yes. For interventions, our policy is to match, as a percentage, whatever scholarship.