Signs of Heroin Usage

What to Do When a Prior Intervention Failed

At Recovery Care Partner, we pride ourselves on the results of our interventions. However, it’s important to state that sometimes an intervention does not succeed. There are many reasons for this, but if you have staged an intervention that didn’t work prior to contacting Recovery Care Partner, know that all is not lost, we can help.

The First Step: Don’t Give Up

It can be incredibly demoralizing to muster the courage to gather all of the people close to your loved one and surprise them with an intervention. For many families, it is hard to acknowledge their family member has a substance use disorder. Sadly, there is a stigma around such things and many people respond in different ways. Anger, denial, shame, guilt, these are all feelings the addicted and those around them may feel in response to the situation.

View the Failed Intervention as a Learning Opportunity

Recovery Care Partner specializes in providing interventions for a reason, it can be difficult to organize and execute an intervention successfully. We always recommend contacting a specialist for any intervention you may be considering, because it is a delicate situation.

However, as mentioned before, it is not a lost cause if your initial intervention has failed. Try to use it as a learning opportunity. Consider what aspects of the intervention went awry? Most commonly interventions fail because:

  • The “wrong” people were invited
  • Those involved in the intervention did not stick to a plan
  • Allowing the addict to control the narrative/getting distracted
  • The wrong approach was used

It is crucial that the right people be involved in an intervention. Everyone may mean well, but sometimes certain people may pose as too much of a distraction to the goal of the intervention—which is to get the addict to acknowledge the problem and get them into treatment.

Taking a compassionate but firm stance is always the best general approach.

Don’t Blame Yourself for the Failed Intervention

As stated, interventions are very tricky to pull off. Well-meaning family members may try to make the addict feel loved and cared for, but the person in question may feel attacked and ashamed instead. Emotions can be difficult to deal with as they seldom match the event that is occurring. In other words, the intervention can dredge up a lot of negative feelings the addict has been suppressing but they may respond in a volatile way—this is not entirely their fault, but a known psychological result for some individuals. After all, people respond in a plethora of ways to stress and that is simply a natural byproduct of our psychology and unique personalities.

Professional Addiction Intervention Maryland

If you’ve attempted an intervention before and it didn’t work out, it might be time to search for professional help. Recovery Care Partner has helped many people who are concerned about their loved one’s recent behavior or substance use.

Participating in an intervention can be an emotionally challenging and draining experience. Contact us today to discuss the next steps.