Comments for Is an intervention what is needed?
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The Family Plan
Addiction doesn’t care about his health and well being, it just takes everything away. You might want to have a talk with your doctor, or a local drug treatment center and see what your options are, considering he has made the decision to drop out of your insurance. You can’t force anyone to get treatment. Sometimes, if they are lucky, a drug court might mandate treatment, but even if that happens, people sometimes prefer incarceration over treatment. No, the decision to get clean has to come from him, but I am sure you can do a lot to influence what he does. I take it from your question that he doesn’t have a job, so can I also assume he lives at home? I ask this because he is making his problem your problem if he’s sleeping under your roof all day and won’t get a job. You mentioned an intervention. This is an option. The important thing is for you to get some help and support. Don’t go this alone and understand that the entire family is affected. As a family, you need to come together and formulate a game plan. Let your son know that you mean business by setting some boundaries, i.e. if you’re going to live her you’re going to get a job and get treatment. He probably thinks he’s got you fooled. He’ll do just enough to get you to back off. In his book “Why Don’t They Just Quit?” Joe Hernanek writes, “In the poker game Texas Hold” em, players will occasionally push their chips forward and say, ‘I’m all in.’ Whether we like it or not, addiction affects the entire family. ‘We’re “all in” and there is no option to not play.’ Remember that this is your son’s problem and you need to keep it his problem. That’s why it is necessary for the family to have a plan. Once he receives treatment he has to be a part of the recovery community, go to meetings, and hopefully help someone else who is walking the same path. If he is allowed to merely say “no” to any of this and allowed to make more foolish decisions, there is little doubt that addiction will run its course with him. But there is hope. Take that first step. Call your doctor, a treatment center, Al-Anon, or some other similar organization and get the help that you need to help your son. |