I facilitate Invitational Interventions, which I believe are an effective way to engage the entire family in health and healing. It takes the blame and shame off of the addicted person and enhances the relationship. The “surprise” style of interventions are effective in getting a person into treatment but often times leave years of hard feelings and mistrust. The greatest success with intervention is when everyone in the family focuses on their own recovery.

Addiction is a family disease. Professionals refer to alcoholism and addiction as a family disease because of the effects addiction has on the family. Just like the alcoholic or addict, family members experience a progressive deterioration of their physical, emotional, and spiritual health. The all-encompassing devastation that accompanies addiction never occurs in a vacuum, it touches all those close to it. The personal relationships within each family are influenced by the family structure, roles of family members, cultural background, values, rituals, and shared experiences. Family experiences from previous generations also influence the dynamics of present day families. When addiction is present, family members can respond or react in a variety of ways to cope with or change the addict’s behavior or circumstance.

Children in particular are extremely vulnerable to the behaviors and circumstances that exist in a family impacted by addiction. They are usually the first ones affected and the last to receive help. Left untreated, the family dysfunction and the addiction can extend itself into future generations.

Treatment is available. Addicts and their families can and do recover. In fact they do it all the time.

“As part of the process, everyone involved learns about addiction. All the means through which the addict sustained his/her behavior are no longer in place.”
–Wayne Raiter, MA, LICSW

Please visit the testimonials page for a personal family response to Systemic Intervention.