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Unfortunately, many drug treatment programs emphasize the heroin addiction or abuse itself rather than the underlying cause of the addiction. However, an effective drug treatment program focuses on the reasons why people turn to heroin abuse in the first place. It’s important to understand the root causes of heroin addiction in order to treat it.
It can be difficult having a loved one who struggles with heroin use. Family members often experience the fallout from addiction firsthand, and they may struggle with resentment and anger when taking care of a heroin addict. Understandably, it’s not easy to just move past these feelings. As a result, these troubling family dynamics can cause a lot of stress within the family unit, creating division and strife.
Strained relationships can make it harder to reach out and help a loved one struggling with heroin abuse. Heroin abuse interventions include and involve the family but with the added benefit of an impartial presence to help the family and the heroin abuser find a much less destructive and more productive path forward.
A heroin abuse intervention is a meeting where family, friends, and a trained interventionist intend to confront the heroin user about their addiction. The purpose of an intervention is to create an open and honest dialog about how continued heroin abuse affects not only the user but also those who love that person.
An intervention is not intended to shame or embarrass the drug user but rather to honestly communicate the consequences and impact of the user’s addiction to heroin. An intervention is a compassionate gesture that aims to restore wholeness to broken relationships while also offering help to the heroin addict. The goal is to get the heroin user to seek and accept treatment for their drug addiction. An intervention can be a valuable tool in helping the heroin user to recognize that they need help and should pursue treatment or risk losing the people closest to them.
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While heroin abuse interventions can mark a major turning point in the life of a loved one, you must prepare for the possibility that it may not work. If your loved one refuses help for their drug addiction, it’s important that you stand your ground. You will likely need to set boundaries with the drug user in order to communicate that you will not enable or tolerate their behavior. While this can be difficult to do, especially when you are trying to repair the relationship, it’s important that your loved one sees and understands the consequences of their actions.
To reduce stress and to help ensure the intervention goes as smoothly as possible, try to plan ahead as much as you can. It’s helpful to research treatment centers in advance in case your loved one is ready and willing to accept help. Additionally, it’s important for you to mentally and physically prepare for the experience, especially since you don’t know what to expect or how your loved one will react. Also, be sure to think through who you want to invite to the intervention. Make sure that each person understands the gravity of the situation and is ready to contribute their support throughout the drug intervention process.
If you know a loved one is struggling with a heroin addiction problem, then now is probably the right time for an intervention. However, if you’re not sure your situation requires an intervention, at least not yet, then keep an eye out for signs that your loved one is struggling. The unfortunate truth is that many heroin users often start using drugs to mask untreated physical or mental health concerns. Mental illness and drug use are often co-occurring and can feed one another if both conditions aren’t identified and treated at the same time.
In order to truly recover from addiction, it is essential to address underlying issues and contributing risk factors. Without this approach, healing from addiction is much more difficult and long-term recovery is less likely. As you work to support your loved one, reach out to any health care providers and other community-based organizations for additional resources on whether an intervention is a right move.
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Research has shown that the sooner the intervention takes place, the more effective it can be. If you know your loved one is abusing heroin, then it is never too early to plan a drug intervention. The sad reality is that for many families, it is too late.
Heroin addicts are at risk for serious physical and mental health problems, including overdose. In 2019 alone, more than 70,000 Americans lost their lives to drug overdoses. That doesn’t include people who died as a result of driving under the influence of drugs, drug-fueled suicides, and other drug-related incidents. For those people and their families, it is certainly too late to stage a drug abuse intervention. Know that now is the best time to plan a heroin abuse intervention if your loved one is struggling with heroin addiction.
A proper intervention for drug abuse will give your loved one the ray of hope they need to chart a course for a brighter, healthier, sober future.
Call Addiction Interventions today for a free consultation with a professional interventionist and to start the process of planning a drug use intervention for your loved one.