On Wednesday, May 17, we hosted a Pathway Session on Interventions with Paul Gallant, CIP. Paul is a well-known interventionist in the Northeast, as he lives in Monroe, CT and has been doing intervention work for over 35 years.
Paul describes intervention as “changing the course” based on love. It can occur whenever one or more members of the family have had enough. The goal of an intervention is to put in place a powerful process designed to communicate love, concern, and a reasonable course of action. Essential to a successful intervention is to work with the family members and encourage them to utilitize therapy, support and boundaries for themselves.
Paul described the different elements to a letter that family members write to their loved one in detail. This letter is read when the family meeting takes place. The loved one will also be presented at the end of the meeting–if he or she has not yet accepted the offer to treatment–with a separate piece of paper listing the consequences and boundaries being established going forward.
My thoughts following the session: In the approximately 1000 interventions that Paul has led, the loved one agrees to engage in treatment 85% of the time. I’m assuming this includes those that initially deny the family’s offer, but then go into treatment a few weeks later.
While Paul’s unique “brand” of intervention is widely accepted by providers and professionals, there are other brands including Johnson Model, “Love First”, ARISE Intervention Model, and Family Systemic Intervention. CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training) takes a place over a period of time. It requires the family member to be trained in a particular communication style that is based on positively reinforcing non-using and pro-social behaviors.
For those interested in the replay of the session, click here. For Paul’s slide deck, click here.