Now, I just found out about this recently. There are folks that are charging anywhere from $3,500 to $10,000 to "help" do Formal Interventions, a technique that had almost died out until A & E started up their "Interventions" show. I was recently contacted by a woman who had already agreed to let some "interventionist" do a formal intervention on her partner though it would mean one less week in treatment for him because of the interventionist's fee. Are you kidding? She could not even tell me his credentials.
I meet an "interventionist" recently in Illinois who does not even have an Associates degree, and don't get me wrong. She is a kind woman. When I asked her "Well, what do these folks get for their $3,500?", she replied that they help get the person a bed (I can do that for free and so can most counselors) and that if the person relapses (and what do you think the changes of that happening are, especially after an ambush like this?), she works with the family to help them cope and get the person back in treatment.
Isn't that family therapy? Is that not out of the scope of her practice as a CADC, a paraprofessional? Couldn't she could sued by the family if something went wrong? Shouldn't a person be a licensed therapist with a long and competent history as a family therapist and substance misuse training before they do anything with a family. Sure, they should. Yet families are desperate. I know. I watched my mom die from her alcoholism and though I tried to intervene, some total stranger said something to her in a loving way and the next day, she was in treatment. One doesn't need an ambush to assist someone into getting help. And it doesn't have to be residential treatment. Let the person develop their own treatment plan and have the family help out. C'mon, let us use our brains.
