Intervention?

I’ve had a lot of conversations lately about if a family member who is “forced” into drug and alcohol treatment will do anything.  Clients often ask if they should wait until he/she “wants” treatment.  One of my staff gave me some information located on NIDA’s site that goes along with what I believe and have always felt!  YES…interventions work and those clients do just as well as the “voluntary” clients.  If the families understood that very often the client won’t and can’t make the decision to go to treatment until something (as if addiction isn’t bad enough) “BAD” happens (loss of job, arrest, loss of family etc.) they  would all do interventions to help their loved one get in.  So this is what the statement was from National Institute on Drug Abuse  It says “Effective treatment need not be voluntary and that treatment outcomes are similar for those who enter treatment under pressure vs. voluntary.”  My advice to anyone reading this is don’t wait until it’s too late!