Should Young Children be Involved in a Parent's Intervention?

I hope by now most of my readers have had a chance to watch Bret's story. There has been a lot written about Bret and his intervention involving his children. Should young children be involved in a parent's intervention? Obviously, every case is different and that needs to be taken into account by all interventionists attempting to help families of alcoholics.

Bret's teenage daughter Kelsey and younger son Kyle were present at Bret's televised intervention on A&E. The family and the interventionist agreed that having the children present could be very persuasive in helping Bret make the decision to go to treatment. Unfortunately, the children's pleas were relatively ineffective leaving them both angry and in tears. Many people watching this episode may feel like the children's involvement in the intervention was unnecessary and damaging to the children. However, children of alcoholics who are at a cognizant age are not strangers to the pain and suffering at the hands of their addicted parent. Kelsey and Kyle have dealt and are still dealing with the years of pain; unfortunately the children of addicts need to confront their parent in order to explain how their drinking deeply affects them. This is a sad but true reality, one that is rarely pretty but indeed necessary.

Without a doubt no one wants to see a child suffering and seeing a show that deals with the sickness of drug and alcohol addiction is never pleasant to watch. We need to keep in mind that the interventionists, like Ken Seeley, know what they are doing and if there was ever a point where the children's safety was in jeopardy they would have been pulled away from danger. Interventions can be a trial and error event; many different avenues of techniques need to be attempted when trying to convince someone they need treatment. Ultimately, it was not Bret's children that got him into treatment; but, I believe the children's role was ever so crucial, not only for Bret but also the children. Kelsey and Kyle are two very strong children who wanted and were allowed to participate in their father's intervention that relieved Bret of his dependency long enough for him to die a sober individual. Those last days that they were able to spend with their Dad were ever so precious and probably worth a hundred interventions.

I encourage you to comment on whether children should be present at an intervention. If you are struggling with questions of how to do an intervention for your loved one, call Hope by the Sea...

P.S. A Jury recommended a sentence of life in prison for Jesse James Hollywood.

Celebrity Addiction always seems to get more Attention than Family Substance Abuse

Celebrity addiction always seems to get more attention than family substance abuse. I often read news articles about celebrities getting in trouble with drugs and alcohol. The whole world is shocked to find out that one of their favorite stars, to everyone's surprise, has a drug problem. Everyone asks how can this be? Why would somebody who has everything need to get caught up in the drug world? The answer is that there is more to drug addiction than how much money somebody has or how famous they are. Addiction rears its ugly head in every family and in every society because addiction is a disease that can be passed down to a person through their blood line. No amount of stature, wealth, or prestige has the power to make an individual immune to the disease of addiction.

Anywhere you look, whether it's downstairs sitting in front of the T.V. or in the bedroom your older brother sleeps in, the possibility for addiction exists. I believe that it is fair to say that there is not one person on this planet who does not know of an addict in their own life. A friend, relative, or even your doctor could, as we speak, be abusing drugs and alcohol. Even if you are not currently aware of it, I am sure this is taking place right under your nose. You see the drug addict and alcoholic have developed over a number of years of practice skills necessary to fool even their closest loved ones into believing that nothing is going on; or if it is going on that the problem is under their control.

However, over time signs start to appear that make you feel like something is not right with your friend or family member. At first, many people brush off signs like disorganization, lack of responsibility, and frequent mood swings. Maybe they are having a bad day, week, month, or year and there is no reason to be alarmed. When it comes to family and friends we sometimes will ignore these traits because on a subconscious level we don't want to believe the truth in order to protect ourselves and that it is easier to continue on living our "happy little lives". This is completely understandable behavior because of the idea that the less we think we know hurts less than the pain of finding out the truth.

But, at a certain point in every one's addiction, one starts to approach their "bottom"; a bottom so filled with pain and despair that few are ever able to pull themselves out of without the proper kind of help. This is when the friends and family, of the suspected addict, come together to discuss what should be done. Treatment is usually the first idea and the most effective idea when trying to get help for those that you care about. Passing off the signs as opposed to addressing them immediately is the worst thing you can do for the one you care about. When you notice a pattern of behavior that appears to be unhealthy, probably means that it is unhealthy. The quicker you move towards addressing these problems, the quicker the sick individual can get help, ignoring the writing on the wall will only allow an addict more time to makes things worse.

Intervention is one way to address the problem, Hope by the Sea is proud to be a featured treatment center on A & E's highly rated, Emmy Nominated series, INTERVENTION. Check back next week when I will post the airtime for the next INTERVENTION episode that features Hope by the Sea.