Adam Banks

When talking to a POC it is important to change the way that you have been talking to them in the past. Below are some Invitation to Intervention: This is not an intervention; we are creating a plan for the family to recover from this.  You put us though a lot, and we need to clean it up.  We will create a plan for you to recover to; the plan will be there for you when you are ready. I understand that I chose the date and time for this meeting, and that must be uncomfortable, but I just can’t go along with this any longer. I understand that your not ready, we are creating a plan for when you are. We are having a meeting tomorrow to talk about your addiction, we will not be fighting, we will not be arguing, we will not be crying, but we will be taking actions, we think you should attend. Let’s be honest, we didn’t call an intervention, you called for it. Life has really big moments that you remember forever, some are planned, like our wedding; others are a total surprise, like Billy’s goal in that game.  I know that we… Read More »Talking to A Person of Concern

An intervention is not a one-off event; it is a recovery process. I commit to working with families for 90 days to ensure that the person suffering begins treatment successfully and has a plan that will ensure long term recovery. Committing the first time can lock in lasting recovery, making the intervention a process that only has to be done once.

Thinking about recovery is about as effective as thinking about going to the gym. it does nothing to help the person actually recover.

If you consider yourself a functional alcoholic, are you really functioning at your highest level? Or have you lowered the bar of what’s acceptable to cater to your addiction?

When some people decide to get sober, they feel like sobriety is a life sentence. They can’t imagine never drinking again and it feels like a giant invisible hand is forcing them to get sober. Getting sober is a choice you make for self-improvement. Just like any program of self-improvement, it requires a daily commitment to change. “Take it one day at a time” is a common piece of advice in Twelve Step programs. When I was in early sobriety, that expression – okay, all Twelve Step expressions – annoyed me. I knew that it wasn’t one day at a time; my time was up, and I had to be sober for the rest of my life. My sponsor reminded me often that I could choose to drink any day. That, too, felt like a trick, because deep down I knew that I could never drink again – even though I wanted to. Today, 12 years sober, I understand that I could drink today, but I don’t want to. Every day I make the choice to remain sober, just as I have every day for the last twelve years. I liken the decision to choose sobriety to the decision to… Read More »Choosing Recovery

When putting a dollar value on recovery, consider how much money you would pay to change everything in your life. How much would you pay to keep your children? How much would you pay to keep your job? How much would you pay on your child’s behalf to totally change their life? How much would you pay to have four more hours in a day?

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

Lao Tzu

Our goal with an intervention is to help someone see the consequences of their substance use, to shine a light on something that they are missing. We want to help them choose recovery at a point before rock bottom.

To determine how to help someone, it is necessary to hear the stories of the people around them. To find the right facility for a person in need, we need to know whether the issue is an addiction or a mental health problem or both.