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Substance Abuse
Anyone heard of a "Letter Intervention" ? Help for niece
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<blockquote data-quote="susiestar" data-source="post: 372760" data-attributes="member: 1233"><p>It sounds like your sister is at the end of her rope and terrified for, and likely of, her daughter. She is clearly working with therapists and people experienced in substance abuse problems. My heart aches for her and for the entire family. </p><p> </p><p>Personally I really cannot say what I would do. It is hard to know if you are not in that situation. I believe that most likely I would not write a letter for this letter intervention. I would let my sister know that until/unless you know more about WHY this is being done in letter form, and exactly how/when she would receive them and if she would be alone, with druggie friends, with family, or with a therapist when she read them. With the info you have, I think this would drive her even farther away.</p><p> </p><p>I have not heard of an intervention by letter only. Many interventionists have the family/friends write letters and read them to the addict (the type of intervention on the tv show). The letters are pretty much the "script" for the intervention in many cases. Loved ones are encouraged to stick to their letters and not comment on other people's letters because if arguing worked the problem would already be resolved.</p><p> </p><p>EVERY source I have ever seen about interventions strongly stresses that a professional interventionist (there is a certification process) be on hand to orchestrate things and keep things on track. Without a therapist there (interventionists are usually tdocs of some kind)the letters would likely overwhelm the addict and send them into a crisis. I do not have a reference to cite to prove this, but it seems extremely logical to conclude that this would cause a crisis. I did do a quick search to find out if "letter interventions" were some new therapeautic tool. NO site listed letter interventions as a type of intervention.</p><p> </p><p>Most difficult children seem to have trouble with praise - giving it, realizing in their heart that it has been given to them, and even seeing it when it is written. These letters are meant to be full of love, but also very descriptive of the ways the addict has hurt and damaged the family. If difficult child actually reads more than one letter chances are that she will zoom in on the negative stuff and totally miss everything good about herself in the letter. Receiving all of those letters "full" of negative stuff might very well result in suicide attempts and other ways to destroy herself and others.</p><p> </p><p>What does easy child think about this? This might be a good time to ask her what her gut instincts on this issue are. She may already trust those instincts, but this could be a good time to let her know (again?) that the instincts are there for a reason and should be seriously considered, even if she decides not to follow them. I realize this is mostly about your niece, but it still might have a valuable lesson about trusting her instincts, among other things. Know what I mean??</p><p> </p><p>I hope your sister can find some peace. Your niece is a very blessed woman to have all of you love her, even when she is this lost.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="susiestar, post: 372760, member: 1233"] It sounds like your sister is at the end of her rope and terrified for, and likely of, her daughter. She is clearly working with therapists and people experienced in substance abuse problems. My heart aches for her and for the entire family. Personally I really cannot say what I would do. It is hard to know if you are not in that situation. I believe that most likely I would not write a letter for this letter intervention. I would let my sister know that until/unless you know more about WHY this is being done in letter form, and exactly how/when she would receive them and if she would be alone, with druggie friends, with family, or with a therapist when she read them. With the info you have, I think this would drive her even farther away. I have not heard of an intervention by letter only. Many interventionists have the family/friends write letters and read them to the addict (the type of intervention on the tv show). The letters are pretty much the "script" for the intervention in many cases. Loved ones are encouraged to stick to their letters and not comment on other people's letters because if arguing worked the problem would already be resolved. EVERY source I have ever seen about interventions strongly stresses that a professional interventionist (there is a certification process) be on hand to orchestrate things and keep things on track. Without a therapist there (interventionists are usually tdocs of some kind)the letters would likely overwhelm the addict and send them into a crisis. I do not have a reference to cite to prove this, but it seems extremely logical to conclude that this would cause a crisis. I did do a quick search to find out if "letter interventions" were some new therapeautic tool. NO site listed letter interventions as a type of intervention. Most difficult children seem to have trouble with praise - giving it, realizing in their heart that it has been given to them, and even seeing it when it is written. These letters are meant to be full of love, but also very descriptive of the ways the addict has hurt and damaged the family. If difficult child actually reads more than one letter chances are that she will zoom in on the negative stuff and totally miss everything good about herself in the letter. Receiving all of those letters "full" of negative stuff might very well result in suicide attempts and other ways to destroy herself and others. What does easy child think about this? This might be a good time to ask her what her gut instincts on this issue are. She may already trust those instincts, but this could be a good time to let her know (again?) that the instincts are there for a reason and should be seriously considered, even if she decides not to follow them. I realize this is mostly about your niece, but it still might have a valuable lesson about trusting her instincts, among other things. Know what I mean?? I hope your sister can find some peace. Your niece is a very blessed woman to have all of you love her, even when she is this lost. [/QUOTE]
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Anyone heard of a "Letter Intervention" ? Help for niece
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