June
2008
El Paso asked me why an Interventionist is so expensive.
I was speaking to a potential client in El Paso, Texas today who was interested in hiring me for my services. (For the purposes of confidentiality, I will refer to this person as El Paso for the remainder of this post.) We discussed the circumstances surrounding the chemically dependent person in El Paso’s life and some of the details about how I might be able to help in this situation. (This is usually the point in the consultation where the potential client asks how much my services will cost them.) When I told El Paso what my fees would be El Paso asked me why it was so expensive (I get this a lot). I find that MOST people who call me really want or need an Interventionist but can’t seem to justify the expense. I proceeded to help El Paso understand that an intervention takes both time and money. As a matter of fact, I used to perform Interventions for much less than I do today, and I found that I just could not afford to do them unless they started paying better. As much as I believe most Interventionists would love to donate their services, I have found that it is just not possible.
It is my experience that the most common underestimation regarding the Intervention process is the time it takes to effectively prepare. Most of the people calling, expect me to just pop over and have a talk with the chemically dependent person. Unfortunately the process is a bit more developed and calculated than this. In order to effectively prepare and rehearse for the Intervention it generally requires a minimum of 3 good long team meetings and rehearsals. The second commonly overlooked fact is that the aftercare related to most interventions. It is pretty uncommon for an intervention to just end the day of the scheduled intervention. More often than not I am working with the family for weeks and sometimes months after the scheduled Intervention.
So in short El Paso, It is difficult to put a price on a well planned and prepared substance abuse intervention. I have previous clients that have come to me with a pile of family dysfunction that desperately needed to be sorted out. After the Intervention, a large portion of what has been going on – for years, sometimes – is finally sorted out or at least looked at and examined. I am not suggestion that an intervention will be the answers to all of your family problems but I am saying that it can serve as a turning point.
