How to Write Powerful Letters For Alcoholic Intervention and Alcohol Abuse Help

Alcoholic intervention letters are a powerful strategy you want to use. A key to it's success is preventing this special alcohol abuse help event from becoming emotionally charged with anger and resentment. The alcoholic feels defensive and edgy in the first place and is possible to start arguments, so if someone takes the bait to argue, anger will overtake the session. The fight will dominate the meeting and will destroy it's purpose. In order to prevent it from happening, only one person will speak with the addict, answering concerns and objections. Everyone else only reads from their intervention letter.

A good intervention letter is an important tool, ensuring that your love and concern for the addict is expressed, the purpose of the session is clear and there is no anger, blame or recrimination. Everyone reads their letter, committing to refrain from adding anything else in the alcoholic intervention. This will protect participants from bursting into impetuous arguments, keeping the meeting on track.

Start your letter with authentic expressions of your love for this person. Speak generously from your heart. Outline in details what you love and cherish about that person. Identify events when he or she was especially helpful to you, made a difference to you and the times when you have been proud of the person. List the person's beautiful qualities and what you miss about him or her.

The addict will anticipate recriminations at the start of the alcoholic intervention. Hearing about how much they are loved and the contribution they have been to others can stimulate the alcoholic's willingness to enroll in a alcohol abuse help clinic.

Next, remove morality - right and wrong - from the situation, shifting it into the medical realm. Express that alcoholism is a disease which requires medical treatment. Confirm that it is not a matter of the addict's willpower or strength, but a matter of receiving treatment for a serious illness. Request the addict to receive professional alcohol abuse help immediately following the alcoholic intervention.

Then list factual examples which illustrate the alcohol problem. These must be your own experiences, not what you heard from others. For example:

"Mum, I visited you three times this week to see how you are, and each time, you were drunk by 7pm. Your speech was slurred and anything I did seem to anger you. You screamed and cursed at me, calling me offensive names and it hurts me so much! Then the next day, when I brought it up, you have no memory of my visit. I know you love me and don't want to hurt me, but when you've been drinking, how you treat me is intensely painful and shatters me."

Eliminate all blame, recriminations and anger. These sabotage the goal of the addict accepting specialized help during the alcoholic intervention. Express how the addict's behavior makes you feel about yourself rather than blaming the person for your feelings. For example:

Then express real examples which expose the alcohol problem clearly. Whereas, "When you've been drinking, how you treat me hurts me deeply and makes me feel unwanted" addresses the behavior without blaming.

Conclude your letter with love and concern. Express your support of alcoholism recovery, requesting the alcoholic to enter a specific in-patient clinic.

When this simple format of an alcoholic intervention letter is combined with a firm request for receiving professional alcohol abuse help is repeated by every participant, it creates a powerful impact on the alcoholic leading to that person saying yes.