Assignment 1: Scholar Practitioner Project: Addiction Intervention

Most individuals do not decide to seek treatment on their own. Often, some form of leverage from outside influences is required to provide the necessary incentive to seek treatment. The broad term for this leverage is intervention. Interventions are not limited to the confrontational family scenarios currently popularized by reality television. Intervention can be any action taken by others to persuade the person with problems with addiction to seek help.

There are several models of family interventions, but the one used most often is the Johnson Model, developed several decades ago by Episcopal priest Vernon Johnson (Clark, 2012). In this model, an addiction professional guides family members and significant others in rehearsing and carrying out an unannounced confrontation with the person with problems with addiction. The end goal is to have this person agree to enter into a prearranged treatment setting.

In this assignment, you apply intervention strategies to address Marge’s addiction and you consider potential ethical dilemmas related to the intervention.

In a 2- to 3-page APA-formatted paper, address the following:

Using the Johnson Model, design an intervention as it might have occurred six weeks prior to Marge’s admission into treatment. Include the following: 

o   Describe some of the people who might participate in the intervention. Provide a rationale for including these individuals.

o   Describe the qualified professional to guide the process. Explain why this person would be qualified.

o   Explain the preparation process prior to Marge’s intervention.

o   Provide three examples of strategies that participants might take in Marge’s intervention.

o   Describe three potential sanctions that participants might employ if Marge refuses treatment.

o   Explain any ethical dilemmas that might arise from Marge’s intervention.

References (use 3 or more)

Doweiko, H. E. (2015). Concepts of chemical dependency (9th ed.). Stamford, CT: Brooks/Cole.

Clark, C. D. (2012). Tough love: A brief cultural history of addiction intervention. History of Psychology, 15(3), 233–246. 

Mee-Lee, D., & Gastfriend, D. R. (2015). Patient placement criteria. In M. Galanter, & H. D. Kleber (Eds.), The American psychiatric publishing textbook of substance abuse treatment (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Prochaska, J. O., DiClemente, C. C., & Norcross, J. C. (1992). In search of how people change: Applications to addictive behaviors. American Psychologist, 47(9), 1102–1114

Laureate Education (Producer). (2012b). Counseling session 1.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2012c). Counseling session 2.