When someone you love is struggling with a drug addiction, it can feel like the ceiling is falling in. Fear, frustration, and confusion all become part of daily life. Hope gets pushed out, since hope and fear occupy the same space in our ability to act. We want you to know something important: you’re not alone, and help is closer than you think. Here at Change Institute, founded by Brad Lamm, we specialize in on-site invitational intervention services that bring clarity and hope to family and friends in crisis. Our mission is to meet our clients right where they are — emotionally and physically — and walk with them toward transformation and change.
Whether you’re dealing with a loved one who’s spiraling due to substance use or you’re simply looking for answers about what to do next, we’re here to guide you every step of the way.
Addiction Is a Disease, Not a Choice
Many people still believe that addiction is simply a lack of willpower or a character flaw. However, at the Change Institute, we operate from a different perspective. Addiction is a brain-based disorder — a chronic condition that affects how the brain processes reward, motivation, and decision-making. With as many origin stories as there are people who suffer from addiction, the through lines remain genetic components, generation, and/or complex trauma, and the physical part of addiction drives the engine to consume on a body level.
Through our interventions, we help families understand that addiction isn’t about weakness. It’s a condition that requires interruption so that treatment and support, rather than judgment, can be shared. We’ve seen that when families shift from blame to understanding, they create an opportunity that makes recovery possible.
The Toll Addiction Takes on Us | Supporting Your Loved One
We understand how deeply addiction ripples through a home. It doesn’t just affect the person using it — it impacts everyone around them. We’ve supported families struggling with emotional burnout, overdrawn trust accounts, financial strain, medical crises, and the paralyzing question of what to do next.
Our on-site intervention services are designed to help swap hope for fear, as we work to help those who suffer to say ‘yes’. We normalize the approach by utilizing invitational intervention, the evidence-based approach that has superior outcomes compared to the surprise model of intervening. We prioritize that each intervention team member sits in hope, and shares their eyewitness accounts in ways that promise the possibility of change and reinforce how the loved one who suffers is not alone in this.
The Difference Between Enabling and Supporting
This is one of the most common struggles we see: families trying to help, but unintentionally making the situation worse. Enabling might look like giving money, covering up mistakes, or the most common response: avoiding the topic altogether.
At the Change Institute, we help families transition from enabling to supporting in meaningful and sustainable ways.
This includes:
- Setting and holding healthy boundaries
- Encouraging care from help professionals (and understanding what recovery and harm reduction look like)
- Learning the language of support — consistent, nonjudgmental, honest, loving, and clear
Through coaching and preparation, we equip intervention team members to communicate in ways that help trust and change stick.
When to Consider a Drug Intervention
Are you unsure if it’s time to act? Here are signs that may mean your loved one needs immediate help:
- Lying or secrecy around substance use
- Legal issues or financial trouble
- Drastic changes in mood or behavior
- Overdose risk or mixing substances
- Failed attempts to quit
- Mounting physical, relational, and emotional costs
When you see these red flags, it’s time to take action. You don’t have to figure it all out alone. We do together what we cannot apart!
We offer trauma-centered assessments and affordable consultations that help you clarify your next steps.
How We Intervene: Our On-Site Process
We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all. Every family has its own story, and every intervention must be customized accordingly. Here’s how our process works:
Step 1: Intervention Team Preparation
- Understand your loved one’s behavior
- Build an effective support team for the intervention
- Collect your thoughts and ID ways your loved one’s behavior has affected you directly
Step 2: The Intervention
- Begin with an invitation to join in with friends and family at their own intervention
- Keep the tone hopeful, upbeat, structured, safe, and focused
- Present immediate care options (from recovery coaching to short-stay assessment options, detox, and residential treatment programs)
- Support the intervention team in holding clear boundaries if your loved one says no (we think NO is a conversation starter!)
Step 3: Follow-Up Support
- Safe transport if going off to a residential assessment or treatment program
- Ongoing family coaching with our virtual and rich weekly Family Class
- Introduction to support groups, coaching resources, and therapy referrals
This three-step system enables families to act quickly, with support grounded in strategy, not panic.
Why On-Site Intervention Matters
One of the things that sets Change Institute apart is our commitment to on-site care. We don’t expect families to bring their loved ones to us—we come to you.
Here’s why on-site support is essential:
- It makes intervention possible even when travel is a barrier
- It adds in-person participation and structure during a chaotic time
- It reduces risk during emotionally intense conversations
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
What We Offer Beyond the Intervention
Healing takes time. Our services are designed to provide more than a one-time fix—we help your family build a lasting support network.
Here’s what we continue to offer:
- Education on substance use, complex trauma, and co-occurring mental health disorders
- Group coaching for family and friends who may be part of the intervention team
- Recovery planning to support relapse prevention and rapid response setback planning
- Referrals to trusted assessment, inpatient, and outpatient programs
Whether your loved one says yes on the first day or needs some time to come around, we stay connected to your family so you never feel left behind.
Real Solutions, Not Empty Promises
We’re not just another service provider. We believe in radical honesty and compassionate strategy, and we hope that our approach inspires lasting hope. Founded by interventionist and author Brad Lamm, we’ve helped thousands of families begin again with renewed connection and purpose.
Why families trust us:
- Services are designed to be accessible
- On-site, real-time support nationwide
- Trauma-informed and evidence-based methods
- Long-term engagement with the entire family
Whether you’re looking for a structured alcohol intervention, guidance on how to support someone using methamphetamines, prescription medications, fentanyl, or resources for co-occurring addiction and mental health issues, we can help.
Struggling With a Drug Addiction? Here’s How to Get Started
You don’t need to have all the answers to reach out. The first step is simply letting someone help. Contact us today. Our consultations are confidential, affordable, and focused on action.
Supporting someone with a drug addiction is one of the hardest and bravest things a family can do. But you don’t have to do it alone. We meet you where you are and walk beside you, offering structured, affordable help with compassion and care.
Every family can recover. Every person deserves a second chance. Let’s take the first step together.
