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Intervention Workshops, Presentations & Conferences

Known for informed and entertaining lectures and conference presentations, Jim is featured on two professional VHS/DVD presentations called What is Codependency? and Setting Personal Boundaries. FMS Productions in Carpinteria, California made these productions in association with The Betty Ford Center.

Jim is also the author of the new online credit course and workbook, Working With Families of Chemically Dependent Criminal Justice Offenders , now available through CCJP.com.

Jim is available for Intervention, Counseling and Recovery Workshops, Lectures, Presentations and Conferences. Please contact Jim at (760) 641-1502 for more information on addiction intervention and other services regarding addictions, substance abuse treatment and recovery, family education and counseling.

CODEPENDENCY – BOUNDARY SETTING SKILLS WORKSHOP

Jim Shelton, former family counselor at The Betty Ford Center, is now in private practice as an interventionist and workshop presenter.

While at Betty Ford Center, Jim developed a four day course designed to assist chemically dependent patients in identifying the meaning of codependency and gaining knowledge of their codependent behaviors and attitudes that are impediments to emotional sobriety and potential relapse triggers into their active addiction.

Whether chemically dependent, codependent or both, codependent behaviors are primarily people pleasing, approval seeking and over care taking. Codependents live other people’s lives while neglecting their own. Codependents give their power away and develop a poor sense of self. Recovery is taking their power back by learning self-care and boundary setting skills!

A significant part of the workshop is spent learning what is a boundary, how do you respectively set a boundary and what is the boundary setting process. Boundary setting is a learned skill. Codependents know how to take care of others but not themselves. Boundary setting skills can be effectively learned in a group setting using role- play.

Jim has customized this workshop for weekend end retreats. Full workshops start on Friday evening and end Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm. A shorter workshop is offered by starting with a two-hour group on Friday evening with sessions Saturday from 9:00am until 3:00pm. In the longer workshop both codependency and boundary setting are covered extensively. In the shorter workshop emphasis can be either codependency or boundary setting.

If you are interested in a retreat workshop for your group, call Jim at 760-641-1502. Share and Enjoy: Print Digg del.icio.us Facebook Mixx Google Bookmarks LinkedIn StumbleUpon Twitthis email FriendFeed HealthRanker Posterous Reddit Ping.fm Twitter

]]> http://www.addictioninterventionservices.com/workshops/feed/ 0 http://www.addictioninterventionservices.com/contact/ http://www.addictioninterventionservices.com/contact/#comments Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:58:22 +0000 http://addictioninterventionservices.com/?page_id=44

Contact Jim for Addiction Intervention Services

Jim Shelton, Addiction Interventionist
P.O. Box 5507
Palm Springs, CA 92263

Telephone/Fax:
Palm Springs, CA (760) 641-1502
Fax: (760) 406-6132

E-mail

Existing Clients: For online payments by Credit Card or Paypal, use the convenient button below.

How much does an addiction intervention cost?

That depends on a lot of factors, including location and whether travel is involved. So, fees are negotiated in advance per client.

Will you do addiction interventions in other cities and states?

Yes. I’m headquartered in Palm Springs, California, (Southern California – Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, La Quinta, Indio, Indian Wells, Los Angeles, San Diego, Coachella Valley, etc.) but, as mentioned above, interventions can be done across Texas, California, the United States or even internationally, so just because you are in another city, I can still help. For instance, I am a Texan and have lived in Amarillo, Austin and Dallas, so I am familiar with those cities and their services and can fly in and be right at home. Contact me if you have any questions about an intervention in your location.

Do you do drug or alcohol addiction interventions?

Both. Alcoholism or drug and substance abuse interventions are my specialty.

What are your credentials (all those letters after your name)?

• MAC – Masters Addiction Counselor
• LCDC – Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor
• MS – Masters Degree in Addiction Studies
• BRI II – Board Registered Interventionist II

What form of payment do you take?

At this time, cash and checks/cashier’s checks/money orders (payable to James D. Shelton) receive a discounted rate. PayPal or online credit card payments through PayPal are also accepted (Just use the convenient button below). However, PayPal surcharges will be passed on to the client, thus the discount for payment by cash, check, etc.

Please contact me at (760) 641-1502 for more information on addiction intervention and other services. Interventions can be done nationwide.

In addition to being an addiction intervention specialist, Jim Shelton is available for counseling, workshops and lectures.

Jim Shelton is also available for consulting, counseling, educational lectures, conference presentations, individual and family education sessions, family dynamics and workshops on substance abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, shame, codependency, boundary setting, recovery and loss and grief.

In addition, Jim is available for:

• - Individual and group counseling for addiction and intervention
• - Internet and telephone counseling and guidance
• - Assessments
• - Specialized groups

Please call Jim at 1-760-641-1502 for more information on addiction intervention, counseling, workshops, other services and fees.

Intervention Case Management

Properly facilitated, intervention is the greatest act of love and concern a family or organization can give someone who is in the throws of addiction, whether it be chemical dependency, or other behavioral addictions, such as gambling, sexual addiction or any other self destructive, compulsive problems.

Simply put, addiction is the continued, compulsive or self destructive behavior used by someone in spite of negative consequences to themselves, family members or their profession. The chief symptom of addiction is denial, which not only affects the addict, but also those closest to them. Studies indicate that it is an average of seven years between the time the addiction is recognized until something is done to help the addicted seek recovery. Intervention, when orchestrated by a caring, skilled addiction intervention specialist, is effective in shorting this time, breaking the denial and empowering loved ones and employers to move away from the problem towards the solution. Addiction disables the inflicted to see the impact addiction has on their lives and the lives of those who they love and value the most. Intervention allows for these significant people to hold up a mirror for the addict to see themselves and the impact their addiction is having on their lives and others.

Case management is divided into three functions: Pretreatment, Treatment and Post Treatment. When an intervention has been decided upon, the interventionist works with the family and or employers to complete a through assessment, decide who will participate in the intervention, set a date and time for the family training and preparation and the actual intervention. The interventionist/case manager will be working to offer a selection of appropriate treatment centers. Throughout treatment, the interventionist will stay apprised of patient’s progress in treatment and will work with the treatment team and family should any problems arise. The addiction intervention specialist/case manager will work with clinical staff, the patient and family in the selection of the appropriate continuing care plan, so as to better insure the patient’s success in recovery.

Jim Shelton is a respected professional in the field of addiction recovery and case management. With his 20+ years of experience, Jim brings a unique personal and professional expertise, education and training to his work. A trained addiction intervention specialist in both the Johnson and Systemic Family Models, Jim provides guidance and consultation from inquiry to recovery for the identified alcoholic or addict, their families and professional affiliations.

Please contact Jim at (760) 641-1502 for more information on addiction intervention, intervention counseling and other services. Interventions, workshops and counseling can be done nationwide.

James Shelton, Addiction Intervention Services

Basically, there are two therapeutic models of addiction interventions. One is known as the Johnson Model where the participants meet with the interventionist to prepare for the intervention without the knowledge of the addicted person until the actual intervention. The other is known as the Systemic Family Intervention where the addicted person is invited to participate in the education and preparation.

Both have advantages and disadvantages. The former has an element of surprise attack and the patient may feel more angry, resentful and ambushed.

The latter is more inclusive and respectful, but may allow for the person being intervened upon to escape or in some way sabotage the process. A professional, trained interventionist needs to make this determination.

A word of caution. Today, with alcohol and other drug addiction interventions being broadcast on television, participants often believe they do not need a trained person and they can do it for themselves. The danger in this is there may be one and only one opportunity to approach the sick person and get them to proper help. Untrained and unskilled participants do not want to blow this chance. Trained, credentialed professionals are capable of assessing the health and well being of the potential patient, dealing with their denial and resistance plus determining the treatment facility that will have the best out come for each person.

Interventions which have the most effective outcomes and result in the addicted person being willing to accept help are carefully thought out, planned and orchestrated by a trained clinician and interventionist. If a loved one has a broken bone, family members would take that person to a specialist in broken bones. If family members have a loved one with an addiction, they best seek guidance from a person educated, trained and skilled in treating addictions.

Family members and other significant people in an addicted person’s life get sucked into the addictive process. The addiction affects everyone in an addicted system. With the best of intentions and out of love, concern and not knowing what to do they end up prolonging but never preventing the addiction. How do family member do this? Primarily by enabling and rescuing.

What is enabling? Enabling is consistently doing for another person what they could and should be doing for themselves. Rescuing is not allowing the addicted person to experience the consequences of their addiction and actions. Without guidance and direction it is easy to keep repeating this pattern.

Much has been said about allowing a person to “hit bottom.” An addicted person is on an elevator going down to the basement. Sadly, riding on this elevator with them is the people who they love and who love them the most. We know that through education, treatment and help, everyone can get off on whatever floor they find themselves. Often, the family member needs to get off first. This can result in the addicted loved one following them into recovery.

If you are reading this, you must be interested in getting help for someone and/or yourself. THE WAY TO START THE PROCESS OF GETTING OFF THE ELEVATOR IS TO CONTACT JIM SHELTON AT 1-760-641-1502 TODAY!

THE PROCESS OF INTERVENTION

• It all starts with that phone call to me! I am not always available and may be away from the office doing a family intervention. If you leave a name and telephone number, I pledge I will return your call in less than 24 hours.

• During our initial phone conversation, we will discuss the circumstances necessitating an intervention. You can ask any questions of me. I will give you guidance and make suggestion as to the plan of action. We will discuss all aspects of intervention, including my fees.

• If we agree to move forward with the intervention, I will ask you for the names and how to contact those who will participate in the intervention. At this stage, I caution you to be very careful about whom you tell about the intervention. We need to make sure the people we tell will not sabotage the intervention by informing the addicted person.

• I will call the suggested participants to determine their willingness and appropriateness to participate.

• Once I have completed this phase, we will discuss the logistics such as when and where. We will also discuss the therapeutic model of intervention that will be most effective. All of my interventions are handled in a respectful, non-shaming or blaming manner. The approach I prefer is the Systemic Family Intervention. I feel this approach is the most respectful for everyone. Using this approach, the day before the meeting, a family member or myself will call the addicted person to inform them that addiction is a cause of concern and we will be meeting to be educated about addiction and would like for them to participate. We make clear that we will be meeting if they attend or don’t. We need to also assure them that this meeting is not to attack, hurt or criticize them in any manner.

• If there is a real concern and probability that the intervened upon person will run away or be hard to find, then we may need to use the Johnson Model of Intervention, which is to gather the participants prior to the actual intervention for education and then arrange an gathering place and time and have someone bring the person to that meeting.

• Why an intervention? The primary purpose of the intervention is to assist and encourage the addicted person to go to treatment. This is a life saving mission. It is not uncommon to be confronted with the addicted person’s denial and resistance. This is where you need a trained interventionist and clinician to deal with the denial, the resistance and help participants stay firm with their request for the addicted person to get help that day.

• Having been a professional in the treatment field for many years, I will assist family members select the treatment center where their patient will have the best chance of being successful in their recovery. Considerations concerning insurance coverage, financial and special needs of the patient will be discussed with family members. When a choice is made concerning addiction treatment providers I will reserve a bed and facilitate an easy admission.

It is vitally important that family members seek their own help by attending family program, preferably where the patient is in treatment. Having worked many years in a family program, I will assist and facilitate this for the family.

WHY AN INTERVENTION

Intervention is an act of love and compassion. It is a life saving mission, facilitated by skilled, trained professionals. It is never an opportunity to shame, blame or attack. Interventions are most successful when properly planned, participants prepared and rehearsed with a clear understanding of the goals and objectives of an intervention.

The first GOAL is to hold up a mirror for the addicted person to look into and see how others are seeing them. Addicted persons have blinders, impaired insight, great shame, faulty judgment, resistance and denial. A good definition of denial is: it is easy not to see that which we don’t want to believe. A qualified interventionist, who is also a credentialed and educated professional, has the job to lead participants through these potential land mines. The OBJECTIVE is to get the addicted person to seek treatment and help. Hopefully, the addicted person will go to treatment immediately. What ever happens, the seed will have been planted and often will bear fruit at a latter date.

The second GOAL is to assist loved ones, family members, friends or business associates find help for themselves. Addiction is progressive and is always getting stronger or worse over any period of time. It never just goes away! Loved ones learn to adapt to the addiction and begin to live by dysfunctional rules such as not talking about the problem, numbing their feelings and become distrustful. The OBJECTIVE for the family is to break through their own denial and bring about an awareness of how their lives are being affected. A trained, qualified addiction interventionist will help concerned others see that their good intentions of controlling, enabling, rescuing and their denial prolongs the addiction but never stops or cures it.

With these goals and objectives in mind, one pertinent statement can be made: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FAILED INTERVENTION!!!! There may not be the immediate results hoped for, but once the addiction has been exposed and talked about, there can never be the degree of denial that once existed. Once the addiction has been exposed, the addicted person can never again practice the addiction with the same comfort or with impunity. Concerned others learn that their recovery is not dependent on the addicted person. In recovery, everyone can get back his or her right of choice.

Please contact me at (760) 641-1502 for more information on addiction interventions and other services. Family interventions can be done nationwide.

What Is An Intervention?

An intervention is a great act of love! An addiction intervention is a life saving mission whereby loving family members and concerned friends or employers are educated about addictions and led by a trained addiction interventionist for the purpose of helping the sick loved one with an opportunity to recovery.

Interventions are never for the purpose of shaming, blaming, attacking or taking the opportunity to express anger. During an effective addiction intervention, participants are assisted in holding up a mirror for the addicted love ones to see the trouble they are in, through the eyes of the participants. In addition to denial, which is a chief symptom of alcohol addiction or other drug addiction, the addicted person has blinders of shame, pride and guilt that does not allow for a realistic self-assessment.

Addicted people have often lost the ability to ask for help and live with the delusion they can stop on their own and do not need help. The truth is the alcoholic, other drug addict, compulsive gambler, spender, sex addict, workaholic and codependent are trapped in a powerful, chronic, progressive and often fatal illness that left untreated has serious consequences for both the addicted and those who love and care about them. Addictions rob people of their lives before it kills them.

Jim Shelton is a noted, respected, well-credentialed and trained professional in the field of drug and alcohol addiction intervention, counseling, treatment and recovery management. Jim has assisted thousands of addicted people; their families, friends and co-workers find help, treatment and recovery for themselves.

Jim spent six years as a family counselor in the highly respected Family Program at The Betty Ford Center near Palm Springs, California, where he was effective in counseling both the chemically dependent and their loved ones on how to stop the ravages of drug addiction and alcohol addiction and reclaim their lives.

Being an addiction interventionist is not just work for Jim, it is also his passion.

Known for informed and entertaining lectures and conference presentations, Jim is featured on two professional VHS/DVD presentations called What is Codependency? and Setting Personal Boundaries. FMS Productions in Carpinteria, California made these productions in association with The Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California.

Jim is also the author of the online credit course Working With Families of Chemically Dependent Criminal Justice Offenders.

If you need an addiction interventionist, counselor and specialist for alcohol or other drug addiction interventions services with vast experience and training, call Jim today at Palm Springs, California (760) 641-1502. Interventions can be done nationwide. The Addiction Intervention Services website is your resource for help.

James D. Shelton, Addiction Interventionist

I am alive today because I had family members who loved me enough to confront my alcoholism and other drug addiction. They saved my life! I knew that I was dying and that I had chronic liver disease, but I could not stop drinking! I was ashamed and disgusted with myself. Pride and shame would not let me admit to myself, let alone others, that I was addicted. I had surrendered to my addiction and I was planning on riding it out to its deadly end. This was a lonely and frightening place to be. Left to my own devices, I would have died.

That has been over 30 years ago. I was drowning in the cesspool of addiction. Today, I am very thankful I had loved ones who threw me a rope and lovingly but firmly insisted I grab hold of it. They did this by metaphorically holding up a mirror for me to see what they had been watching. Addiction robs addicts of their lives before it kills them. They helped me see how I had lost me. I was no longer the provider, the husband, the father or the person I wanted to be. They told me the next step would be my life. I knew they were right, but still I was argumentative and resistant because I was so afraid and ashamed. The addiction and my ego told me I could stop on my own, in spite of many failed attempts. Addiction had robbed me of sound judgment and sanity, although at the time, I could not see this. During the progression of my addictive disease I had lost my right of choice, but I did not think so!

My loved ones held firm and left me no good choices but to seek help. I entered a hospital that day. With lots of help and support, I have never had to take another drink since that time. I have seen my children grow up to be wonderful people. I have attended the graduations and walked the bride down the isle. I have two wonderful granddaughters. I did not miss life, all because my loved ones did for me what I could not do for myself! Indeed, I have experienced life abundantly. It certainly has not been problem free, but I have never again had to turn to alcohol or other drugs to live through them.

Early in my recovery, I became involved in bringing alcoholism services to West Texas; I soon tested for my certification as an alcohol and drug counselor. I then founded an external employee assistance program and started doing interventions. I was and am still enthralled with helping the addicted and their love ones find help for themselves.

Since my father was a successful corporate executive, I felt at home working with employers, both in educating companies about addiction and assisting them with valued employees who were chemically dependent.

In time, I knew that I needed more training and education in order to be skilled and effective in my new career. I held a Bachelors Degree In Labor and Industrial Relations from the University of California at Berkeley, so I returned to college to obtain a Masters Degree in Addiction Studies.

I am credentialed as a Masters Addiction Counselor (MAC), Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor (LCDC) and Board Registered Interventionist II (BRI II), trained in the Johnson model, the invitational ARISE Model and The Family Systemic model.

I am more than an addiction interventionist. Because of my personal experience, my education and professional experience, I am a case manager, from assessment through post treatment monitoring, a professional addiction counselor and family counselor for both the chemically dependent, their loved ones, concerned friends and employers.

For the last twenty-five years, I have worked in the field of addictive disease.. I recently spent eight years employed at the prestigious and widely respected Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California. I initially held the position of Coordinator of Case Management. For six years, I was a counselor in The Betty Ford Center Family Program where family members and other concerned individuals come from worldwide locations to attend this five-day family program. As a result of this experience, I have worked with thousands of chemically dependent people, their loved ones and other significant people, who find themselves in crisis because of their addiction or some other persons addiction. These have been people in crisis and who were looking for help, guidance and solutions. I understand the family dynamics of addiction and I am capable of helping these people find help and resolution to the problem.

I do workshops for both codependent family members and chemically dependent people in recovery,viewing codependency as a relapse trigger. This workshop also includes learning the skills of boundary setting. As a result of this work, I am privileged to be featured on two professional VHS/DVD presentations called What is Codependency? and Setting Personal Boundaries. FMS Productions in Santa Barbara, California made these productions in association with The Betty Ford Center. I also authored a workbook for these two productions. Once a month, I contract with the Betty Ford Center to facilitate a five-day men’s workshop on trauma and addiction.

When I am hired as an addiction interventionist, I am not interested in just flying in, facilitating an intervention and leaving town. I take the client and their families on as an advisor and case manager until the patient and family members are stable and secure in their recovery.

I am available for educational lectures, conference presentations, individual family education sessions, and a workshop on addiction, trauma, shame, codependency, and loss and grief. To learn about other addiction and recovery services, go to Other Addiction Services.

Please contact me at (760) 641-1502 for more information on addiction interventions and other services. Interventions can be done nationwide.