Is it time for a family intervention? Take the self-assessment.

About this assessment

The questions below are the same ones our team would ask in a first private call. Answering them on your own first helps you organise what you’re seeing, and lets our interventionist arrive at the conversation already understanding the shape of your situation.

It is not a diagnostic tool. There is no pass-fail and no algorithm scoring your loved one. We don’t believe in that. The point is to give you a structured place to put what you’ve been carrying, and a clear path to the next conversation — in private.

What the assessment asks

1. Who you are concerned about — your partner, parent, adult child, sibling, friend, or someone else.
2. What substance is involved — including alcohol, opioids and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, stimulants, benzodiazepines, cannabis, or multiple substances.
3. How often they are using — from multiple times a day to harder-to-pin-down binge cycles.
4. How long this has been going on — weeks, months, years.
5. Whether they have refused help or treatment before.
6. What is happening right now — overdose risk, withdrawal, legal trouble, work problems, financial harm, family safety, health or mental health decline.
7. How urgent the situation feels to you today.

Synthetic opioids and a changing UK supply

For most of the past decade, the UK has been comparatively shielded from the synthetic-opioid epidemic that reshaped North America. That is changing. UK government data and the NHS have both flagged the increasing presence of fentanyl analogues and nitazenes in the heroin and counterfeit pill supply. For families weighing whether to act, the practical implication is the same one we tell every family we work with: do not wait for a clearer signal. With today’s supply, the margin for error has collapsed.

What happens when you finish

When you submit your answers, they go straight to our team. There is no automated result page, no scoring, no ranking. A real interventionist reads what you wrote and reaches out by WhatsApp or phone — usually within a few hours, often the same day. The conversation is confidential, and there is no obligation. If we do not believe an intervention is the right next step, we will say so and help you identify what is. References from prior families are available on request.

Common misconceptions about family intervention

Most of what families read about addiction intervention online was written for a US audience twenty years ago. The picture — extended family in a living room, sealed envelopes, a scripted ambush, the loved one either agreeing on the spot or walking out forever — is a Hollywood shape that rarely matches how modern UK interventions are actually run. It is worth naming the more common misconceptions directly, because they are usually the reason a family delays acting.

“They have to want help before it works.” This is the single most common belief we hear, and it is not supported by the clinical evidence. The desire to change is something that grows during and after treatment for most people, not something that must exist perfectly at the start. Waiting for a loved one to arrive at the decision on their own is a strategy that costs years and, with today’s illicit-supply risks, sometimes costs lives.

“An intervention has to be a surprise ambush.” The surprise-meeting model — often called the Johnson model — is one of several approaches. Modern practice increasingly favours transparent, invitational models such as ARISE, where the loved one knows a meeting is being planned and is invited to participate in the process rather than confronted at the end of it. Which model fits depends on the situation. There is no single right answer, but there is almost always a better answer than the ambush the family fears.

“We need to hit rock bottom first.” The rock-bottom framing was developed decades ago and is not how addiction medicine talks about the disorder today. The clinical criteria for a substance use disorder are met long before anyone hits a public bottom, and treatment initiated early is dramatically more effective than treatment initiated after major loss. Waiting for a bottom is often just watching a slow one develop.

“If it does not work the first time, we have lost them.” A first intervention that does not immediately result in the loved one entering treatment is not a failure. It is often the first honest conversation the family has ever had. The change that follows can arrive weeks or months later, catalysed by the conversation you started. Well-planned interventions build durable pressure toward the right decision; they do not rely on a single dramatic yes.

Why the UK context matters

The UK treatment landscape is meaningfully different from the American picture that dominates online writing about intervention. The private residential-rehab sector runs alongside the community-based treatment system commissioned through the local authorities and covered by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. Charities such as Adfam, Al-Anon UK, and Families Anonymous run free support groups across the UK for the family members carrying the situation. The Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 govern involuntary treatment in narrow circumstances, but for the great majority of cases, encouraging voluntary treatment through a planned family intervention remains the most effective route. Our long-form family guide to addiction intervention in the UK covers this in depth.

How families use this assessment

Most people who complete the assessment do so on their own, in a private moment, without their loved one knowing. That is fine. Some complete it together with a partner or an adult sibling and use the process to align on what you are seeing. That is also fine. There is no right way to complete it. If you find yourself unsure how to answer a question, use the answer that best represents the pattern of the last six months rather than a single event or a hopeful reading of last week.

After you submit, some families ask for a call within an hour; others want a few days to sit with the process before speaking with anyone. We try to match the pace you set. What we do not do is chase you with follow-ups or add you to marketing lists. If you would prefer to hear from us only once, and only in response to specific questions you want answered, that is what we will do.

Speaking with us before you decide

You do not have to complete the assessment to speak with our team. If you would prefer to have a conversation first, message us on WhatsApp at +1 740 350 3282. The first conversation is confidential, there is no fee, and there is no expectation that it leads anywhere in particular. Many of the families we work with call us three or four times over a period of weeks before deciding to move forward. Others call once and are ready to plan an intervention within days. Both are normal.

If you would rather read more first, our field notes at Field Notes for Families cover the mechanics of the work in more depth, and the long-form UK family guide lays out the full picture — from recognising when to act, through choosing an approach, to the treatment options and aftercare that make the difference in the year that follows.