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Interventionist Ken Seeley visits Seabrook House
Ken Seeley conducts a seminar for the Admissions and Clinical Teams
Thursday, July 31, 2008
John Martins
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/182/story/218642.html
A&E interventionist says recovering from addiction takes much longer than 28 days
By JOHN MARTINS Staff Writer, 856-794-5114
UPPER DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP - If popular culture is to be believed, overcoming addiction only takes about 28 days.
Noted interventionist Ken Seeley, however, thinks otherwise.
Seeley, who can be seen in the hit A&E television show "Intervention," came to the Seabrook House treatment center here Wednesday to share his belief that successful recovery takes - at the bare minimum - four times as long.
"We need to give addicts the understanding that it's at least 120 days for treatment," Seeley said. "If we're not doing that, I believe we're cheating them. We're sabotaging their chance for long-term recovery."
Seeley, himself a recovering addict who celebrated his 19th anniversary of being sober two weeks ago, helps addicts and their families through Intervention 911, the company he founded six years ago.
In his work on the A&E television program, Seeley is one of four interventionists who try to convince addicts to enter a treatment program.
The show, which was nominated earlier this month for an Emmy award, follows the featured addict for some time to document the negative or destructive behavior. Each episode ends with the intervention.
About three-quarters of the 98 addicts featured on the show are still sober, Seeley said.
In his visit to Seabrook House, Seeley spoke to both admissions counselors and clinical staff to address the various issues presented in each job function.
To the former, Seeley stressed the importance of emphasizing - to both addicts and their families - that recovery takes time.
"You're the initial contact," Seeley said. "You're the people who are introducing the concept of recovery to them."
According to Seeley, intervention is a family's best way of stopping the cycle of addiction. Loved ones often feel powerless to do anything, he said, other than just wait for the addict to hit their bottom and seek treatment themselves.
Seeley, though, said interventions serve to "raise the bottom." The alternative, he added, is often disastrous.
"We know when they go back out there what's going to happen," he said. "They're going to jail or they're going to die. Again, the disease isn't going to stop. There's no other way they're going to survive this (without treatment). There's no other way to get out of it."
Seabrook House President Ed Diehl said Wednesday that Seeley was invited to the treatment center his parents founded in 1974 so that staff members can learn more about how to blend long-term care strategies into the services that Seabrook House currently provides.
The trend toward long-term care, Diehl said, is happening all across the treatment industry. He added that studies show more than 70 percent of addicts who remain immersed in recovery for at least a year have the greatest prognoses for lasting recovery.
"The philosophy about family interventions is that the entire family moves toward health and recovery together," Diehl said.
Like Seeley, Diehl also pointed to addicts who work as doctors or airline pilots. Those people, both said, are required to be monitored for up to five years as part of their treatment programs.
Their recovery rates, Diehl said, are more than 90 percent.
"It's not a question if treatment works," he added. "It works exceptionally well. The question is: Do folks get what they need to get recovered at rates of 90 percent?"
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