Systemic model of drug and alcohol intervention are the most popular and the most effective. With a properly delivered systemic model drug and alcohol intervention delivered to the family; even without the addict or alcoholic present, it is possible for the intervention to be effective. This is because the systemic model intervention is not about the addict or alcoholic anymore, it is about the family system broken over time by your loved ones addiction. Family First Intervention focuses on repairing the family system destroyed by your loved one and their addiction so both the family and your loved one are treated together. The Johnson model of intervention discussed earlier did not focus on the most important part of the drug and alcohol intervention and that is the family system. If you invite the addict/alcoholic or not to the intervention, it does not change the purpose of the systemic model of intervention and that is changing the family behaviors. People always ask us prior to the intervention “what if they do not show up”? Our answer is they always do and even if they don’t, it does not matter; we are not changing the addict or the alcoholic, we are changing the system so the addict and alcoholic can change. No addict or alcoholic gets through their addiction without the help of the family enabling over time. Addicts and alcoholics teach their families how to handle them and their addiction and this is the engine behind the systemic model of intervention. The reason the Dr. Vernon Johnson model did a good job of getting people into treatment but had a terrible success rate of keeping them in and keeping them sober is because in his model only the addict or alcoholic changed and the family did not. When the addict or alcoholic goes to treatment without love, resentments are held and long term sobriety becomes less likely.