Love First ─ A Family's Guide to Intervention

The top-selling book on intervention, Love First has helped tens of thousands of families, friends, and professionals create a loving and effective plan for helping those who suffer from addiction. Dispelling two damaging myths--that an addict has to hit bottom and that intervention must be confrontational--Jeff and Debra Jay's proven approach puts love first and shows families, step by step, what to do.

This new and updated edition adds to the core material in the Jays' classic book-- identifying enabling behaviors, building the team, writing an intervention letter, choosing a treatment center--with the most up-to-date scientific information and intervention techniques available. New chapters on psychiatric, gambling, eating, and other disorders give family members and other concerned people the knowledge and tools to face the important people in their lives who are dealing with a range of self-destructive illnesses. New material on meeting the specific needs of adolescents, aging adults, and professionals is also included.

Jeff Jay is a professional interventionist, educator and author. His work has appeared on CNN, The Jane Pauley Show, PBS, Forbes Online and professional journals. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, and a certified addictions professional. He has served as president of the Terry McGovern Foundation in Washington, DC, and on the boards of directors for several professional organizations.Jeff is the coauthor of Love First: A New Approach to Intervention for Alcoholism and Drug Addiction and At Wit's End: What You Need to Know When a Loved One Is Diagnosed with Addiction and Mental Illness. He and Debra Jay heads a national private practice that provides intervention and crisis management services. He is a former clinician with Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center. His personal recovery from addiction dates from October 4, 1981."I am passionate about intervention for a very simple reason," says Jeff. "Intervention saved my life." Debra Jay is the coauthor of Love First: A New Approach to Intervention. She is also the author of No More Letting Go: The Spirituality of Taking Action Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction. and co-wrote Aging and Addiction: Helping Older Adults Overcome Alcohol or Medication Dependence.Debra is in private practice with Jeff Jay, providing intervention training and consultation services for families. She specializes in older adult intervention. She previously worked as an addiction specialist. She is a nationally known speaker and has been writing a newspaper column on alcohol and drugs since 1996. Debra has regularly appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show.