If you watch reality television or read tabloids.

by Evelyn Theiss/Plain Dealer Reporter

Sunday November 02, 2008, 5:15 PM If you watch reality television or read tabloids, you've certainly heard about celebrity "interventions." There's even an entire show on the A&E network devoted to the topic. It shows the process during which someone is confronted with evidence of his or her addiction by relatives, friends and at least one professional. Ideally, it results in the addict agreeing to go to a treatment center. For Jane Eigner Mintz, 48, of Beachwood, a certified interventionist with a national reputation, the business is deadly serious. She talked with PDQ's Evelyn Theiss about her job and who shouldn't be doing it.

Chris Stephens/The Plain Dealer Jane Eigner Mintz of Beachwood,shown here with her dog, Tommy, is an interventionist.

Tell us about your credentials and why they're important. I have a master's in community counseling from John Carroll, and I'm a board-certified professional counselor, as well as a board-registered interventionist. That means I'm trained to deal with the kind of situations that come up during an intervention. I'm also on the national board of the international Association of Intervention Specialists.

What do you think of the "Intervention" show? I'm not a fan from a clinical point of view. But the merits of the show are that it highlights the fact that intervention is a life-saving strategy, and it does give people hope that they can get their loved ones out of crisis.

And the problem with the show? The methods they use. I don't think it's ethical to show people using substances they're addicted to. It's also a highly sensationalistic view of what intervention is about.

So during an intervention you wouldn't allow it? Never. When someone is in a life-threatening crisis you don't know if the next drink or drug will be the last.

How do you measure success? When you get the person into treatment, and we have a success rate in the high 90 percent for that.

What makes for the most dangerous interventions? Before we take on a case, we do a full assessment, interviews with the family and so on. There are certain profiles of people that require us having extra security: young, male, bipolar, people involved in methamphetamines or crack cocaine. Eating disorder cases, too -- the person can be very reactive. This can all be extremely volatile, and you can quickly get in over your head.

What could happen? People can become a danger to themselves or those around them. Intentionally or not, you can trigger someone, and the next thing you know, they're driving 90 miles an hour through a school zone while they're on crack.

But things aren't always that dire, right? There are different intervention strategies for different levels of crisis. We try to take the most loving approach. We're respectful to people who have to address their issues. Not every intervention is dramatic and frightening. You're interacting with someone in trouble. Really, you're putting a life raft under them and helping them gently get on it.

I've heard many people in your field have gone through their own dark side. How would that help? Most people in the field have survived some sort of addiction. Bad things happen to good people, and addiction is something that can take over anyone. If you've ever been in the dark, you're wired differently than someone who hasn't been. You're able to hear the truth -- or lack of truth.

What are the biggest things that make it more difficult for an addict to get clean? Money keeps people sicker longer, and even though they might be well-intentioned, the people who love the addict keep them sicker longer if they keep them from having to face the consequences of their addiction. So people die. That's the terrible, terrible news.

You've referred people to treatment at places like Promises in Malibu or Cirque Lodge in Utah, where we've all read about celebrities going. Do people have misperceptions about those rehab centers? That one celebrity has a good or bad experience in rehab describes the celebrity, not the rehab. If the celebrity would make a mockery of the place is outside of the center's control. I refer people to treatment centers of all price ranges and different capabilities. There's nothing spa-like about the expensive ones. The reason I would send someone to one, and they are an exception to the rule, is because they live a high-end lifestyle. For me to put them in a community-based program in an environment they can't relate to would detract from their willingness to be vulnerable.

Is it harder for rich and/or famous people to get clean and sober? People like that are better insulated from the consequences of their actions. So pop stars are going to get as sick as you've ever seen. They, like actors and athletes, are money machines and they have an entire network designed to keep them afloat. High-end treatment centers deal with those issues.

Mintz's business is a private-pay, private practice. For more information, go to her Web site, www.realifeinterventions.com, or call 216-407-4500.

This ain't no reality show: PDQ's 10 minutes with interventionist Jane Eigner Mintz