Season 22, Episode 16 (Intervention Canada)
Caitlin
Age: 27
Location: Cobourg, Ontario, Canada
Addiction: Crack
Official Synopsis: An adopted child whose parents divorced when she was a teenager, Caitlin hid from her attachment wounds by overachieving in school and sports. Her focus and drive led her to a promising career in nursing, but she would regularly binge drink alcohol on weekends. At 24, she tried crack cocaine at a party and was instantly hooked on the numbing effects it provided. Before long she’d lost her job, blown $60,000 in savings and racked up a substantial criminal record. Later that year, when a close friend overdosed and died, Caitlin’s descent into addiction became unstoppable. Now 26, Caitlin continues to bury her grief with crack cocaine, as her parents and friends attempt to intervene and save her life.
What’s Memorable: How quickly her addiction became full blown once she started, meeting her birth mother at the grocery store, smoking crack in front of her upset parents like it’s no big, her cruel behavior at the intervention. Was anyone else surprised to find out that Maureen was never an addict? I guess I’ve always felt like there was something different about her, not quite at the same level as the other interventionists, but I’m shocked that someone without their own history of addiction (other than co-dependency) would make it that far in the intervention industry. And I have to say, yes Caitlin did go to treatment, but I wonder how much more effective the intervention process would have been in terms of staying sober if Seth or Michael Gonzales had been running the show. I feel like she needed a different approach than what Maureen could offer.
Interventionist: Maureen Brine
Date Aired: July 5, 2021 (Aired as Intervention Canada Season 4 Episode 17, on July 8, 2019)
I forget her name but the other brunette who was anorexic, lived with her much older parents and was addicted to crack (among other things), that’s who Caitlin reminded me of. The girl whose dad was legally blind and the mom was always driving her around to slums to pick up. They both had this awkward attempt at making it a joke, lighting up crack pipes in front of their family, inserting how they did crack in the middle of a conversation, laughing about it awkwardly. Both girls would make very self depreciating comments about themselves too like when Caitlin went “oh I’m a crackhead with fleas.” I wonder if that stems from a specific type of shame they deal with knowing they have had “normal” lives or something, like a way to make themselves “the quirky one” instead of having to admit they’re hurting really badly.
@Kail you’re thinking of Katherine C, and I agree with you. I can relate to both of them.