Intervention Directory
Heroin
Episode 72: Jenny
Season 5, Episode 12
Jenny
Age: 32
Location: Twin Falls, Idaho
Addiction: Heroin, Meth
(Guest Post by Stefan) What’s Memorable: This episode illustrated the concept of Patriarchal Blessing in the Mormon Church, which was something I was unfamiliar with. It was a breath of fresh air to have such a religious family be as supportive/understanding of an addicted family member as Jenny’s was (it’s something I feel like isn’t so common on this show). Also, her shooting up and nodding off while giving a haircut was disturbing.
Official Synopsis: Jenny, 32, is a talented hairstylist from a close-knit Mormon family. When a diagnosis of endometriosis crushes her dreams of having a family, she turns to prescription drugs. Her addiction quickly escalates to IV heroin and meth use.
Date Aired: September 2008
Interventionist: Candy
Episode 243: Sam & Brad K.
Season 19, Episode 1
Sam & Brad K.
Age: 30 (Sam) and 28 (Brad)
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Addiction: Heroin
What’s Memorable: 2 Hours! The intervention that started terribly but ended up being really effective, largely because of Jeff’s skill and experience. The fact that they kept their word to visit the sister in the hospital AND they showed up for their 8:00 am trip to the airport to go to treatment – this couple was very sick but not hopeless, they still had so much love & goodness in them, and their desire to be better and live better was really apparent.
Official Synopsis: Sam and Brad’s families have known each other since Sam and Brad were kids. Brad’s sister was Sam’s best friend growing up, and Brad’s father coached Sam’s softball team. Although Sam and Brad always had a crush on each other, it wasn’t until they were adults that they finally connected. But when Brad introduced Sam to heroin and the two quickly got married, their drug-fueled codependency became the basis of their relationship. Sam lost custody of her son from a previous relationship and her career as a dental assistant, and recently contracted Hepatitis C. Brad has had multiple overdoses, lost his career, and his daughter from an earlier marriage. Their families are desperate for Sam and Brad to get clean, but are unable to work together as a united front, leaving Brad and Sam to continue on a downward spiral. Now they fear that rock bottom will mean both of their deaths.
Date Aired: June 2018
Interventionist: Jeff
Season 18 – The Heroin Triangle
Official Synopsis: In a collection of affluent suburban communities north of Atlanta called “The Heroin Triangle” the rise of the nation’s opioid crisis, from prescription pills to full-blown heroin epidemic, is documented through city officials, community leaders, and addicts themselves. Tiffany and Billy, a volatile couple living out of their car, receive a sizable tax return that sets them up to score a large of amount of heroin. Their addiction threatens to destroy the family they’re building. As a homeless and gay man, Tracey faces unique challenges as he spends his days hopping busses and hiding out in bathrooms stalls shooting heroin. Zac’s a free-spirit but his musical gifts are undermined by his crippling heroin addiction. Interventionist Heather Hayes enlists the help of her colleague Donna Chavous to further investigate the city’s handling of the epidemic.
Note: Because this season isn’t structured the same at all – episodes follow several different people, there’s no real back story on the addicts, and there won’t necessarily be an intervention each episode – I’m just posting this and y’all can comment on the episodes (there are only 6 episodes anyway) or the season as a whole here. I’m interested to know what you guys think of what they’re doing this season. It’s an interesting departure for sure.
Austin (Intervention Canada)
Season 17, Episode 6
Austin
Age: 21
Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Addiction: Heroin, Fentanyl
What’s Memorable: The family did this intervention just in time, right after he started using needles. Once that’s the norm it seems like it’s harder to imagine getting clean and being sick feels a lot worse. The whole running away from the intervention and then him calling up mom a few weeks later and her reading the letters from the planned intervention, I think that might be a first for the show. Good job mom! Jesse’s approach to interventions is really interesting. In the two I’ve seen, he always gets straight to the heart of what the family does NOT want to talk about and basically asks them “what did you to him to make him like this?” In a gentle way, of course, but it’s effective. Both times the family had to address head-on what their role was and what the addicts’ triggers are. Seems like that’s a pretty good way to get the family to a place where they have a deeper understanding of the addict’s behaviors and know better how they’ll be able to help him during recovery.
Official Synopsis: Austin had everything he could have wanted growing up: the love and support of a close-knit family and an invitation to go to a school for gifted teens. But not wanting to be separated from his pals, Austin turned the offer down in favor of the local high school, a decision that led to a life of partying, and ultimately down the rabbit hole of heroin and fentanyl addiction. Now his family can only watch in horror as Austin wastes his considerable gifts on the relentless pursuit of his addiction.
Date Aired: September 2017
Interventionist: Jesse
Episode 193: Olivia
Season 14, Episode 9
Olivia
Age: 20
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Addiction: Heroin, meth
What’s memorable: What a tremendous amount of guilt and shame she carries with her everyday, mostly due it seems to her beloved grandmother facing her own imminent death from cancer head-on while Olivia escapes with drugs and avoids seeing her. I wonder how much that heavy shame started with the multiple instances of sexual abuse she suffered when she was a child, once by a chaplain at her church. She even feels the need to say “I didn’t do anything to lead him on” as if she’s had to convince herself of that. It’s all very sad, and she’s such a sweet and caring person, so full of love that the drugs are stopping her from expressing. It was such a relief to see her sober and doing well in treatment.
Official Synopsis: Olivia’s life was changed forever when she was repeatedly molested by a relative at age 11. Successive traumas into adulthood have led her to mask her emotional pain by injecting a dangerous combination of heroin and meth. Meanwhile, her grandmother is ill with stage 4 cancer–and the family worries they’ll lose both their loved ones.
Original Air Date: July 2015
Interventionist: Candy
Episode 226: Tanisha
Season 17, Episode 2
Tanisha
Age: 39
Location: Los Angeles, California
Addiction: Heroin
What’s Memorable: “When I think about myself being a drug addict, I hate myself… The thing I’m most afraid of is that I’m not gonna get clean. Ever. And completely ruin my life and never go back to a normal life.” Those are sentiments I think every addict can relate to. Tanisha came off here as a really sweet, honest person caught up in something she just couldn’t control. Her intervention is one (much like Courtney’s) of very close female family members coming together to say “Enough. We love you but enough.” And Donna was the perfect interventionist for this one. Being a black woman maybe helped her relate and establish trust with the family but she had a really perfect balance of empathy and realness about this particular situation. The more interventions I see her do the more I’m convinced Donna is very good at this.
Official Synopsis: Tanisha was living the dream life as an assistant to rap icon, Snoop Dogg. But when her fiance was brutally killed in front of her, grief-stricken, Tanisha turned to her mother, who introduced her to heroin. Tanisha has become a full-time junkie, and her family is terrified that without help, they will lose her.
Date Aired: August 2017
Interventionist: Donna
Episode 220: Tiffany
Season 16, Episode 4
Tiffany
Age: 32
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Addiction: Heroin
Official Synopsis: Tiffany had the talent to be a successful graphic designer, but severe complications from the birth of her first child led to an addiction to prescribed pain pills. Then post-partum depression after her second and third pregnancies, resulted in an opiate addiction. After her husband took their three kids and filed for divorce, Tiffany became a full time heroin addict. Today, she has a new husband and baby, but her addiction is threatening to end the marriage, and if she doesn’t get help–her life.
Date Aired: Dec 2016
Interventionist: Sylvia
Episode 224: Katie S.
Season 16, Episode 2
Katie S.
Age: 36
Location:
Addiction: Heroin, Meth
Official Synopsis: Katie was a beautiful and successful mortgage broker and drug & alcohol counselor whose pride and joy were her two kids. But a devastating breakup resulting in losing custody, and sent Katie into a downward spiral of heroin and meth addiction. Her face is now ravaged from use, and her veins are so damaged that she resorts to injecting anally, aka booty bumping. Katie supports her habit by webcam stripping and prostitution, and her family fears that if she doesn’t get help, the next step will be an OD.
Date Aired: Nov 2016
Interventionist: Candy
Episode 217: Brittany
Season 15, Episode 17
Brittany
Age: 27
Location: Derby, Kansas
Addiction: Heroin
What’s Memorable: Brittany’s relationship with her dad is really moving. The guy seems so damn cool and a really good father, despite his addiction. I had a lot of respect for his willingness to go to treatment to help get his daughter clean. If that’s what he needs to motivate himself, fine, as long as it keeps him clean and keeps Brittany feeling supported.
Update: Brittany Christine Howard died on August 20th, 2016 of an overdose, 2 days after completing treatment. Her family has a GoFundMe to raise money for funeral expenses. And here is Brittany’s obituary
Official Synopsis: Brittany was part of the all-American family. But rape, drugs, and divorce have caused this family unit to crumble. At the center, Brittany’s heroin and meth abuse has created a tornado that has divided the family and now threatens her life..and worse yet, Brittany may not be the only active user in the house.
Date Aired: Aug 2016
Interventionist: Ken
Episode 213: Alicia
Season 15, Episode 13
Alicia
Age: 29
Location: I missed the location. Accents sound like New York City though. Staten Island maybe?
Addiction: Heroin
What’s Memorable: The nodding off, the going to work pretending to read papers that were blank, answering the phone with eyes pretty much closed, the family dinner. I’ve seen and experienced this before but it really hit home for me in this episode: addicts understand that they’re affecting their families, they just prefer not to think about it and when they do, it makes them want to be high. Addiction is a sick self-perpetuating cycle. The more addicted you are the more shitty you get, the more shitty you get the more guilty you feel, the more guilty you feel the more drugs you think you need to do. Repeat Repeat. Also Jeff nailed co-dependency with this simple line: “She’s being protected from the negative consequences of her actions.” And that followup, it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.
Official Synopsis: With a booming family business that could one day be hers, Alicia’s future looked bright. But reconnecting with her biological father sent Alicia down a path of pain and self-destruction that has led to a full-blown addiction to heroin and Xanax.
Date Aired: July 2016
Interventionist: Jeff
Episode 210: Daniel & Robert
Season 15, Episode 7
Daniel and Robert
Age: 30 and 31
Location: Westfield, Massachusetts
Addiction: Heroin
What’s Memorable: Oof. This is a tough one but also hugely satisfying. The ugly situation at their dad’s house, the bedroom Daniel & Renee live in, the heated custody fight between the grandparents in the intervention room, Renee refusing to admit to using drugs but still going to treatment (no surprise that she had to address an eating disorder, she was scary skinny). These three people were all so damn sick, and all of them went to treatment and got healthy. Intervention saves lives.
Legacy Update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0mQumAHzLM
Official Synopsis: Brothers Daniel and Robert were on the road to success. Daniel was headed for a career with the NY Yankees and Robert was an aspiring civil engineer. Injury ended a once bright career for Daniel who slid into using pain pills and then heroin to cope. The constant insecurity of living in his younger brother’s shadow lead Robert down the same path. Now the brothers spend their days injecting up to 21 bags of heroin per day–each. It is only a matter of time before this family loses both boys. Jeff Van Vondernen is the Interventionist.
Date Aired: April 2016
Interventionist: Jeff
Episode 209: Karissa
Season 15, Episode 6
Karissa
Age: 28
Location: Central Square, New York
Addiction: Heroin
UPDATE: Karissa Hilts was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Florida on March 8, 2017. By all accounts she was sober at the time. Here is her obituary.
What’s Memorable: Despite her intimidating and manipulative behavior, Karissa is still somehow very likable. It’s not a mystery why she became an addict given her childhood traumas, but it’s clear that if she wasn’t addicted she would be such a cool person to be around. Also: That family diner has such personality, but it was disturbing to me what the non-family employees had to deal with everyday. I mean that’s a borderline abusive working environment, having to be witness to all that and pretend to not be affected. The idea that Karissa thinks she’s a ‘functional junkie’ because she gets up in the morning to go to work shows how deluded she is about what “functional’ means. Leaving work to go lie to the doctor in order to get Suboxone and immediately selling it for 10 bags of heroin and then needing people to stay up watching you all night with an overdose kit at hand because they’re afraid you’ve taken too many benzos with your heroin and you might die – that is not functional. I’m so glad Karissa made it and as of February 2016 is still sober. She deserves such a better life.
Official Synopsis: Karissa was always a talented cook – so much so, that her mother had one day hoped to pass the family diner down to her as a legacy. But Karissa’s life took a drastic turn when a close family friend fed her Oxycodone, and then ultimately made her a drug courier. From there Karissa was lost. Now, years of self-abuse, self-medication, and a severe addiction to heroin have left her volatile and desperate. Her family fears that if she does not heal from her violent past and the childhood she lost, she will never have the future she deserves.
Date Aired: April 2016
Interventionist: Sylvia (who rocked this one)
Episode 207: Anne and Digger
Season 15, Episode 4
Digger & Anne
Age: 34 and 29
Location: Weaverville, California
Addiction: Heroin
What’s Memorable: Their toxic relationship and what they show to their children – it’s just very, very ugly. There is so much addiction in and surrounding this family and the impact it’s all had on Blaze is remarkable. She’s a truly incredible, unbelievably perceptive person who knows way too much about how fucked up adults are.
Official Synopsis: Digger and Anne are husband and wife–and both are addicted to heroin. Intervening on addicted couples is incredibly difficult; and Digger and Anne’s situation is complicated further by other addicts in the family. Their three young children are in danger of losing both parents if the couple does not get help soon.
Date Aired: March 2016
Interventionist: Ken
Episode 203: Kayne
Season 14, Episode 14
Kayne
Age: 27
Location: Aberdeen, Ohio
Addiction: Heroin, Xanax
Official Synopsis: After his mother died, Kayne turned to drugs to cope, which eventually cost him his marriage and the custody of his children. This drove him further into his addition and now he spends each day getting high on a deadly combination of heroin and Xanax.
Original Air Date: August 2015
Interventionist: Jeff
Episode 203: Justin
Season 14, Episode 14
Justin
Age: 32
Location: Bryan, Texas
Addiction: Heroin, Methadone
Legacy Update: As of the June 20, 2018 episode (Abbie), Justin has been sober a little over 2 years and looks AMAZING. Here’s the video
Official Synopsis: The black sheep of a successful family, Justin got hooked in prescription opiates after he was run over by a truck. Now he begs, borrows, and steals from family and friends to maintain his methadone and heroin habit.
Original Air Date: August 2015
Interventionist: Candy
Epsidoe 202: Carrie
Season 14, Episode 13
Carrie
Age: 20
Location: Arlington, Washington
Addiction: Heroin
What’s Memorable: The room she squats in, how she started doing drugs because she lost a boxing match.
Official Synopsis: Carrie was a yong boxer with a shot at going pro, but losing an important fight triggered the trauma of being deserted by her father and she turned to drugs to cope. Now Carrie’s boxing career is on hold, she’s living on the streets and hustling for her next fix.
Original Air Date: August 2015
Interventionist: Jeff
Episode 201: Joshua
Season 14, Episode 12
Joshua
Age: 28
Location: Rocklin, California
Addiction: Heroin, alcohol
Official Synopsis: At the age of 14, Joshua was badly beaten by his girlfriend’s father – two years later he was molested by the leader of his youth group. He turned to heroin to cope with his traumas.
Update: Joshua Lee Turek passed away on March 23rd, 2017. It was reported to me that he died of a heroin overdose. Condolences to all the people who loved him, of which there were obviously many.
Note: Joshua commented below that he was not molested by his youth group leader and resents A&E’s inaccurate depiction of him in this episode.
Original Air Date: August 2015
Interventionist: Jeff
Episode 197: Amanda
Season 14, Episode 10
Amanda
Age: 29
Location: Festus, Missouri
Addiction: Heroin
What’s memorable: “I want extreme numbness. I want to get as far away from myself as I possibly can.”
Official Synopsis: Amanda’s world was thrown into a tailspin when her husband went missing for months. When his body was finally found, the victim of a high profile murder, she went off the deep end and found escape in drugs. Now her children are in state custody and she’s shooting heroin to cope.
Original Air Date: August 2015
Interventionist: Ken
Episode 195: Samantha
Season 14, Episode 6
Samantha
Age: Late 20’s?
Location: Randolph, New York
Addiction: Heroin, Xanax
What’s memorable: The crazy webs of lies she gets herself into to get money for drugs, the “friend” Rich who is definitely NOT a friend, the horrific rape she suffered as a young teenager, the dad saying “I wish you’d die” and her responding with “me too.” So glad she made it through treatment, she looked awesome.
Legacy Update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZgP6UHe2Wg
Synopsis: When Sam was 6 her life took a drastic turn when her parents divorced and her father moved away. At 14, Sam’s life changed forever when she was sexually assaulted. She turned to a life of partying, fueled by alcohol and Ecstasy. A fast downward spiral into heroin followed and today Sam is a full blown addict.
Original Air Date: April 2015
Interventionist: Ken
Episode 194: Zach
Season 14, Episode 4
Zach
Age: 2o’s?
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Addiction: Heroin and cocaine, smoked together
What’s memorable: This is a tough one. Zach continuously pawns his grandfather’s possessions for drug money (his laptop, guns, vacuum cleaner) and then immediately feels tremendously guilty about it, even admits that he did it as soon as he gets home and then deals with his grandfather’s frustrated rage. The amount of guilt and shame he carries around is visible on his face and the way he carries himself, but he just can’t stop doing it. The drugs come first, consequences be damned. And Whitney is an interesting case. She first makes it sound like she just started doing it within the last few weeks to “get closer” to him, but it seems clear she’s been addicted for a while and probably submitted Zach to the show in hopes of getting help for herself as well. Can’t say I blame her, and I guess it’s not technically against the rules. The intervention was pretty powerful, with Zach in tears as soon as he walked in. I’m so glad he’s taking his sobriety seriously and doing what he has to do to get his family back together.
Legacy Update: As of the June 27, 2018 Legacy Update (Shiann’s episode) Zach is clean and doing well.
Synopsis: While still a child, Zach’s father was incarcerated, and Zach and his sister were adopted by their loving grandparents. When Zach’s father was released from jail he moved in with the grandparents, hoping for a fresh start. It didn’t take long for his father to fall off the wagon, and in fact, it was Zach’s father who first introduced Zach to heroin. Using, but still functional, Zach met his girlfriend Whitney, and two years ago, she had their son. Today Zach’s cocaine and heroin addiction is out of control. Whitney has turned to Intervention for help.
Original Air Date: April 2015
Interventionist: Jeff
Episode 187: Samantha C.
Season 14, Episode 3
Samantha C.
Age: 24
Location: Battle Creek, Michigan
Addiction: Heroin
What’s memorable: The horrifying things she went through as a girl, her not knowing that Hep C is sexually transmitted, and that long and brutal intervention. The fact that Ken actually let her shoot up just so she could sit through the intervention, and then when he got real pissy at her for making them miss 2 flights because of her disruptive behavior. The follow up was a relief, and very unexpected.
Official Synopsis: The anguished family of a former soccer prodigy hope an intervention is the push this 24-year-old needs to stop using drugs and giving up a dangerous lifestyle that includes prostitution.
Original Air Date: April 2015
Interventionist: Ken
Episode 186: Lauren
Season 14, Episode 2
Lauren
Age: 35
Location: San Jose, California
Addiction: Heroin
What’s memorable: Panhandling on the street to get money for gas to get to her daughter’s birthday party, then getting it and spending it on heroin instead and having to come up with $20 more dollars, all while the family waits for her to get there. That was hard to watch. She looked happy and healthy at the end, so glad she and her boyfriend got and stayed clean.
Official Synopsis: At 14, Lauren was forced to become caretaker to her ill father. By 18, she was a mother herself. Seven years and three kids later, Lauren’s father died and she turned to pills to cope.
Original Air Date: March 2015
Interventionist: Donna
Episode 186: Mike
Season 14, Episode 2
Mike
Age: 44
Location: Goshen, Ohio
Addiction: Heroin
What’s memorable: Snorting heroin (I haven’t seen that before), his constant lies and excuses, the way he treats his wife, leaving rehab early because withdrawal was uncomfortable. I really hope he has managed to stay sober since then, he was incredibly sick.
Official Synopsis: Mike lost his brother to cancer and his sister to suicide. This triggered a tragic downward spiral. Mike’s nightly habit of having a few beers quickly turned into raging alcoholism. Mike agreed to give up drinking. Unfortunately, he replaced alcohol with heroin.
Original Air Date: March 2015
Interventionist: Candy
Episode 185: Katie Y.
Season 14, Episode 1
Katie Y.
Age: 28
Location: Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Addiction: Heroin, Crack
What’s memorable: “I don’t get high, I get un-sick.” Sitting on the couch doing drugs all day every day, having dentures because the drugs rotted her teeth, 13 failed rehab attempts. I think I was most struck by the fact that there was no addiction trigger, she apparently just got in with the wrong crowd. It’s hard to understand how anyone could go so far down this path without a trigger to start the self-medication.
Official Synopsis: A woman who was once an elite Irish dancer resists her family’s efforts to save her from a life of cocaine and heroin addiction. Katie was the star of her family. She was smart, outgoing and traveled the world as an elite Irish dancer. It could have made it her career – but she got derailed into a life of cocaine and heroin addiction.
Original Air Date: March 2015
Interventionist: Candy
Episode 184: Eric
Season 13, Episode 5
Eric
Age: 31
Location: New Bedford, Massachussettes
Addiction: Heroin
What’s memorable: The things he does for money, how crossed his eyes get when he’s loaded, the ex-girlfriend best friend that he’s hopelessly in love with. And I love that he’s grateful for the intervention as its happening. That’s rare.
Update: Sadly, Eric McDonnell died of a heroin overdose on August 19th, 2017. Here is his obituary.
Official Synopsis: Eric, 31, has been known by his family for being funny, generous and full of life. But his downward spiral into addiction has replaced all of his amazing traits and turned him into a junkie who hustles, steals and pawns.
Original Air Date: July 2013
Interventionist: Donna
Episode 71: Kristen
Season 4 Episode 24
Kristen
Age: Early 20’s
Location: Falling Waters, West Virginia and Baltimore
Addiction: Heroin mostly, also coke
What’s Memorable: This is the episode I think I will remember more than any other in 20 years. The insanely dangerous time she spends in Baltimore and what she has to do for drugs, how much her mother loves her, the amazing follow up. She’s one of the addicts from this show that I actually would like to know in real life (sober). I really hope she’s well now.
Official Synopsis: When Kristen was 3, her parents divorced and soon after her grandparents died, and Kristen somehow felt responsible. Then Kristen’s mother married an alcoholic and addict, whose daughter introduced Kristen to drugs. By 15, Kristen was getting high. Currently, Kristen shoots heroin and cocaine, and then stays with her parents to recover. Ridden with guilt, Kristen’s mother is desperate to save her only daughter’s life.
Original Air Date: September 2008
Interventionist: Candy
Episode 144: Sarah & Mikeal
Season 10, Episode 2
Sarah & Mikeal
Age: 18 and 20
Location: Centerburg, Ohio
Addiction: Heroin
What’s memorable: The nasty bathroom they shoot up in and how sick they seem when they’re doing it, how addicted they are to each other, the moms trying to so hard to save their kids, how completely messed up Mikeal looks and acts in his interviews compared to what he looks like after treatment. He’s like the guy you see on the street that you know on first glance is a junkie, but then all the sudden he’s attractive and healthy looking. Such a transformation.
Official Synopsis: Like Romeo and Juliet on heroin, Mikeal and Sarah are a poor boy and a rich girl who have found sanctuary in each other’s pain. Sarah’s family feels that Mikeal has corrupted their daughter, taking Sarah from a casual pill abuser to a full-blown heroin addict. But now both families now agree that an intervention is their only hope. Will Sarah and Mikeal get help, or help each other tumble deeper into addiction?
Original Air Date: June 2011
Interventionist: Donna
Episode 188: Ryan
Season 13, Episode 3
Ryan
Age: 23
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Addiction: Heroin, Benzos
What’s memorable: Dude’s got some serious rage issues, turns into a violent asshole when his parents don’t give him what he wants, which is drugs or money for drugs. The equally addicted but in-denial mother, the oddly passive dad, the functional sister who seems to be the only one who fully sees what’s going on. And holy cow is her mother awful to her.
Official Synopsis: As a teenager, Ryan was on the fast track to professional BMX racing until his mother’s suicide attempt sidelined his life. Ryan turned to drugs to deal with the trauma and silence around it. Now, at 23, he lives in his parents basement using and dealing heroin, enabled by his parents’ inability to face or confront reality.
Original Air Date: June 2013
Interventionist: Jeff
Episode 186: Jessica
Season 13, Episode 1
Jessica
Age: 29?
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Addiction: Heroin
What’s memorable: Jessica seems like a really likable person trapped in an addiction that makes her unbearable. The house she squats in and her mother’s level of enabling are both pretty shocking.
Note: Jessica has commented below that she is doing well, and in the 4.10.16 episode (Karissa) there was a video update from her. She looks amazing and has custody of all of her kids, plus a new one! Congrats Jessica. So happy for you.
Official Synopsis: Jessica is smart as tack with a lust for life. Unfortunately, it’s the life of a heroin addict, living in an abandoned building, being shot up by a boyfriend, that she is committed to. Having spent her youth yearning for an absent, alcoholic father, Jessica followed the footprint of addiction left to her by her father, and now her own children are at risk of losing their mother.
Original Air Date: June 2013
Interventionist: Donna
Episode 187: Gina
Season 13, Episode 4
Gina
Age: 33
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Addiction: Heroin
What’s memorable: The mother, oh dear god the Mother. In contrast to Kaila, the other addict in this episode, no one watching this story would wonder for a second how or why Gina became an addict. A heroin addicted prostitute, to be specific. Not shocking. I feel nothing but sympathy for Gina and all she’s been through. Thank goodness her mother was able to see what she had done to her daughter and took responsibility for what happened.
Official Synopsis: Gina has spent her life living in the shadow of her domineering Korean mother, and it was not until she started using heroin that she was able to escape the most painful of her memories, being blamed by her mother for having been raped. Now, with absolutely no sense of self-worth, Gina will do anything to get her fix, even at the cost of losing her son.
Original Air Date: July 2013
Interventionist: Seth
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