Intervention

Donnie Wahlberg narrates a special report on heroin addiction among the residents of the Boston suburbs.

Alyson, a three-time White House intern and an award-winning student, met a boy in college who initiated her into a lifestyle of heavy drug use. She is addicted to morphine and crack and has returned to live with her parents. Alyson now steals painkillers from her dying father and works at alienating her mother and sister. A 38-year-old former stockbroker, Tommy, is addicted to cocaine. He has quit his job, drained his retirement account and sold his luxury condo to sustain his habit, ending up on the street. Both Alyson and Tommy are confronted by their friends, families and professional interventionists, and urged to get help.

Gabe is addicted to gambling and has lost over $200,000 in the casino. He has even withdrawn money from his parent's accounts without them knowing about it. Vanessa, who was a recurring guest star on the hit show ER, is addicted to shopping. She is heading towards bankruptcy. They both receive interventions so that they can get help and turn their lives around. But they have to want to change.

The family calls in interventionist Jeff VanVonderen to help Jerrie, 29, who is addicted to the painkiller Vicodin. She has been forging physician signatures on prescriptions and scouring the waterfront for drug dealers. Friends try to help Tamela, 24, a bright artist who was molested as a child and now cuts herself with razorblades. They call in interventionist Candy Finnigan in hopes that Tamela will recognize her great potential and go to treatment.

Corrine is a dynamic 18 year old student who recently dropped out of college. An academic and athlete, Corrine started using drugs after a sexual abuse incident more than 4 years ago. However, the problem grew worse, and Corrine is now addicted to using a mixture of heroin and methamphetamines. This dangerous mix, in combination with her diabetes medical condition, poses dramatic health problems. Can Corrine's family save her from another trip to the emergency room?

Howard is a professional driving instructor to those that need additional skills and training, such as police officiers. But, Howard has a problem. When he\'s not driving, he\'s drinking. Now, Howard\'s liver is failing and he needs to stop or face a complete shut-down of his body. Audrey is a 24 year-old with a heavy addiction to heroin. Audrey has been living on the streets and barely sees her family. Her family is devastated and hopes that an intervention can turn Audrey\'s life around.

Adam will do anything to get heroin. He regularly engages in stealing, begging, and harassing to the shock of his family. His family is hoping that an intervention will change his deviant ways. Michael is not the typical addict. However, Michael is inflicting terror in his family by using rage as a means of getting what he wants. His violent actions have put the family at risk for abuse. Can an intervention show Michael the destruction he is causing?

Ryan and his family are one of those families that look perfect. Stick them under a microscope however and you will find that beneath the posh home in northern California, Ryan's sucess as a drummer, beneath this, Ryan is secretly an OxyContin addict. He injects it up to 15 times per day and his mood swing are far less than tolerable. His family hopes an intervention will save him.

Another family has been torn by addiction. Jacob's mother has been a drug user and a dealer in the past. Yet, she puts her past behind her and pleads for her son to stop his current destructive state of using alcohol and prescription drugs. She knows if he continues to stay addicted, death is the only outcome. Jacob is a violent drunk and endangers others in his binge drinking episodes by driving while intoxicated. He has been to the ER more than a few times and recently had to be resuscitated from a no pulse state because of an overdose on alcohol in combination with pills. Jacob is extremely persistent in his actions and behaviors, and is severely addicted to alcohol. Can his mother and family turn his life around with an intervention?

Anorexia and bulimia affect millions of people worldwide. Kim, who is 34 years old, is one of them, with a life that has tragically fallen apart. In school, she was extroverted, successful, and popular. However, her insecurities about her looks soon took over her life enticing her to engage in binging and purging. Kim’s husband divorced her and she has lost her job. She had no choice but to move back in with her parents with a promise to get her life back together. Kim’s stepfather has seen this promise go by for years. He has never seen Kim as her normal self and is frustrated that her promise has not been met, even with all the help they have given. They do not get along well and the tension fuels Kim to abstain from food for days at a time. Kim’s parents, especially her mother, have been mentally anguished because of the burden of the disease. Kim’s mother, a nurse at the local hospital, pleads with Kim to get help and get her life back together and so that the whole family can return to normal.

Chad, 34, has had many privileges, such as being a professional cyclist and training with athletes like Lance Armstrong. However, Chad's deviant behavior and his turn to drugs like crack caused his cycling career and reputation to be questioned. His family are holding an intervention in hoping Chad's "rock bottom" won't end up being his own death

Emily is an excessive dieter. At 26, she has already had a difficult life battling depression with low self-esteem and negative thoughts. Emily was a date-rape victim in college and used dieting as a means of controlling her emotions. However, she now weighs less than 90 pounds and is on a slippery path that could easily end in death. Emily's family is hoping an intervention will save her.

This follow-up looks at two addicts from Season 3. First was Ryan, the very troubled OxyContin addict we saw in the premiere. Recall that he left treatment early and there weren't very many good updates on his progress. How is Ryan doing now? Hubert is an alcoholic who confronted his feelings during his intervention. What is Hubert doing now in his sobriety?

After a troubled childhood that sent him to juvenile hall for felony arson, Chad's father introduced him to cycling at age 15. Chad went pro and cycled on the same team as Lance Armstrong. But after getting kicked off the team for "personality conflicts," Chad was crushed and turned to drugs. Now homeless, Chad spends his days panhandling, smoking crack, and drinking. His family's many efforts to get him off the streets have failed. Their last hope is an intervention.

To the outside world, the life of 40-year-old Dan may seem ideal. Dan is married to a supportive wife, Sarah and has a beautiful daughter, Ava. He loves music and works as a first mate for a snorkeling and whale-watching boat company on a stunning Hawaiian island. But everything is not what it seems: Dan is an alcoholic. An adolescence filled with physical violence and verbal abuse left Dan with deep emotional pain and the loss of his son Miles after only a few days of life only intensified the pain. Dan's family desperately hopes that an intervention will turn his life around.

She sits in her garage every day, popping painkillers, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics and sleeping pills. Sandra's pill use is so bad that her two sons, 17 and 11, have left the house. Her best friend, Julie, moved in with her and although Julie suffers from multiple sclerosis, she takes care of all the housework. Julie and Sandra's husband, Dan, ration Sandra's pills so she doesn't overdose. They know they're enabling her, but they're afraid of what will happen if they stop. Sandra's family is ready to try an intervention, but they're not sure she'll ever choose her family over her addiction.

At age 6, Janet was molested. She was also bullied by other kids, making her extremely self-conscious about her looks. At 18, she married a drug dealer who made her rich, but her husband was sent to prison, leaving her alone with two sons. She turned to drugs and alcohol, and had multiple affairs. Her husband discovered one of her affairs and divorced her. Janet remarried and had two more children, but she missed her old luxurious lifestyle and began drinking heavily. Now she frequently passes out, threatens suicide, and puts herself in life-threatening situations.

After being molested as a child, Nicole developed an unusual eating disorder--she was unable to swallow. By age 16, she weighed just 68 pounds, and doctors inserted a feeding tube into her stomach. The tube was supposed to be temporary, but 16 years later, Nicole still relies on the tube and can't swallow any food or liquids. She also abuses prescription drugs and neglects her two daughters. Her husband plans to divorce her if she continues to neglect their children.

Brittany was born five years after the brutal rape and murder of her 9-year-old sister, Terry. Brittany struggled with the pressure to live up to her mother's perfect image of Terry. At 12, Brittany was molested, and she began taking drugs and sneaking out at night--anything to get out from under Terry's shadow. Now she shoots up Dilaudid six times a day, begs family members for money and prostitutes herself. Brittany's mother scrambles to give Brittany enough money for her fix. Desperate and on the verge of bankruptcy, Brittany's family prepares for an intervention.

Abandoned in Calcutta and later adopted, Gabe has had to deal with the difficulties of being adopted and part of an ethnic minority. He rebelled and started using drugs, which later escalated to cocaine. After being awarded money in a car accident, it was all used to buy drugs. His family hopes an intervention will save his life.

A firefighter who saved lives, Jeff kept reliving the horrible events he had seen. He started to drink and now the problem has escalated - to the point of being hospitalized for seizures. His family had cut off their ties but come together to try and save him.

An interesting case of twins, with hard working immigrant parents, wasting away from anorexia. It appears a "competitive" spirit fuels the sisters to strive in burning more calories and taking in less food. Their family is extremely worried and hope that an intervention can help save them both.

After graduating college, Linda found success working as an extra in Hollywood, achieving the glamorous life she always wanted. But her dreams died when she came down with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by joint dislocations. Linda started taking fentanyl, a painkiller 100 times stronger than morphine. As her painkiller use escalated, she claimed that different sources were causing her pain, including electricity, energy, colors, and even specific people. Despite Linda's wild claims, her mother clings to the belief that Linda's pain is real and she must do everything to help her, including depleting the family's savings and sending her son to be Linda's caretaker.

Greg once owned a thriving business and was a devoted husband and father. But after a back injury left him disabled, he lost his business, started gambling, and became dependent on pain medication. He also became obsessed with Internet sweepstakes scams, and he has bankrupted his family in a relentless pursuit of big winnings. Having lost everything, Greg's family just wants their proud father back.

Once an effervescent, beautiful young woman, Jennifer was considered a genius by her teachers and was the pride and joy of her parents. But at age 17, Jennifer was involved in a car accident that caused a brain injury and kidney damage. Jennifer survived, but only three days after she left the hospital another family car accident ended in a fatality. Jennifer turned to drugs and alcohol to cope and now spends her days searching for parties or drinking companions. Her parents know that only an intervention can save her.

Every day, Donna, 47, and her son, Josh, 20, cause a storm of drinking, fighting, and chaos in the overcrowded home they share with Donna's sister, mother, and a stable-full of dogs and cats. Raised by alcoholic parents, Donna was exposed to violence and abuse at an early age, and later drank so heavily that she lost custody of her two children. Josh, now an adult, has moved back in with Donna, and they have become drinking buddies. Both mother and son need help desperately to save themselves and to stop the cycle of alcoholism from being passed down to another generation of their family.

Adam was once one of the top skiers in the United States. As a Marine, he served in 15 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan on terrorist-related missions. But when he came back home from overseas, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and started drinking. His alcohol abuse is ruining his body.

A charismatic reverend at a wedding chapel, Miriam, 38, is adored by her clients, but suffers inner torment. Sexually abused as a child by someone she trusted, Miriam turned to drugs at a young age, and now she's addicted to P.C.P. Her family has practically given up on her, and she risks losing her daughter's love. Can Miriam's desperate family convince her to get on the plane to treatment?

Rachel started experimenting with cocaine and meth at 14 and using heroin at 16. She survived on the streets with the help of her boyfriend until he was sent to jail. Can an intervention save her from herself?

Once a football player with a bright future, Darick dropped out of college to get married when his girlfriend got pregnant. When his marriage ended, Darick learned his daughter was not his biological child. Devastated, Darick turned to drugs. Having already lost one family member to addiction, Darick's close-knit family is enabling his habit.

Michelle, a lesbian, has a troubled history of being abandoned by her father and molested by a stranger. She was also ridiculed in middle school. After a relationship ended badly, Michelle turned to heroin and desperately needs an intervention. After seeing the group gathered, Michelle walked out in shock but came back when someone went and got her. Michelle agrees to go to treatment when asked and shows hope for the future. When Austin's stepfather died from alcoholism, he turned to alcohol himself to numb the pain. But Austin's girlfriend is now pregnant and the partying and binging he is engaging in needs to stop. Austin needs an intervention to become a sober dad and break his family's cycle of alcoholism. Austin initially walks right out of the intervention after seeing the people gathered as he realized what it was, but the interventionist goes after Austin and convinces him to hear them out. After an emotional plea from his little sister that drives both to tears, Austin agrees to go.

Brittany once dreamed of becoming a police officer to protect people from the traumas that she faced as a child. But at 22, her goal is slipping away. She's a heroin addict who sells her body to get her next high. Can Brittany's family convince her that it's not too late to get help?

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?

Eddie, an All-American baseball player in college with offers to play in the majors, was pursuing two master's degrees but school pressure and his father's overbearing expectations pushed Eddie to drink and gamble heavily. His addictions have left him divorced, homeless, and in legal trouble due to five DUI charges. Can an intervention save this once perfect son and hometown hero from self-destruction?

Growing up, Christina had to shuttle back and forth between her drug-addicted mother and neglectful father. Having never received the support she desperately craved, Christina turned to drugs at an early age. Now prescription painkillers and meth have taken over her life, and she's repeated her mother's mistake by losing custody of her son. Only an intervention can free Christina from the devastating cycle of addiction that grips her.

Strikingly beautiful with a great sense of humor, Dallas is nevertheless addicted to heroin and lives on the streets. After her mother attempted suicide, Dallas turned to drugs to deal with the confusion and pain. Now, Dallas' mother is in denial about her daughter's addiction and even supports her "heroin-chic" lifestyle. Dallas' family needs to wake-up and face her problems head-on if they're going to save her.

A 34-year-old gay man, Richard grew up knowing he was different and never feeling accepted. His stepfather disciplined him severely for his effeminate behavior. Today, Richard lives in subsidized housing and has done everything from dealing to prostituting himself to support his meth addiction. Richard's family will have to make amends to him if they hope to get through to him.

In the Season 13 premiere, Nichole, 25, has constant tremors due to a severe alcohol addiction as she struggles to overcome the pain of her sister s betrayal.

Elena, 63, has no intentions of stopping her daily meth addiction, even though her children and grandchildren desperately want their adoring grandmother to get well.

Twenty-five year-old Katie uses her eating disorder and binge drinking to cope with her mother's secret alcoholism and parents war with each other while her worried siblings pray someone can step in and save them all.

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 loosing their mother.

A 32-year-old woman who lost her children turns to drugs to numb the pain, despite the desperate pleas of her family.

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.

After being forced to look after her younger sisters when her parents would disappear on drug binges, a woman follows in her parents' footsteps and descends into a world of drugs and danger.

A woman acts out through alcohol and cocaine abuse and gives birth to three children in the fog of addiction.

A 25-year-old woman is caught in the same cycle of addiction that killed her mother when she was a little girl.

Musically gifted, intelligent and beautiful, everyone assumed Kaeleen was destined for great things. But what nobody knew was that, from age four to eleven, Kaeleen was methodically sexually abused. Now Kaeleen lives in her own world of mental anguish. To numb the pain, she self-medicates with opiates and alcohol. Her family knows that without help, this girl with so many gifts is destined for an early death. Ken Seeley is Kaeleen's Interventionist.

The daughter of a small business owner, Sierra was an honor student with dreams of college and a career in journalism. But when a double-dealing artist charmed his way into her mother's life, he gambled away their home and the bottom fell out of Sierra's world, leading to a frightening drug-induced psychotic break. Today, the 19-year-old is a feral junkie, scrapping for a fix on the streets of Northern California. Donna Chavous is Sierra's Interventionist.

A successful businesswoman who became a multimillionaire in her 20s, Kacy tragically lost her infant child to SIDS. She then lost her fortune, her marriage and a healthy relationship with her surviving children as she spiraled into binge drinking. Now penniless, she is hospitalized multiple times a month, and her family is desperate to save her life. Candy Finnigan is Kacy's Interventionist.

A young mother's eating disorder has been a life-long affliction, now compounded by drug and sex addiction–but to get rid of all of her demons she'll have to eliminate more than just her food.

Katie was a beautiful and successful mortgage broker and drug & alcohol counselor whose pride and joy were her two kids. But a devastating breakup resulted 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 heroin 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.

Wealthy entrepreneur loses everything to crack, reducing her life to a never ending cycle of prostitution and begging

In the season premiere, Katherine was a bright college student with dreams of becoming a journalist until she was abducted and brutally assaulted. Katherine swiftly spiraled, becoming dependent on a dangerous mix of drugs to mask the trauma. Her parents have already purchased a burial plot for her and are certain that it’s only a matter of time before they bury their only child.

A woman battles a heroin addiction that surfaced after her fiancé was murdered in front of her.

A successful businessman who underwent back surgery develops a life-threatening addiction to pain pills and hand sanitizer.

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.

The heroin crisis rages on in the idyllic suburbs north of Atlanta, nicknamed "The Heroin Triangle." Interventionist Heather Hayes enlists the help of her colleague Donna Chavous to further investigate the city's handling of the epidemic. Zac's family history of violence and drug abuse threatens to undermine his intervention. And flush with the money from his tax return, Billy and Tiffany purchase heroin and check into a hotel. It's a welcome respite from living in Tiffany's car, until Tiffany disappears.

23-year-old heroin addict Toni finds herself in danger when her pimp sends her out on a call that goes wrong. The Heroin Triangle expands its reach, putting first responders at risk, and increasing police presence in the area. Police Sergeant Josh Liedke reaches out to a young homeless addict and tries to get her into a detox center. 55-year-old Allen finds himself squatting in an abandoned house, having squandered millions from his trust fund to feed his heroin addiction.