Intervention Season 22, Episode 4: Michael

1

Susan

Susan grew up in a devoutly Mormon household. As an adult, she suffered a back injury and was prescribed OxyContin. Not only did the medication ease her back pain, it also numbed the memories of her turbulent family upbringing and a recent breakup. She became addicted, and when her doctor stopped prescribing them, she turned to heroin. After losing custody of her young son, Susan’s addiction escalated. Fired from her job, penniless and living out of her car, Susan had no choice but to return home to the same family she had worked so hard to leave behind. And since she’s been back, her usage has only gotten worse.

43 min

2

Tristan

After a series of tragic losses, Tristan relocated to Las Vegas to pursue a career in construction, only to spiral out of control and become a raging alcoholic. Interventionist: Michael Gonzales.

43 min

3

Amanda

Devastated when she lost custody of her son, Amanda began drinking heavily and moved to Las Vegas for a fresh start. Once there she became seduced by the city’s notorious party culture and started using methamphetamine. Her family encouraged her to seek help, but she cut off all ties with them. She is now homeless, living the in the flood tunnels of Las Vegas, and smoking meth daily. Her family is concerned that Amanda’s dependency on meth is only escalating, and the dangerous lifestyle she leads will result in her death.

43 min

4

Michael

Families force addicts to choose between treatment or exile and isolation.

43 min

5

Erika

Born in Las Vegas, Erika overcame a heroin addiction due to childhood trauma, but now anxiety from the COVID-19 pandemic has caused her to relapse, placing her life–and her dream of being a loving mother to her young daughter–in jeopardy. Interventionist: Vance Johnson.

43 min

6

Lexi

After being seduced at a young age by the notorious party scene of Las Vegas, Lexi finally got clean and started a family of her own–only to lose it all to a dangerous meth and heroin addiction. Interventionist: Dave Marlon.

43 min

7

Jake

Jake moved to Las Vegas to work on a US Senator’s re-election campaign in Nevada. But when he came out as gay, he was rebuffed by both his family and colleagues, plunging him into a deep depression which he futilely attempts to mask with alcohol. Interventionist: Leticia Murphy.

43 min

8

Amber

Brilliant and athletic, Amber was a star hockey goalie with dreams of playing for the Canadian national team. But at age 15, a head trauma sustained in a brutal on-ice collision benched her for good, leaving her to live with excruciating, chronic pain. It was 12 years before a surgeon finally discovered that Amber’s spinal cord had also been injured in the accident. Surgery improved the underlying injury, but by then she was hopelessly dependent on pain medication. Now, at 29, Amber is addicted to cocaine, alcohol and morphine. Her family fears that without an intervention Amber’s days are surely numbered.

43 min

9

Mike

Twenty-nine-year-old Mike was a loving dad and partner who was determined to be the father that he never had. After a workplace accident his dream came crashing down as he developed an addiction to prescription painkillers. Eventually Mike’s family left him and he turned to heroin to numb the pain. When he and his current partner Collette met, both were sure they’d found their soulmate, that is until Collette discovered Mike was hiding a severe opiate addiction. Now, seven months pregnant, Collette fears that without an intervention Mike will die before he gets a second chance at fatherhood.

43 min

10

Elizabeth

Elizabeth’s single mother suffered from depression and alcoholism, and committed suicide when she was 8. She was shuffled in and out of foster homes before her father decided to try and raise her. In high school, she turned to alcohol to cope with her feelings of abandonment and isolation. Eventually Elizabeth began dating a drug dealer and replaced alcohol with opioids. Now 22 and hooked on a deadly combination of fentanyl and cocaine, Elizabeth sells drugs to fund her nearly $400/day addiction. Her father and half-sister are hoping an intervention will save Elizabeth from following her mother’s path to an early grave.

43 min

11

Tim

As a four-time Canadian champion, 35-year-old Tim was well on his way to the big leagues in the lucrative world of mixed martial arts. Unfortunately, Tim’s family had a history of addiction and that cycle was an opponent he just couldn’t pin to the mat. Horribly addicted to crystal meth, Tim has traded the limelight of the octagon for days spent obsessively inventorying the last of his belongings in a musty storage locker and violently fending off imaginary enemies with a bullwhip. Can Tim break this cycle of drug abuse and violence for the sake of his son, and ultimately, to save his own life?

43 min

12

Dan

Dan, a talented hockey player, struggled to live up to his alcoholic father’s expectations, and frequently bore the brunt of his dad’s booze-fueled rage. Dan’s desire to have an amicable father-son relationship came to an abrupt end when his father died in a car crash, prompting the 28-year-old Dan to descend into his own alcoholic abyss. After years of heavy drinking, he lost his job, wife and three kids. Now 45 and in poor health, Dan faces a desperate battle to beat his alcoholism. His children hope an intervention will save him before it’s too late.

43 min

13

Pamela

When Pamela’s mother remarried, Pamela thought she’d finally regained the father figure she’d been missing for most of her life. But it was a short-lived dream as friction between Pamela and her stepfather forced her to leave the home in search of her long-lost father. Adding layers to Pamela’s plight, while living with her biological father she was further traumatized by exposure to his drug addiction. Surrounded by drugs and with no responsible adult to guide her, Pamela quickly turned to a life of partying and drugs. It wasn’t until Pamela had a son that she found purpose and sobriety. But because she had only a vague idea of what a stable family looked like, Pamela found motherhood a struggle and turned back to the one thing in her life that was consistent: alcohol and drugs. Now she’s estranged from her child, and her family fear that without a successful intervention, Pamela’s future is in serious doubt.

43 min

14

Kelsey

Kelsey was a standout student, extremely talented at soccer and could charm her way through anything. Everything changed when she was sexually assaulted at her first high school party at the age of 14. She didn’t tell anyone about the attack and instead began using alcohol to mask the pain. Drugs soon followed and Kelsey went all-in, using cocaine and alcohol daily. Today, the change in Kelsey is shocking. She is unrecognizable; gripped by psychosis, her kind, gentle soul has turned aggressive and destructive. Her family is terrified that, without an intervention, they may never get their little girl back.

43 min

15

Nicholette

The youngest of three siblings, Nicholette was a bright, creative child. Growing up, she developed a very close relationship with her father, despite the fact that he was a binge drinker who would disappear for days at a time. Nicholette’s mother kept the family functioning, but when she was diagnosed with cancer, she separated from Nicholette’s father to beat her illness. Nicholette started dating, partying and dabbling with drugs. Now 27, Nicholette’s addiction is out of control, and her family fears that without a successful intervention they will lose her to drugs forever.

43 min

16

Caitlin

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.

43 min

17

Travis

An entrepreneur from a young age, Travis turned a modest lawn-mowing business into a multi-million-dollar landscaping company. To get it done, he worked long hours and dabbled with stimulants. When his beloved sister tragically succumbed to cancer, Travis was devastated. Rather than fulfill the promise he made to her to take care of her children, Travis escalated his cocaine use massively to help him cope with the grief. Within a few short years, everything he’d worked so hard to build–including his marriage–had crumbled amidst the chaos of his now daily use of lethal amounts of crack cocaine. With his business near bankruptcy and his family at a breaking point, can Travis turn it all around before tragedy strikes his clan a second time?

43 min

18

Clayton

Clayton, once a devoted family man, swore he would give his child the love and attention that he himself never received. When Clayton was just ten years old, his father’s gender dysphoria led to a breakdown of the family. Caught in the middle between his warring parents, Clayton turned to drugs and alcohol to escape. Now a full-blown heroin addict, Clayton has lost his right to be a father to his 8-year-old daughter. With nothing left to live for, Clayton’s family is terrified that he will not survive without a successful intervention.

43 min

19

Elann

Elann has suffered through more loss than most 28-year-olds. Unable to process the untimely deaths of her father and brother, Elann obliterates her emotions with an ever-present bottle of vodka. Seeing her daughter’s mental health in steep decline, Elann’s mother believes this intervention is the only hope of pulling her back from the abyss.

43 min