Alyson
Season 1, Episode 1 TV-14
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Alyson is a 27 year old girl who lives in Texas. After she graduated high school she was chosen to be a White House intern during the Clinton administration. It is rare that interns are asked back, Alyson was asked back three times. Alyson also had a full academic scholarship to Hofstra University. In college she met a boy named Richie with whom she fell in love with. Richie introduced her to many and all types of drugs including heroin and crack. Alyson then dropped out of college one semester before her graduation. She now lives at home with her mother and her severely ill father. She gets high everyday on whatever she can while she tries to contact her dangerous boyfriend who is now imprisoned. Alyson steals morphine from her dying father. She is tearing her family apart with her volatile behavior and drug use. Alyson cannot wake up or go to sleep without using, her only hope of living is to get intensive treatment immediately.
Tamela and Jerrie
Season 1, Episode 3 TV-14
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Jerrie's life is a mess. At 29, she can't make the rent that she shares with her best friend Jen, her husband Trent and their son. She has creditors calling night and day. And she can't kick her Vicodin addiction that grows with each passing day. Jerrie grew up in a violent and abusive home. At 14, she developed a serious anxiety disorder. She started abusing painkillers as a way of dealing with her anxiety. She has attempted suicide twice. Ironically, she worked for a number of years as a case manager for the county mental health department, but was fired when she started asking the patients for their meds. Now jobless, without a car or driver's license and $30,000 in debt, Jerrie takes upward of 20 Vicodin just to make it through the day. And she'll acquire the pills through any means necessary, including forging doctors' signatures and scouring the waterfront for drug dealers. Jerrie's friends and family are fed up. Jen and Trent are sick of letting her float on the rent. And they are concerned that Jerrie's drug use is affecting their son. Jerrie's boyfriend Patrick regularly finds the Vicodin he needs for his illness missing. And Jerrie's sister Allie is terrified that Jerrie is losing her life. Jerrie's friends and family see only one solution - an intervention. They contact interventionist Jeff Van Vonderon for help. But no one knows if the intervention will be enough to get Jerrie into treatment. Tamela is a 24-year-old girl from Arizona. She is a cutter. When Tamela was a little girl she was molested on three occasions. She never received therapy for these issues. Tamela cuts herself with razorblades as a way to cope with all the things in her life that cause her pain. She started her self-mutilation when she was 16-years-old. She is cutting because she feels disconnected from her parents and their strict Christian ways. She cuts because her relationship with her boyfriend is not stable. She cuts when she's feeling down or rejected. Hurting herself is the only way Tamela knows how to deal with the problems she's having. Help is desperately needed.
Alissa and Brian
Season 1, Episode 4 TV-14
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Alissa, 25, is a compulsive gambler. Her game of choice: slot machines. In the past two years, Alissa has lost more than $30,000 on 25 cent slots. She's accessed her father's credit card information to open up accounts to play slots online, and she's bounced more than $5,000 in checks. Her father has covered almost all her debts. Alissa has not held a job in three years. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Adam juggles three jobs just to keep their bills covered. But Alissa has a hard time believing she has a problem. She says addiction is too harsh a word. But Alissa's friends and family realize she does have a problem and she needs to get help. They gather for the intervention prepared to kick her out of the house and cut her off financially. But Alissa is stubborn and says she will not go to rehab under any circumstances. In the end, her parents and boyfriend concede on their bottom line, saying they're not ready to have her living on the streets. Alissa has begun a year-long gambling recovery program in her home town. Brian, 24, has tried to kick his crystal meth habit nine times in the past four years. He's just been kicked out of another sober-living facility. His boyfriend Derek is allowing Brian to stay at his place rent free under one condition: Brian must stay clean. It's a promise Brian can't keep. Even worse, his meth habit feeds his sex addiction. So behind Derek's back, not only is he using, but he's finding new sexual partners every week. Now Brian's parents have invited him back home to Vermont. What Brian doesn't know is that his parents and Derek are planning an intervention. Brian's parents believe, like Derek, that Brian is going through a period of sobriety. They are shocked to find out Brian uses the entire time he is there. By the time Brian walks into the intervention, he is clearly tired and ready for a change. It takes little pleading for him to agree to go to Life's Journey Center in Palm Springs.
Sara
Season 1, Episode 5 TV-14
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At 24, Sara had everything she ever wanted. She had a fairy-tale wedding in Hawaii, a beautiful baby girl, a house, three cars, and even competed in beauty pageants. Then, it all abruptly ended in divorce. Not knowing how to cope Sara turned to Crystal Meth, and now uses every day, all day if she can. A self-labeled "junkie," Sara has lost everything, including custody of her daughter. She currently lives with her parents and exists in an endless cycle of drugs, stealing, lying, drug testing, and court appearances. Her family says the only hope for Sara is an Intervention.
Travis and Matt
Season 1, Episode 6 TV-14
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In the 90s, Travis became a rock and roll star overnight. At 16-years-old, he was swept into the limelight as front man for Days of the New. But with success came the lure of drugs and alcohol. It didn't take long for Travis' addiction to crystal meth to become more important than his love of music. In this episode, Travis has just been released from the hospital after coming close to death because of an overdose. Yet, days after his release he is already out trolling for a score. Travis' girlfriend and family know his life is in the balance. But can they get him into treatment before it's too late? Matt comes from an upper-middle class home in New England that is built around family. Every night, he gathers with his mother, father and grandmother around the dinner table to share quality time. But most nights, Matt sneaks out of the house not telling anyone where he goes. Matt has been addicted to crack-cocaine for two years. He has stolen virtually everything of value from his parents, family and friends to support his habit. It's not something he is proud of; it's a disease he has been unable to overcome. And his parents have no idea how to conquer, so they are turning to an interventionist.
Peter and Renee
Season 1, Episode 7 TV-14
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Peter, a 21-year-old college graduate and aspiring actor, is wasting his life to a serious video game addiction. Alienated from his mother who abandoned him when he was 12, Peter escapes into the fantasy world of video games instead of dealing with the problems of his real life. Now living with his father and brother, Peter identifies only to the characters in the games he plays, and he is steadily losing his grasp on reality. Renee is a young mother of two small children who is married to a husband who adores her. But Renee is struggling with a deadly eating disorder -- bulimia. A past victim of domestic violence and sexual abuse, Renee binge eats to deal with the pain. Caught in a vicious cycle, she is killing herself by taking laxatives and water pills after she binges. Her husband and friends worry that she will die young and that her destructive habits will be passed on to her children.
Tina
Season 1, Episode 8 TV-14
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Once the valedictorian of New Hope Christian Academy, Tina is now a real-life desperate housewife. Taking 10-20 vicodin a day simply to function (and supplementing her usage with percocet), this mother of a 3-and-a-half year old son spends her days gambling her house and car payments while stoned on prescription pills. With most of her jewelry in pawn shops, and forced to take paycheck advances even though her husband of 14 years has a $100,000+ annual income, Tina now writes insurance policies from home and spends her days at horse tracks and in Bingo halls. Favoring horse tracks because she can take her son with her, Tina says that "my addictions have cost me my life." With her marriage, health and finances in complete crisis (she has spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars on gambling and pills"), her husband Harley says that this show may be the only thing left that can save our lives.
Cristine and Kelly P.
Season 1, Episode 9 TV-14
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Cristine is a 29-year-old wife and mother. While she loves her family, she can't live without her beer. Cristine drinks at least 18 beers a day, starting at 7am, sneaking out during work and not stopping until she passes out at night. Her husband's scared for their son and her mother's terrified that Cristine is killing herself. They are staging an intervention in hopes that Cristine will get help. Kelly is an anorexic who is down to 93 pounds. And now her young daughter Disa is following in her footsteps, often picking at food and sometimes refusing to eat all together. Kelly's friends are seeking help not just to save Kelly, but her daughter as well.
Kelly F. and Mark
Season 1, Episode 10 TV-14
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This story, presented from the Intervention angle, will be an emotional look into the true crisis moment of an upper-middle class family from picturesque Huntington Beach trying to "save their son from certain death." Once lovable and talented, Kelly scored well above the genius level with a 160 in Abstract Reasoning on his IQ test. However, Kelly suffers from severe dyslexia and scored a 40 in language. Placed into emotionally and mentally challenged classes as a child, Kelly's family went on to sue the Malibu School System and prevailed - but not before Kelly had lost all of his self-esteem and hopes of a normal education. The grandchild of legendary comedian Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester on "The Addam's Family"), the now 23-year-old Kelly is a bright, creative and engaging young man - who sleeps in the bushes and uses the jail as a revolving door. Once an athlete excelling in rollerblading, Kelly was recently robbed of his blades while passed out in a park. The story will open as we join Kelly's family searching for him as he has disappeared again on a binge -- the search will start at the local hospitals and jails. The family, in their own words below, sees Intervention as the last hope for their son. Holding Kelly¹s beloved dog as leverage in the local pound, Leslie and Rob are committed to getting Kelly into treatment at any cost. This 49-year-old good-looking graduate from Texas Christian University sold commercial real estate and had a promising future. Now, he is addicted to prescription pain medication including heavy amounts of the narcotic, oxycontin. Part of a growing epidemic of back pain sufferers in America abusing prescription medication, Mark has undergone seven spinal surgeries that his family is not sure he needed - seemingly to get more medication. Tracing the roots of his problems to a motorcycle accident at the age of 15 (he suffered a broken arm and whiplash), Mark claims he has been dealing with failed back syndrome ever since. Mark takes high doses of medication each day including 240 mg of dezerol, 360 mg of oxycontin, 120 mg of roxycodone and either Paxil, Xanax or Trazodone, on top of a morphine drip that he has implanted in his back. Denying his family access to his doctors or medical records, Mark admits that the amount of medication he takes would kill most people. And, on top of all these pills, Mark also steals oxycontin from his wife who is dying of Stage 4 Bone Cancer - she was given 2 months to live in December of 2004. Mark has agreed to speak about his life and the medication he takes. Facing Mark in his denial is certain to be emotional and explosive - and truly the final chance for his dying wife, Carolyn, to see her husband clean.
Rachel and Tommy Update
Season 1, Episode 11 TV-14
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Rachel, now 26, grew up a beautiful child in idyllic upper-middle class Maryland. But her body is withering away and she hasn't been home in years. Rachel is addicted to heroin and lives on the streets, making money as a prostitute. Her family and friends know she has already hit bottom and is nearing death. An intervention is their only hope for Rachel. Tommy is a 38-year-old executive from Texas. He began using cocaine heavily a little over a year and half ago. Since that time Tommy quit his job, sold his Lexus, his retirement plan and his million-dollar condo to sustain his cocaine habit. Most of his furniture and other possessions have been sold for cocaine. Tommy is homeless. He is riding around on a bicycle. He sleeps on the roof of his friends' condos or on park benches. He hides from his friends and family because he is so ashamed at what his life has become. The people who love and care for him are desperate for him to get help, an intervention is their last hope.
Michael and Brooks
Season 1, Episode 12 TV-14
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Michael was a model kid who was always on the honor roll. He is also an amazing musician who taught himself to play guitar and piano by ear. Now at 24 years of age, Michael is addicted to pot, prescription pain pills and beer. A child of divorce who grew up overweight and a loner, Michael turned to sports and excelled in softball and football. Devastated after not being put into the big game against his rival high school, Michael quit football and never recovered from the rejection. Once described by those who knew him as sweet and mild, Michael is now a full-fledged rebel. He pawned the video camera his mother loaned him to make his casting tape and brags about it on camera. Brooks was a good-looking, six foot tall suburban kid from Birmingham, Alabama. At 17, a Junior and the star of his high school wrestling team, Brooks and his younger brother Chace were in a terrible four-wheeler accident. According to the local paper, Chace was driving and while they were going up a hill, the four wheeler started to flip. Brooks made a split second decision to push Chase off of the ATV and out of the way. The decision saved his younger brother's life, but cost Brooks the ability to walk. As a result of the accident, Brooks was paralyzed from the waist down. Described by his mother as "a very loving and giving person," Brooks took the news with grace but refused to accept the doctor's prognosis that he would never walk again. He was quoted in the newspaper as still being full of hope and determination to beat the odds. Five years later, Brooks is still confined to a wheelchair and has turned to drugs out of depression and anger. Having completely given up on all physical therapy and his hopes to walk again, his mother reports that he has no spirit or conscience left. "He stays so out of it on drugs that he gets pressure sores...and weighs only 117 pounds." Since January of 2005, Brooks has spent $70,000 on drugs from a settlement due to his accident leaving him with only a few thousand dollars left to support his future. His disability checks go directly to the drug using "friends" who attach themselves to Brooks the minute the funds arrive by mail. With his stepfather in Iraq and his mother left alone to navigate her son's addiction, Barbara fears that Brooks' death is "around the corner" and begs Intervention to help. "Please help me save my son. He's 21. And I fear he will not see 22."
Corrine
Season 1, Episode 13 TV-14
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Corinne is a pretty 18-year-old blonde girl who was an honor roll student, star athlete and played the clarinet and saxophone. She grew up in a normal middle class family. Corinne started using drugs at 14 after being sexually abused by a neighborhood boy who babysat her. Still striving to move forward while battling her addictions, Corinne completed her GED and began college, finishing two semesters before dropping out. Now, Corinne has become addicted to a deadly combination of heroin and crystal meth. Corinne likes the "speedball effect" -- the dangerous result of overlapping meth and heroin usage. Corinne is also a diabetic who requires insulin, but she often skips her doses because she is so high. After repeated trips to the emergency room, her family is expecting, any minute, to hear that they've lost her for good.
Howard and Audrey
Season 1, Episode 14 TV-14
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Howard is a professional race car driver who makes a living teaching others the ins and outs of new cars. He's got a great girlfriend who he loves. His life looks great on the outside, but he's breaking down on the inside. Howard has been a functioning alcoholic for almost 30 years, but he's now sliding down a slippery slope. He's not working as much any more and finding it harder to make ends meet. His girlfriend sees how much pain he is in and sees no other choice than to intervene. Audrey, 24, was popular, artistic, smart and beautiful. In high school, she was on the homecoming court and made Varsity softball, soccer and volleyball as a freshman. Later, she earned a full-ride softball scholarship to college. The daughter of a teacher and a flower shop owner, Audrey grew up in the suburbs with two older sisters and adopted brother and sister. Now, Audrey is a heroin addict living on the streets. She has been an addict for 5 years and her family feels like the next time they will see her is going to be in a coffin. This intervention is their last hope.
Adam and Michael
Season 1, Episode 15 TV-14
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Adam, 34, was the star in his family with a successful voice-over, music, and acting career. He began using heroin heavily after his girlfriend broke up with him. His family still can't believe that was all it took. Now, Adam steals from his family, borrows money, and pan handles at gas stations to get enough money to score. Having just been evicted from his apartment, Adam is living with his family, and he can't stay sober long enough for auditions to get work. His family has had enough and are "hanging on by a thread," desperate for Adam's intervention. Born prematurely, and starting out as "a little troublemaker," Michael quickly began acting out to gain attention. As he got older, Michael's behavior became more "Jekyll and Hyde," turning on family members at the drop of a hat.
Heidi and Michelle
Season 1, Episode 16 TV-14
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Heidi, 46, leads a busy social life and takes great pride in maintaining her health and personal appearance, to a fault, she is addicted to plastic surgery and compulsive shopping. She cites that while she was raped at the age of 16, she blames no one for her need to "fill the void." Michele, 18, suffering the loss of her father and sexual molestation at the hand of her cousin at a young age, this once bright student turned to drug use. Michelle has admitted to using methamphetamine intravenously. Her mother is afraid that at any moment Michelle will shoot up for the last time.