Most families and colleagues are afraid that if they confront and expose the addiction their impaired professional they will ruin their career. We recognize this fear and spend a great deal of time helping those around the impaired professional understand the realities of help available, including the professional monitoring programs. The truth is that the professional monitoring programs were established to help impaired professionals return to their careers as an alternative to punishment.

“I was never able to stay sober as long as I was deciding what I needed to do. When the decision was taken away from me about what I needed to do for my recovery I got sober”.

Professionals are great at taking care of others, but not so good at taking care of themselves. In fact we are usually caregivers and not care takers. With an impaired professional a motivational approach is essential. Usually the professional education and training works against us once impairment begins.

“My strong ego, education and professional status prevented me from seeking help before my catastrophic consequences occurred. I have found this to be true for most professionals.”

How we frame our communication has a lot to do with whether or not the person accepts our recommendations.

“If you present your recommendations as a threat, or focus on what they have to loose, they’re more likely not to accept your recommendations, but if you fame in terms of what they have to gain by following your recommendations, like keep your license, your hospital privileges, your family etc. studies show that they will be almost four times more likely to accept your requests”.