“How does a smart kid from a nice family in a nice house in Montgomery County end up dealing drugs?” Don Sloane asks a group of clergy at the start of a May 19 workshop on addiction.

Research into the root causes of drug and alcohol dependence is ongoing, the intervention specialist says, but one thing is clear: Addiction is an equal opportunity disease. And once upon a time, that kid was him.

After 17 years of a “not particularly remarkable drug addiction story,” Sloane got clean, got his life together and learned how to conduct interventions at the Betty Ford Center. He has been helping addicts and their families ever since. Because, he explains, addiction is a systemic disease: “For any one affected, many others are.” His company, Intervention Partner LLC, sums it up with this slogan: It’s not just their problem.

“How many of you have not been touched in your personal life by addiction in some shape or form?” he asks the group of about 20 clergy.

One hand goes up. 

Sloane is a big man, bald and burly, with a single diamond sparkling in one ear. He speaks about his work with evangelical fervor. Because people’s lives are at stake. 

Drug and alcohol addiction is the third leading cause of preventable death in this country, he says, rattling off a string of sobering statistics. The toll on institutions and families can be devastating. But it’s not just people’s lives that are at risk, he continues. It’s their souls.

“It’s a spiritual void,” he says. “That’s really what addiction is. It’s a personal, spiritual void.”

In their role as pastors, clergy are often called upon to minister to addicts or to those suffering from the collateral damage caused by addicts. They are well positioned to offer help, Sloane says, but first they have to be able to recognize the symptoms of the disease: denial, rationalization and justification.

They need to understand the addict’s “tightening cycle of shame and guilt,” and that direct confrontation can trigger a primitive fight or flight reflex. “It feels for the individual that they’re fighting for their life to defend what they’re doing,” he says. “When you walk away thinking, ‘Am I the crazy one here?’ you can bet there’s something going on there.”

But what can be done about it?

Sloane describes his intervention process in detail and offers some specific thoughts for clergy (who should leave the staging of interventions to the experts).

“When someone comes to you, there are very high levels of stress and anxiety,” he says, noting that it is often a family member who first seeks help. “This didn’t start last week,” he adds. “By the time they’re in your office, it’s been going on for a decade.”

When Sloane receives a call for help, the first thing he does is “acknowledge the courage of the caller. They are in pain or frightened. My first obligation is to support that individual.”

Likewise, it is important for clergy to focus on the well-being of the person reaching out, he says, suggesting a “light-handed” approach. “Establish that relationship,” he says. “Ask a lot of questions so that they can begin to self-discover that there’s really a problem. … Stay away from tagging it, because the person who has come to you is in a really vulnerable place.”

“The first thing you can offer them is some safety; reassurance that they’re not the crazy one.” Allow them to tell their story without judgment and “let out some of the collateral impact of some of those addictive behaviors.”

Often people feel deeply ashamed to “tell on the family,” he says. Clergy can help the person who comes to them understand that “the relationship is already broken. Saying it doesn’t make it more broken,” and that “addiction can only live in secrecy. It lives in dark corners. It cannot live in the light of day.”

Clergy can offer resources and referrals, and share their knowledge of what help might look like. This might include intervention, followed by inpatient or outpatient treatment.

Even if the addict chooses to accept help, Sloane warns that the rates of relapse are high. “Part of the help is being realistic,” he says. “I can’t tell you what will happen if you intervene. But I can categorically tell you what will happen if you don’t.

“The statistics are so bad, families go: Should we even try this? What if it doesn’t work? And I say: Would you try chemo?”

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