Best not to go it alone.

• Position: Interventions

With the arrival of holiday get-togethers, many families may realize a loved one has problems with alcohol or drugs, and some may consider confronting the addict in an intervention. "During the holiday season, a lot of times things start to unravel for people struggling with addiction, and families will call us because they don't know what to do," says 23-year-old Devin McCrossan, cofounder of Constellations Recovery, Westchester, N.Y., a Sober Living Home.

"Intervention involves confronting a person on how their addiction affects everyone around them, but it is not something people should try on their own. Here are some do's and don'ts":

* Trust your intuition. Beyond obvious red flags like talk of suicide, loved ones can rely on their intuition when deciding when to intervene. "If parents or loved ones think something is going on, most likely it is."

* Find an intervention specialist who has been trained and worked with a supervisor or mentor before conducting interventions on his or her own. Such specialists will meet in advance with those who will attend the intervention to discuss each person's role.

* Do not conduct an intervention without a trained, experienced professional. "An intervention is something you...