Services Offered Nationwide

Parent Information Guide

Have questions?

When choosing an Intervention/Transport Company

When choosing an Intervention / Transport company.

• What type of Professional Liability Insurance does the company have?

• Is their policy specifically written for working with at-risk youth?

• Can they provide a copy of their insurance binder with the contact information of their agent?

• Exactly which Interventionist will be working with the child?

• Do they contract these Interventionists through other agencies or are they employees covered under the company's business license and insurance?

• Do they carry automobile insurance for rental cars?

• Will you be able to speak with the Interventionist working with your child before they come to meet with you?

• What is the company's approach to the intervention?

• Do they mislead the adolescent? (Right Direction's policy is not to lie to an adolescent about where they are going or to a specific timeline as to their duration).

Before and During the Intervention

Try to remain calm and confident. The anticipation of the intervention/transport and second-guessing your decision is usually the worst part of this process. Most parents are amazed and relieved with how smoothly the intervention process goes. Many people have strong misconceptions of exactly what an intervention/transport is and how it will be handled.

When most parents initially visualize an intervention/transport, they picture an encounter involving two big guys coming in the night to rustle their child out of bed. However, Right Direction prides itself in the smooth, trauma-informed, respect-driven, therapeutic approach toward interventions. Please visit this link to read an article written by Right Direction: "Dispelling the Thug Myth" We hope it will raise your expectations, trust and comfort level. Also, please feel free to contact our office and request a parents reference list.

Our website provides information on our company, and our philosophy. You may also go to our employees' page and view photos with detailed bios of the staff that will be working with your family.

Frequently Asked Questions

Most programs and treatment centers would like to be involved in any letter giving process and frequently use this tool as part of their treatment. We do NOT recommend that you send a letter with us to give to your child during the transport phase as this typically tends to escalate the adolescent and can make things more volatile. It is preferred that if writing a letter is something that you would want to do that you send it directly to the program via mail, email or fax.

Most programs will provide you with a list of items your child will need upon arrival. We request that you put these necessary items into a backpack or shoulder bag. Your child will carry this bag. We try to avoid the need to check luggage at the airport. Any additionally required items (that do not fit in a carry-on bag) should be shipped to the program as per their directions. All medications should be placed in a zip-lock bag with a written list containing instructions and a pill count. Medications should be sent in their original prescription bottle. If our interventionists are expected to administer any medications during the day, please include an index card explaining which medications, the amounts and the times. You can also include any other important documents or items that you need passed on to the program in the zip-lock bag. Please hand this zip-lock bag to our staff, do NOT have your child carry the bag.

After you have met our staff in person and have asked any new questions, we ask that you walk us into the room (usually the bedroom). You will turn on the lights and introduce our staff by name, describe them as safe people who will take good care of you. Tell your child that you have invited them here as part of the decisions you've made for them to attend a program/school etc. Briefly express love and concern for your child and leave the room. Please do not react or respond to accusatory remarks. You must remain calm and confident. You may respond to information gathering questions as long as your child remains calm. It is important to convey that these people are not strangers, that you have invited them into your house and most importantly that you are doing this out of love.

At any point during the intervention if your child begins to get angry or upset our Interventionists may say something like thanks mom & dad, we will explain the rest from here; that is your cue to leave the room. We suggest you leave the house entirely, perhaps going for a short car ride, or remove yourself to an unseen, unheard portion of the house. It is of utmost importance that once you leave the room, you are not seen or heard. This will help stabilize what may be a tense situation. Simply put, if a child does not have an audience, especially with his/her parents, they will be less likely to act out verbally or physically. However, if you have other children in the house, we suggest you go into their bedrooms in case they wake and become concerned or try to intervene.

If you have other children in the house, we recommend that after you introduce our staff and leave the room, you go into your other child's room and sit with them. We will try to keep our intervention calm and quiet. However, if your other children do wake, we do not want them to become scared and confused. We also do not want them to get involved. If possible, we ask that you put any dogs in a secure room where they will not interrupt the process and so their barking will not prematurely wake your child before the formal introductions.


We will work with you and create a safe plan for the pick-up of your child. However, things may not go according to this plan. Due to the nature of our service, we always have a few plan B's depending on your child's habits and past behaviors. It will ultimately be your decision if you would like us to assist in locating your child. That usually begins by obtaining a list of friends and/or places where they may be. And we will go find them. Or you may choose for us to wait with you for them to come home. Please call the primary Interventionist's cell phone as soon as you suspect things are not going according to the plan.

We understand how stressful this day will be. Our Interventionists will call and or text- message you as they transport your child. As our primary attention is with your child, we ask that in-depth questions be saved until after your child has arrived. At any time, you can call the toll-free number if you have questions or if you want to check on the progress of the intervention/transport.

Most programs will ask you to pack certain items for your child or nothing at all. We ask that you only pack enough to fit into a small carry-on bag unless prior arrangements have been made. These items typically consist of a few clothing items, snacks, reading material and music players (excluding players that can be used to send SMS messages, such as the Apple iTouch). Mobile phones are never to be packed. All medications should be placed in a Ziplock bag with a written list containing instructions and a pill count and should be given directly to our Interventionists and NOT placed in your child's possession. When applicable, driver's licenses can be placed in the medication bag, but are not required to fly. Please do not pack any valuables, money, or passports (unless required for overseas travel).

The most effective way to initiate the intervention process is to begin by having Parents introduce our Interventionists by name, briefly expressing love and concern for their child and then removing themselves from the room (usually the child's bedroom). Furthermore, it would be strongly advised that Parents either leave the house, perhaps going for a short car ride, or to remove themselves to an unseen, unheard portion of the house. Doing either will help stabilize what may be a tense situation. Simply put, if a child does not have an audience, especially his/her Parents, they will be less likely to act out verbally or physically.

RDCI believes that an honest answer, regardless of the subsequent ramifications, is better than a lie that would deceive your child. We set a precedent with every child very early that an open line of communication is one of our top priorities. Our primary goal is to have your child in the best frame of mind upon arrival at their program. Our in-depth knowledge of the programs we associate with help us to answer appropriate questions in order to increase the effectiveness of the program.

Most children understand how to manipulate their parents. Strangers are different in the fact that the presence of a personal relationship between your child and our Transition Mediators doesn't exist. A simple but honest statement such as, "There are choices that you have to make today, one of them is not whether you go, but how you choose to go."

Once we have been introduced to your child they are always within arms reach of us. We are attentive to the non-verbal communication displayed by your child so that we are prepared for any potential confrontation.

We do not allow children to smoke in our presence. Under special circumstances that have been approved by the parent, a child may smoke if the state that we are in allows it for that age group. We will never purchase cigarettes for a minor.

We will stay in contact with you throughout the trip and after we have arrived. As our primary attention is on your child, we ask that in-depth questions should be saved until after your child has arrived.

Our policy states that an adolescent is not allowed to use the phone unless prior authorization by the parent has been issued depending on relevant circumstances. We never allow a child to bring or carry their own cell phone or pager.