It is a difficult task to find an honest drug interventionist. I was surprised to find so little information on the web on Mike Torricelli. He claims to have a 98% success rate with his interventions. He was very available and anxious to do the intervention for my sister. He even talked us out of using the one we had previously hired.
We were planning an intervention, but needed to find another drug rehab center. Apparently, Mike Torricelli, answers the hotline for The Chapman House in Orange, CA. He is a good salesmen.
Within a few phone calls, he convinced us to use him as our interventionist, told us he could get us a special discount at the The Chapman House, and that he would be prepared to do the intervention that very same week. We felt nervous about planning something with so little time, but he assured us that he would be available to spend the necessary time to plan the invention.
For the Pre-Intervention, he was 2 hours late. We had explained to him that my mother had been the enabler for years, and that we would need a lot of patience and work to convince her. He was just flat out disrespectful and rude. We thought at first this was his strategy to convince her that my sister needed help, but it was very clear that he just wasn't willing to put the time and be patience to educate her.
After 3 hours, he claimed he was tired from being up all night with his dog and had to leave. I again expressed my concern that 3 hours was not enough prep time to plan the intervention which was scheduled the next day. He assured us of his success rate and that he would come early Saturday to have more time to "work on my mom."
Saturday came and Mike Torricelli again was 1 1/2 hours late. Mike Torricelli was only there for 45 minutes before the intervention was supposed to take place. Very poor planning, even worse execution.
I picked up my sister and brought her to my parents house where we were having the intervention. As soon as Mike Torricelli introduced himself, my sister bolted for the door. I am sure this is very common, but Mike Torricelli's strategy for trying to gain her trust was unbelievable. He proceeded to follow her, and when I caught up with them, he was screaming at her, calling her a "prostitute", etc... Is this how he is supposed to gain her trust? Why would she ever listen to him?
Once the failed intervention was over, he did write a letter to my sister, asking her to reconsider our offer to get her into rehab. Of course, my sister did not want to have anything to do with Mike Torricelli at this point.
He asked for this $2,000 fee, and I mentioned to him that my mom wanted to only pay half because of the circumstances, and that she would pay the remaining after he continues to work with us. He flat out threatened me, telling me that he would take my parents to court if they didn't pay. I decided to pay him the full $2,000, because I do not think my parents deserve any more stress. It is funny how he disappeared once he was paid. Not bad for 3 days of work.
Very unprofessional. I hope others will find this helpful when doing research on a drug interventionist.
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