John Jeffery

Joani Gamill is an incredibly talented, well-educated Interventionist, Registered Nurse, and author. Her book, The Interventionist, emphasizes her experience and understanding of the disease of addiction so well. By emphatically describing her personal struggles with opioid and amphetamine addiction, she expresses to the reader that her expertise is not limited to the objective, academic perspective on the subject. She very much lived, and nearly died as a result of, the Hell that she has dedicated her life to helping people out of, and she depicts her experiences in this book in such a way that is so powerful and keeps you utterly enthralled. This book seems to be an additional outlet for Joani Gamill to reach people struggling with the disease of addiction in order for her to help them up out of that Hell. By allowing people who are struggling with the disease of addiction and also those who have loved ones struggling with the disease of addiction to know that they are not alone in this fight against the disease, it provides hope that quality of life can improve IF, and only IF, the addicted person is approached with compassion and understanding instead of judgment and shame. Also, this book really emphasizes how the disease of addiction, despite the widespread stigma and general misconception of how addiction manifests in a person's life, is, in fact, a mental illness. This book truly spoke to me in so many ways. Not to mention, Joani Gamill helped facilitate my personal admission into a treatment facility back in 2013, and although I required many more years of treatment and dozens of stays in various facilities/programs before I was ever able to maintain any sustained abstinence from Heroin, Fentanyl, Cocaine, and Benzodiazepines, I have now been abstinent from those substances and engaged in treatment in one form or another for over two years now. Thank You, Joani Gamill!