Jeff VanVonderen

Jeff VanVonderen (born October 2, 1952) born in Coleman, Wisconsin is an author, motivational speaker, former pastor, and interventionist who is best known for his appearances on A&E reality show Intervention. VanVonderen has written seven books on various topics such as family troubles, drug addiction, and spirituality.

Author

VanVonderen's first book - originally published in the 1980s, was re-released in 2004, a work called Good News for the Chemically Dependent and Those Who Love Them. The book touched on the theme of addiction.^[1] VanVonderen's second book, published in 1990, entitled Tired of Trying to Measure Up: Getting free from the demands, expectations, and intimidation of well-meaning people, explored the implications of shame, and sought to guide Christians towards making choices more freely. Three years later he authored Families Where Grace is in Place. The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, written by VanVonderen and David Johnson in 1991, offered advice concerning spiritual abuse. It was followed up by a book that sought to explore recovery from the more interpersonal hurts suffered in dysfunctional church systems, "When God's People Let you Down."

VanVonderen has completed his next installment entitled Soul Repair: Rebuilding Your Spiritual Life. The book was released on October 1, 2008. "Hope and Help for the Addicted" came out in 2011. (Revell) Jeff's books can be found on Amazon, and many of them are published in several foreign languages.

Interventionist

Jeff is a Certified Intervention Professional.^[2]

Aside from producing seven spiritually themed works, VanVonderen was also a regular fixture on A&E's Emmy-winning Intervention, having kept his demeanor and legendary mustache largely unchanged throughout the fourteen seasons of the show. The show rotated between 4 licensed interventionists and won an Emmy Award for Best Reality Show. He has held thousands of interventions, helping individuals fight deadly addictions. He instructs each one of those families on the proper way to cope and unite in the recovery and treatment processes. In 2008, in one of the episodes of "Intervention" on A&E, Jeff admitted to having a brief alcohol relapse. He has since sought help. Jeff is quoted as saying "Individuals and families become dysfunctional by accident. But they get well on purpose and this is what I'm about, helping them do that."^[3]

Quotes

Jeff is well-known to repeat the same phrases to addicts, their family and friends. Many quotes are listed below:

-"I see a bunch of people that love you like crazy and they feel like they are losing you. And they wanna fight to get you back."

-"Hi, I'm Jeff; you can call me Jeff."

-"They're gonna say what they're gonna say, then you're gonna say what you're gonna say and then we're done."

-"You need to get well whether they get well or not."

-"We only care about one thing they say tomorrow, and that's they'll go to treatment. Everything else that comes outta their mouth is just noise."

-"You do a lousy job as a treatment center, so as of today, you're fired."

-"You're on the side of death, and we're here to get you back on the side of life."

-"We're not here to make them feel bad. If feeling bad solved anything, this would already be solved."

-"The bottom line message of an intervention is 'There is nothing we won't do to help you get better. But there is nothing more we will do to help this continue anymore. We're done.'"

-"When their problem becomes their problem, the odds go up that they'll get better."

References