Teen, Family Face Moment Of Truth

Jennifer Jicka is a typical teenager from a middle class family who is facing a terrifying reality. The 18-year-old changed from a beautiful, charming daughter to drug-addicted teen right in front of her parent's eyes.

CBS national correspondent Tracy Smith has spent time with this family over the past few months and she's here with the second part of "Jennifer's Story."

"I think about killing myself a lot," said Jennifer. "You get upset, you take some stuff to make yourself feel better. Things just keep getting worse."

As the situation with their daughter grew to a crisis level, Dorothy and George Jicka reached out for professional help. They arranged an intervention.

"She needs that," Dorothy said. "I want her to be able to look at herself in the mirror and not hate herself."

It's 10 a.m. and George is anxiously trying to reach his 18-year-old daughter on the phone.

"Hey, Jenny. It's daddy again ..."

Unbeknownst to her, the family is assembled for an intervention

Her sister Laura tries to reach her, as well.

"Hey, sweetie. It's me," she said, leaving a message. "I just wanted to know that everything is alright."

Laura has traveled 1,000 miles to be here. After months of fighting, late night calls from emergency rooms and police, the family knows they have to do something about Jennifer's alcohol and drug addiction. An intervention is it.

Finally, at 10:30 a.m., George's phone rings.

"Honey," he said, "you sound asleep. I was getting ready to pick you up."

The intervention will be run by a professional group called Intervention 911.
Kevin Dixon, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, is in charge.

"If this fails, I don't have a daughter anymore," said Dorothy.

Suddenly, a surprised Jennifer is in the room and asks, "What is this?"

The strategy is to offer a strong message that they love her, but will not enable her to self-destruction.

"Well, you're probably wondering what's going on," Dixon said. "We're here to help you get better. We're not here to facilitate your choices in life that are killing you. We're here to help you make new choices."

One by one, each family member reads a letter.

"Dear Jenny, this letter is because I miss my sister and my best friend," Laura read from her letter as she started to cry.

"I will always love you to the depths of my being," said George, who breaks down while reading and gets a hug from Jennifer.

"… what a strong little soul. Jenny, it breaks my heart to see you so unhappy," she read, also getting emotional.

"What we're going to do, if you say yes, we're going to get on a plane and we're going to go to a treatment center," Dixon said.

"I'm not going on a plane right now, am I?" Jennifer said. "No! Right now?"

Dixon asked Jennifer to look at him and to take a deep breath.

The family has agreed that if Jennifer says no, they will cut her off. Even her dad, the one she's the closest to.

"That's her worst nightmare," said Dixon. "It's 'What if I call dad and he said 'I don't want to talk to you.' In this case, that's what her bottom would be. That would be her worst nightmare."

A bottom is recovery-speak for the point at which the addict feels enough is enough, it's time to stop and make a change.

"An intervention is where we bring the bottom to the individual so they don't have to get arrested for drugs — so they don't have to die," Dixon said.

To the relief of everyone, Jennifer agreed to go to the treatment center.

George said he believes he was prepared to let Jennifer go if her answer was "no."

"I couldn't believe they did this," said Jennifer. "When they said rehab center, I didn't want to go. I was actually gonna say no. I was definitely gonna say no."

So what changed her mind?

"My family — looking at them, they've been through a lot with me," she said. Hearing the letters "broke my heart."

Bottom line: Jennifer knows she has a problem and needs help.

"I don't know what happened, where I went wrong, why I did these stupid things," said Jennifer. "I lost my friends, lost my family. I pushed them away."

Three hours from the time the intervention began, Jennifer was on her way to rehab.

"She needs this," said Dorothy. "I want her to be able to look in the mirror and not hate herself."

Had Jennifer said no, it would have been a moment of truth for the Jickas. In order for the intervention to work, they have to be willing to cut her off.

Intervention 911 offered its services to the Jicka family free of charge.

Interventions such as the one Jennifer went through have a 98 percent rate of success in getting the addict or alcoholic into rehab. But that's where the work begins. Ultimately, the person with the addiction has to want to get better for this to work.

See what happens at rehab Friday on The Early Show as Jennifer begins her recovery.