REHAB – Promises, promises

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Malibu rehab center is where the stars go to recover. But will luxury detox really cure their problems?

Gourmet cuisine, a bubbling Jacuzzi, swimming pool and lighted tennis courts. Suites, bright and airy, tucked beneath a misty mountain range. Woodsy trails overlooking the Pacific. Tranquil gardens for meditating.

It’s not the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Beach or the Ventana Inn in Big Sur. It’s Promises Malibu, rehab center to the stars.

It’s where such celebrities as Tim Allen, Andy Dick, Christian Slater and Charlie Sheen got clean and sober and pampered for $31,000 a month.

But critics of such high-end programs argue that removing celebrities, or any substance abuser, from their natural environment separates them from the real world to which they must ultimately return.

Richard Rogg, who founded Promises Malibu in 1997 as a division of his Westside Sober Living Centers Inc., disagrees.

“I felt there was really no place that catered to celebrities,” he said. “If they wanted first-class treatment, they would have to go out of town. Even then, there is no place like this. It’s small, intimate and upscale. People who come here are blown away.”

Let’s hope so. At $1,000 a day, Promises Malibu costs as much as the famed Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage, which charges a flat rate of just $13,200 for its 28-day rehab program but then tacks on additional fees for psychiatric sessions, lab work, etc.

But at Promises, patients only have to share the lush facility with a dozen or so other substance abusers, while at Betty Ford, 80 patients are treated at a time.

Despite the exclusive setting and high price, Rogg insists his facility is no picnic.

“We do serious treatment here,” he said. “It’s not a spa. We are on the cutting edge equine therapy and yoga. We have parenting classes where we teach newly sober parents how to deal with their kids.”

Moreover, he said, wealthy and successful people might take issue with less luxurious programs and begin complaining about the food or Spartan-like living quarters. Promises removes those issues to help them concentrate on their recovery, not on whether or not they’re getting green Jell-O for lunch again.

Recovery approach

The goal of the program is to detox a patient, attend to medical needs and then get them in touch with their feelings by exploring the issues surrounding their substance abuse. The last step is to graduate them into a 12-step program like Alcoholics Anonymous.

There are outpatient programs to help clients maintain their sobriety. Graduates can return from time to time and use the facility almost like a hotel, where they can get additional attention during their recovery. Such stays cost about $600 a night, with a two-week minimum.

Not all recovery specialists agree with Rogg’s high-priced approach to treatment.

“The big problem I find in these cushy rehab centers is the lack of reality about them,” said one Westside therapist. “You take the addict out of his or her environment, get them sober and then put them back into their environment and ask them to face reality once again. There is something unnatural about this. I would rather treat them in their own environment and get them sober in their own world.”

Others, however, defend Promises Malibu.

“They run a legitimate program, and they are interested in sobriety,” said one Westside psychiatrist and chemical dependency specialist. “The fact that it costs so much is what the traffic will bear. They have long-term experience in this town.”

He added that wealthy people and celebrities have always demanded special treatment, and medical programs are no exception.

Bob Timmons, a Santa Monica-based addiction specialist, agreed that Promises has a legitimate place in the rehab community.

Unique issues

Celebrity substance abusers have unique issues to face when they try to kick their habits, he said. Their huge incomes have created lavish lifestyles for them, and that can make them especially demanding and needy.

“(Celebrities) are a different breed of animal,” said Timmons, whose clients have included Robert Downey Jr., who also stayed at Promises. “You need to have a staff that knows how to work with a celebrity, and they need to be more flexible and creative in their treatment plan.”

Part of that treatment, he said, involves not just family members in the recovery process, but also the celebrity’s extended family agent, manager, public relations advisor and even attorney. For a musician, it often includes other members of the band.

“They are very aggressive in this,” Timmons said. “They go after the whole system and not just the significant others or spouse or parent.”

But, he said, performers have very specific quirks that can affect their attempt at sobriety. Promises grasps these issues.

“I have a client who is a guitar player in a top-10 band,” Timmons explained, “but he only wanted to go into treatment if he could bring his guitar. Other programs would say absolutely not. At Promises, they understand the artistic mentality because they have treated so many stars and celebrities.”

Another celebrity issue that Promises Malibu has become adept at handling is the media. Rogg occasionally has had to hire special guards and even horsemen to keep the paparazzi away from the facility. Then there are dealers who want to stay in contact with their star clients, even driving by and tossing packets of drugs into the compound. To stop that, Promises has 24-hour security. Substance abusers are often sly, so visitors and packages are screened.

“Addicts love to hide in the cracks,” Rogg said.

Community concerns

Another constituency that has been nettlesome for Promises Malibu to deal with is the neighbors, many of whom paid more than $1 million for their homes. Being next to a rehab center, no matter how posh, doesn’t exactly do wonders for property values. And that fact has to be disclosed in any sale, according to one member of the Big Rock Mesas Property Owners Association.

Another concern for residents, the member said, is that children live and play near the Promises Malibu compound.

“Having addicts who are stressed out and who may not be on their best behavior isn’t in the best interests of our children,” the homeowner said.

Rogg acknowledged that he has had his differences with neighbors, who he said, would normally be supportive of recovery programs as long as they are not nearby.

“It’s called the NIMBY syndrome,” Rogg said. “This is all generated by fear. We do a lot to support the community, and we offered free treatment to (any resident in the immediate area) who had a problem. We did not get a response.”

Nonetheless, Promises Malibu and Rogg’s other treatment facility in West Los Angeles are prospering.

When Rogg opened his first facility on the Westside in 1989, it generated revenues of $700,000. This year, both facilities will generate an estimated $6 million, Rogg said.

While Promises Malibu is indeed as plush and scenic as many world-class resorts, its clients are in no hurry to return.

“(Addicts and alcoholics) do a lot of soul searching and there is not a lot of joy in that,” Timmons said. “It is a difficult task. People almost have a love-hate relationship (with their rehab facility). It gives them a new life, but they never want to go there again. People have to face painful, emotional issues often for the first time in their life.”

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