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Tag: sober homes

  • Bones Found At Massachusetts Sober Home Highlight Troubled Industry 

    Bones Found At Massachusetts Sober Home Highlight Troubled Industry 

    The body belonged to a resident who had went missing from the sober home in April 2018.

    On June 17, landscapers working at a Massachusetts building that had been operating as a sober home until recently made a startling discovery: bones that were ultimately identified as the body of a client at the home who had gone missing more than a year before. 

    The body belonged to Clifford Bates, who had gone missing from the Wakefield, Massachusetts sober home on the morning of April 28, 2018, according to The Boston Globe.

    When Bates failed to make morning meeting, his roommate urged the sober home operators to look for him, but they did only a cursory search, driving around the neighborhood before putting Bates’ belongings in the basement. Bates’ family eventually filed a missing persons report with the police, but there was no sign of him until the bones were found. 

    There have been few details released about Bates’ disappearance since the bones were recovered, because the investigation is ongoing. However, many people feel that the grim story is an indication of the troubles in the sober home industry. 

    “While we accept his death, we never, ever thought he would be found at Lakeshore, a fenced-in property of less than half an acre!!” Bates’ family said in a statement. “That part makes no sense. It makes us ill, angry, and we can’t shake it from our minds.”

    Lakeshore Under Scrutiny

    Lakeshore, the facility that Bates was staying at, was already under scrutiny for overcharging, overcrowding, and urging clients to drop their psychiatric medications and rely on a higher power for healing. That approach led one former client to become suicidal. 

    “I realize now, people really do have chemical imbalances. You can’t replace that with God,” she told the Globe. 

    Lakeshore’s founder, Daniel Cleggett Jr., had already been investigated by the state, under suspicions that he was brokering patients for Florida rehabs. Two patients he sent to Florida died, and another died of an overdose at a Massachusetts sober home that Cleggett operated. Still, laws prevented the state from more tightly regulating sober homes. 

    Legal Loopholes

    “It’s a legal loophole that costs lives,” said Brian Palmucci, city councilor in Quincy, Massachusetts, who has advocated for better oversight of sober homes. “We have these charlatans who are taking advantage of the opioid crisis to get rich.”

    Richard Winant, former president of Massachusetts Alliance for Sober Housing and a sober home operator, said that the money in the industry can tempt people to focus on profits, rather than people. 

    “People lose their way,” he said. “They start to see dollar signs.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Wendy Williams Reveals She's Been Living In a Sober Home

    Wendy Williams Reveals She's Been Living In a Sober Home

    Williams detailed her sober living situation during a recent episode of her talk show.

    Wendy Williams took two months off from her show before returning to reveal that she has been living in a sober home.

    “For some time now, and even today and beyond, I have been living in a sober house,” Williams said on Tuesday’s episode of The Wendy Williams Show. “And you know, I’ve had a struggle with cocaine in my past and I never went to a place to get the treatment. I don’t know how, except God was sitting on my shoulder and I just stopped.”

    Williams’ revelation came after a two-month hiatus from taping her show. She explained she had been dealing with Graves’ disease during her time off.

    In 2017, Williams fainted during a taping of her show. She later explained that she had a heat stroke—and was going through “what middle-aged women go through.”

    The TV personality wanted to be transparent with her fans, who know her to be a “very truthful and open person.” She stated that the only other person who knew what was happening was her husband, Kevin Hunter, according to BuzzFeed News.

    “There are people in your family, it might be you, who have been struggling, and I want you to know more of the story,” she said. “So, this is my autobiographical story, and I’m living it. I’m telling you this.”

    Williams shared her routine with viewers: daily pilates and sober “meetings around town in the tristate area,” then her 24-hour sober coach brings her home, “with a bunch of smelly boys who have become my family.”

    “They hog the TV and watch soccer, we talk and read and talk and read, and then I get bored with them. Doors locked by 10 p.m. Lights out by 10 p.m.,” Williams said.

    “So I go to my room, and I stare at the ceiling and I fall asleep to wake up and come back here to see you. So that is my truth. I know, either you are calling me crazy or the bravest woman you know,” she said. “I don’t care.”

    Williams also promoted her family’s foundation, the Hunter Foundation, which offers a 24-hour hotline service that Williams said, “already successfully placed 56 people in recovery centers around the world.”

    CNN anchor Don Lemon tweeted his support of Williams, writing, “I say bravest woman I know. @WendyWilliams finally speaks her truth about recovery.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Sober Home Standards Could Change Under New California Bill

    Sober Home Standards Could Change Under New California Bill

    Recovery advocate Ryan Hampton calls the bill “a good first step.”

    Each year, thousands of Americans pay to live in sober homes, but the residences go largely unregulated.

    The high potential for profit and low oversight has led to an unscrupulous reputation for sober homes across the nation, including in California and Florida where state investigators have been looking into allegations of abuse and other criminal acts by people operating these facilities. 

    Now, a new bill introduced in California aims to set minimum standards for sober homes in hopes of cleaning up the industry—at least a little bit. Democratic Assemblyman Tom Daly introduced the bill, Assembly Bill 1779.

    “Despite the growing death toll from opioid and alcohol abuse and addiction, California lacks a uniform set of standards to guide individuals and their loved ones in identifying safe, reliable housing accommodations that will be conducive to recovery,” Daly said in a statement reported by The Daily Bulletin.

    “AB 1779 will enable California to provide accurate and up-to-date information… And by adopting best practices, including minimum standards for recovery residences, California will take a significant step towards increasing the number of residences that are safe for people in recovery and for the communities where they are located.”

    The bill would require the California Department of Health Care Services to establish best practices, like keeping the opioid overdose reversal drug, Narcan, on site. Sober homes that receive state funding through public health care or court systems would need to meet these requirements. 

    Ryan Hampton, who advocates for change in the sober home industry, said that the bill is a good “first step.” However, others in the industry said that the bill would not do enough, especially since most sober homes do not receive state funding. 

    “[Daly] really needs to take a strong look at the area where there’s significant abuse, the residential treatment facilities that are being run by private operators and funded through private insurance,” said Orange County’s District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who has been suing sober home operators for operating medical facilities without proper licensing and supervision. 

    “One of the biggest complaints we get are about private facilities targeting people across country, bringing them here, then tossing them out when the insurance benefits run out. That’s not happening when government funding is involved. They’re very distinct and different entities, which is why my office is pursuing the private side. We have people who are ripping off the system.”

    Laurie Girand pushes for changes to the treatment industry with Advocates for Responsible Treatment. She was not impressed with the bill. 

    “Voluntary certification standards… Same old song,” she said. “This is health care, not vitamin supplements. When are we going to start treating it like health care?”

    However, Daly’s spokesperson David Miller insisted that the bill was important. 

    “If a home is in reality a ‘flop house’ for drug activity, it should be shut down,” he said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Congress Passes Bill To Penalize, Convict Patient Brokers

    Congress Passes Bill To Penalize, Convict Patient Brokers

    The new bill would impose prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines as high as $200,000.

    A bipartisan bill—passed as part of the SUPPORT Patients and Communities Act on Oct. 24—will impose criminal penalties on individuals or organizations that accept or give payments or other incentives to prospective rehabilitation patients in exchange for referrals to treatment facilities.

    An op-ed piece in USA Today noted that these “patient brokers” connect those seeking treatment with centers or sober homes without proper or reputable means of providing assistance to patients; the result is loss of funds, increased insurance rate and in many cases, greater chances of overdose or death.

    The new bill would impose prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines as high as $200,000.

    S.3254—the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018—will allow federal prosecutors to pursue and penalize patient brokers, phone-call aggregators and the companies that allegedly pay them for referrals.

    As USA Today noted, it has been illegal for Medicaid or Medicare facilities to accept kickbacks since 1972, but it remains fair game for treatment centers and sober homes that take private insurance, including policies sold through the Affordable Care Act.

    The USA Today op-ed claimed that patient brokers can be a persistent presence wherever individuals suffering from dependency issues might be found, from drug courts to street corners. The facilities that they promote also maintain a media presence through television and internet advertising, and call aggregators can purport to connect prospective patients to treatment, but actually collect their information to sell to the highest bidding facility.

    A bipartisan group from the Energy and Commerce Committee questioned eight such call aggregators about their business practices in May 2018.

    Avoiding such blatantly predatory entities can be a challenge for the more than 2 million Americans suffering from opioid dependency. While some can consult family medical practitioners or guidelines from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and other organizations, state laws vary on the regulation of treatment centers, so that what may be illegal in some areas can pass in others.

    As USA Today noted, penalizing those that prey on individuals in crisis is an important step in providing proper assistance to those with dependency issues.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Sober Cleveland Police Officer Gives Back To Local Recovery Community

    Sober Cleveland Police Officer Gives Back To Local Recovery Community

    After a lengthy battle with alcoholism, a Cleveland detective got sober and inspired those around him to change their lives.

    Today, Cleveland police detective Chris Gibbons puts the bad guys in jail cells, but in 1992 he was on the other side of the law, sitting in a jail cell soaking wet and shivering after being brought in for public intoxication. After seven years of battling alcoholism, Gibbons had hit rock bottom. 

    “How did the son of a policeman end up here?” Gibbons said to News 5 Cleveland. 

    After that night, Gibbons was determined to turn his life around. He became a police officer just like his father and grandfather had been. And he inspired his sister, Erin Becker, to start her own path to sobriety. 

    “Most of my struggle was internal,” Becker said. “I just got to a point of hopelessness.”

    Gibbons has been sober for 26 years and Becker has been in recovery for 17 years. Now, the siblings run a sober house together, helping women start their lives in recovery. Becker co-founded the Edna House, which has grown over the years, helping woman with limited means get sober. 

    “It started with three women. Now we have 40 women,” Becker said. “The women that come in, they see that the people that are here helping them, the staff, the woman that runs the program, we’re all in recovery. That catches their attention. Nothing is asked of them here. When they come to Edna and the only thing that is asked is, ‘Do you have a willingness to work on your own recovery?’ They know something is different.”

    Gibbons is on the board of directors for Edna House and volunteers with men’s recovery programs though the area. He enjoys seeing the transformation of the 300 women who have graduated from Edna House.

    “They’re almost unrecognizable when they’re done. They look so much better. They feel so much better,” Gibbons said. “You can actually see the happiness and the glow on their face whereas when they came in they were totally broken.”

    In addition, Gibbons serves on the Cleveland Police Department’s Employee Assistance Unit, which helps officers navigate traumatic and stressful situations.

    “It gives you a little credibility,” Gibbons said. “When I approach an officer or someone in the community who is struggling with it, I can say I’ve been there and I have a good life today because of my decision not to drink.”

    Gibbons has prompted other law enforcement officials to become involved in the recovery community and sponsor events. Some of the people in recovery have even followed Gibbons’ footsteps and started a law enforcement career. 

    “Several dispatchers who actually went through this house are sober to this day because of their involvement here,” Becker said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com