Examining Sober House With Dr. Drew - Episode 1

Dr. Drew is watching! On the first episode of Sober House, the Celebrity Rehab spin-off/continuation that finds a group of Drew’s patients taking the next step in the journey of sobriety, sober living, the doctor informs us, “I will know if anything is going on in the sober house.” And now that the show’s airing, he really knows. Despite having a reduced role in this show, due to the patient autonomy sober living requires, Drew still sees his patients and, most importantly for us, has insight and opinions on their situations. As he did with Rehab, Drew will provide his episode-specific commentary each week to this blog.

Was this show your idea?

It was about as much my idea as Celebrity Rehab was, in that it came from a conversation between me and [producer] John Irwin. It was, again, me going, “Ehhh, I don’t now. I’m not sure this is possible.” And him going, “Yes, we’re gonna do it.” That’s when I came up with the idea of them letting me do what I do: outpatient treatment with them while they’re in sober living. That’s normally the way it’s organized.

How long will you typically stay with one of these patients? Years and years?

Probably not years, but months and months. As long as they’re attached to our program, I’m involved in some way. But in Celebrity Rehab, I’m much more upfront with the care than I am in real life. In real life, people like Bob and the other counselors do more of the day-in-day-out care than I do.

Is a sober house the same thing as a halfway house?

Yeah, they don’t really use that term anymore, though.

Why?

I’m not exactly sure, but the concept is a little more evolved. I think “halfway house” almost sounds criminal. “Sober living,” is clearer – it’s a place you go to live sober. Got it. Done. Check.

This is a 30-day program. Is that the norm for sober living?

It’s a common amount of time. I prefer three to six months.

Did you have any concerns with making this show that differed from ones you might have had with Rehab?

Nah, it was the same. It’s the same exact deal, just a different environment and different issues. I know how this all goes. I know what happens when they go to sober living. S*** starts happening. Stuff starts unraveling. It’s the nature of the beast. I thought it was important to show this, though. When people talk about, “Does treatment work?” this is the part most people don’t even get. You see how they unravel [on the show] when we’re on top of them. If someone just returns to work after spending so many days at a treatment facility, forget it. No way they’re gonna stay sober. My sweeping goal in this is to show more of the story of how treatment works.

Were there any cast members in either of the Rehab seasons that you were disappointed to find would not be signing on for this?

Tawny. But Season 1 provided more disappointments, it seems like. God, they all needed it. I was sorry that, coming off Season 1, Brigitte didn’t go. It turned out OK, but she was the one I really wanted to go. Chyna, I was hoping for, because she hadn’t done anything yet! With some patients, you’re just trying to keep them in treatment long enough so that something happens. She was one of those. Jeff Conway, sure. I would have loved Vicki to go. A lot of Season 2 went, which is the good news.

Did you have any association with the house manager, Jennifer Gimenez, before this show?

Yeah, she was my patient. It’s sort of the opposite situation that I have with Andy Dick, who comes on this show later in the season: Andy has been my friend for a long time and I’ve resisted treating him. I told him that if he came in, we had to end the friendship so that I could be his doctor. With Jennifer, I was her doctor and when this came up, I said, “Look, now I can’t be your doctor. You’re now a peer and that’s that.” And she agreed to change the nature of our relationship. It worked out well. She did a really good job in the house.

Did she have experience in running a sober house?

No, but that’s not how sober houses work. Sober houses are often run and owned by recently sober people. They’re usually people who are doing well in their recent sobriety that need a way to pay rent, really. It’s a job for them. It’s usually someone with a couple of years or more of sobriety. But fewer than 10 years.

Was it just her personality, then, that gave you confidence in her ability to do this job?

She’d done really well in her sobriety. She struggled. She was a tough patient that I thought could really relate to this group. And she’s an actress, so I thought it was a perfect match.

In one voice over, you say, “I will know anything that goes on in the sober house.” Dr. Drew is watching! That sounds foreboding.

(Laughs) I kinda do. I know what’s going on there but I’m not directly responsible 24/7 like I am in a hospital. It’s really up to them at this point.

Seth enters testing the rules. That’s a bad sign.

It was sad to me. I thought he was going to be serious this time. It’s really bad. It gets to the point where I sit him down and I say, “I love you, but you’re dead. You’re dying. And I have to learn to deal with that.” He was a struggle this time, which surprised me. I really thought Seth was getting serious about his sobriety.

Was it that the week between wrapping Rehab 2 and starting this was detrimental?

No. I could tell he was fragile at the end of CR2. When he came on, he was a mess. I could barely communicate with him. He barely pulled out of that.

Steven is even worse than Seth. He arrives with needles.

He had a huge relapse.

You aren’t nearly as concerned by this on the show as Jennifer is.

Understand that there are several things Jennifer has to contend with that I don’t. She’s never done this before. I’m used to my patients relapsing. Also, she’s responsible for the integrity of the household, that it stay together. And finally, she’s evoked! She’s an addict and she knows that being around drugs could make her use. That’s the big piece people don’t factor in. If you aren’t an addict yourself, you can’t imagine how provocative it is to have someone using around you. It’s really rough.

You say that it isn’t uncommon for patients to show up to sober living high, but I don’t know, Dr. Drew. Heroin-high seems like a huge deal. It’s not like he took some hits of weed before walking in the door.

That’s your cultural perception. It’s all bad. Somebody’s shooting dope? It happens. Nothing new under the sun for me.

Did you expect to be called in so soon?

It didn’t surprise me. The main reason I was there is because people, including the producers, didn’t really understand my role. It needed to be straightened out to the patients even that this is a new level of care. They are now independent. Autonomy is the name of the game. Normally, I wouldn’t come in. I’d say, “Call the cops or something.” Get him out. In this case, I felt like I needed to make things more explicit so they understood the program.

I guess that’s why I asked if there were additional concerns. Autonomy for addicts means more likelihood of using which means more potential danger.

It’s not as though we planned that but it’s part of what happens. We just bring them back in. We put them right back in the hospital. It’s part of the deal. But yeah, it’s treacherous. It’s not like, “Oh well.” It’s a real part of treatment.

Steven ends up staying at Will’s that night. Is that an orthodox practice?

Well, at that point, Will isn’t really working for the hospital. Someone working at a hospital can only have one relationship with a patient, and that is of their caretaker. Period. In Will’s case, he was kind of serving as a peer there. A muscled peer. To have a peer take a patient overnight when they’re loaded, that’s standard. That happens all the time. I like the fact that it kicked in. It’s how AA works. They scoop up the people and they support them.

Related content
Sober House show page
Sober House videos and extras

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 10:56 pm