THE RICH-LIST’S REHAB SQUAD (on call for £150,000 a week!)
When billionaires have breakdowns they don’t go to any old clinic — they dial up the elite team who are ...
Just for a moment, let’s pretend you are fabulously, grotesquely rich — an ultra-high net worth individual — one of the 0.03 per cent with a personal fortune of £25 million and over. You have dozens of staff and phalanxes of security guards and hangers on (if not so many actual friends). You have your hair blow- dried every day, a manicure and massage every other day.
You have never boiled an egg, ironed a shirt or been on public transport. Instead you have your own chauffeur, limousine and private jet to zip between your slew of luxury homes.
But, sadly, money can’t buy everything. so, along with a quarter of the uK population, you also suffer from mental health issues — anxiety, depression, eating disorders and addiction problems with alcohol, drugs, sex, or perhaps shopping — all exacerbated by your vast, isolating fortune.
For an impressively long time you hide your problems. But one day your housekeeper finds you curled up in a ball on the floor in one of your marble and gold-plated bathrooms and there’s no escaping the fact that you need help
urgently. so do you check into the Priory or the Nightingale Clinic in London for 28 days? Or the Meadows in Arizona? Or perhaps a cleansing month at the the Kusnacht Practice, on the shores of Lake Zurich?
Don’t be daft — you’re one of the world’s super rich! You’re not used to even mixing with normal people, let alone doing group therapy with them. You can’t be seen hanging out in a treatment centre with hoi polloi such as Ant McPartlin and Katie Price, popping out for a photo shoot every so often to prove to your fans you’re sharpening up your act.
You need utter discretion because your brand, company or (possibly royal) family name could all be at stake.
so you call Addcounsel — the A-team for the superlatively rich with mental health problems. they will ensure that, by the end of the day, you’re safely ensconced in your very own multimillion pound ‘home from home’, tucked down a discreet road in London’s Belgravia, decked out with crystal chandeliers, £80 candles, flat screens in the bathrooms and carpets so deep your feet actually disappear into them.
Addcounsel is Britain’s first bespoke mental health provider for ultra-rich people. its Premium Bespoke package includes, well, pretty much everything you could think of — private islands, live-in carers, Michelin- star level food.
For starters, you’ll have a top-to-toe health check — Ct scan, blood tests, ultrasounds, liver check, along with functional medical tests which assess nutrition, deficiencies and gut health. All treatment is overseen by your private GP who liaises with psychiatrists, psychologists and the best alcohol, drug and sex addiction counsellors in the world.
SOMeof the staff actually live with you, 24 hours a day. so two nurses on a five-day rotating shift will be with you every waking moment, supervising your detox. A recovery manager — companion, confidante, opera buddy, tennis partner, Monopoly opponent, whatever you fancy — is also there to keep you on the straight and narrow.
And not just during your month (or sixmonth) stay. Afterwards, they’ll move home with you. stay for Christmas, if necessary. Come on holiday. Fly round the world to business meetings if you’re feeling wobbly.
even better, there’s a private chef, nutritionist, mindfulness coach, yoga guru and a holistic therapist specialising in massage, beauty and aromatherapy. Oh yes, and a weekly bill of between £45,000 and £150,000. A full treatment programme can easily top £ 1 million, particularly if you choose to continue your recovery (with medical team in tow) in the company’s castle or island.
‘We have a vast “menu of services” and nothing is off limits — so long as it’s good for you,’ says CeO Paul Flynn, 45.
it all came about because, as Paul puts it: ‘the super rich weren’t getting the service they wanted or desperately needed — bespoke wrap-around care that focuses as much on the long-term recovery as the treatment.’
Addcounsel is co-owned and was co-founded by Paul (a former recruitment executive, who sold his company for ‘ a lot’) and Michael ishmail, 47, clinical director. the third wheel, Jonathan edgeley, 42, is the relationship director, who deals with the money.
All three are sharply dressed and sport very white teeth and ostentatious watches. ‘ You have to look the part,’ explains Jonathan. All have enjoyed the cushion of wealth and experienced the desperation of addiction.
Paul has been clean for 12 years, but, previously drank and snorted ‘ a lot’ of the £30,000 he earned a week on three-day benders. ‘i regularly got through 10 grams of cocaine on my own in a weekend,’ he says.
Michael, who grew up in the family pubs and wine bar business, had no ‘off switch’ — a couple of drinks and he’d ‘get the flavour — for anything!’