A place to heal and find freedom
It’s top secret and very pricey, but this rehab centre is saving lives
Young men don’t always have the best judgment. Combine that with a lot of money, and you can end up with a raging coke addiction JANINE ELLIOTT
WITH rates starting from $1500 per night, it’s one of the most luxurious accommodations on the Gold Coast. It counts titans of industry, cashed-up entrepreneurs, celebrities and sports stars among the guest list who have stayed within its opulent environs. In fact, it’s so exclusive that not only is its address confidential, it changes location every six months. But its name remains the same: Gold Coast Detox and Rehab Services.
Opened four years ago at a longsince departed secret Currumbin beachfront location, the private drug and alcohol recovery centre has rarely been anything but booked out.
It accepts only four clients at a time, but that’s part of its popularity. Manager Janine Elliott, who has a background in health, science and nutrition, says she opened the facility after seeing a gap in the market for upmarket detoxing: providing luxurious, non-clinical surroundings, complementary therapies, traditional medicine, and absolute privacy.
The centre team includes alcohol and drug workers, counsellors, psychologists, social workers, nurses and a private visiting doctor, with all therapists registered and insured, and allows guests to not only use an alias but to shred their medical records on departure. Despite the high price and cashed-up clientele, Janine says the centre is not about making money, but making a difference.
She says client Sam Burgess is a perfect example. The former South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL star attended Gold Coast Detox for four weeks after he was caught driving with traces of cocaine in his system while on his way to pick up his children.
Although Janine would never reveal the identity of a patient, it was
Burgess himself who named the clinic when facing Moss Vale Local Court for his driving offence.
While his solicitor said Burgess’s time at the clinic was not specifically related to drugs, he said it gave him a “new outlook” on life. Janine says that’s all part of the program.
“We don’t just look at the problem that brought you here, but the whole person,” she says.
While high-profile names make up a percentage of their patients, Janine says privacy is a concern for every client. She says GCDRS demographics are very different from that of government-funded or notfor-profit centres, although both provide necessary services.
“In the government or NFP space, which is what makes up the vast majority of detox and rehab services in Australia, you’re looking at around a 50-person capacity, shared dormitories and group therapy.
“There is nothing wrong with any of that, but for many people with an addiction, this is not an environment in which they feel comfortable.
“Our demographic is business and corporate people or their family members. They are very sensitive to feelings of shame or of feeling degraded. They are people who have been successful in one area of life but feel such guilt or embarrassment that this other part is out of control, they don’t tell their colleagues, they barely tell their family members, keeping their public persona or reputation intact is incredibly important.
“We create a homestay feeling, they can continue their work here if necessary and we also provide services to help them through other issues they’re often experiencing – like divorce, financial issues, health problems, access to their children. It’s a very different set of circumstances and problems that would not be addressed in your government or NFP model.
“Each model has its benefits and disadvantages, depending on who the client or patient is. But the fact is that addiction doesn’t discriminate, you can have a charmed life and still become an addict.
“The root cause is not always trauma or violence or poverty. Quite often, especially on the Gold Coast, it’s a feeling of loneliness, emptiness or disconnection.”
Janine says about 75 per cent of clients are from the Gold Coast, with the remainder from Brisbane or interstate. She says while alcohol makes up half of the addictions treated at GCDRS, cocaine has also become a huge problem that’s only growing. She says as well as corporate high-flyers and white-collar workers, tradies are a growing clientele with a ”raging coke addiction”.
“Alcohol has always been and will always be about 50 per cent of addictions,” says Janine.
“But in our demographic what we’re really seeing is a big rise in cocaine addiction. In the last four years it’s gone from five to 10 per cent of all cases to around 40 per cent, especially in the last year.
“Part of the problem is there is simply a lot of cocaine coming into Australia. But the other part is that there is a real problem in our middle class, especially with young tradies having a huge disposable income.
“Young men don’t always have the best judgment. Combine that with a lot of money and you can end up with a raging coke addiction.
“For corporate workers, cocaine is far more socially acceptable than ice. We see very few straight-out ice addictions, because it’s cheap and you can make it here, whereas coke is still something of a status symbol.
“The problem is that coke is always cut with something, frequently ice. So many of the clients we see don’t even realise they’re also addicted to ice because of their cocaine use.”
Janine says awareness of the real dangers caused by even socially acceptable drugs, like alcohol, needs to increase as Queensland begins to soften its stance on illicit substances.
She says calls for the decriminalisation of drugs like cannabis are dangerous, and says medical cannabis prescriptions now available in the state are already being misused. However, she says changes to laws for those caught carrying drugs like heroin, cocaine or ice – whereby users will be given three chances before facing criminal charges – are more beneficial as they encourage a health-based approach rather than punitive punishment.
“If you ask any rehab manager or staff, we hate the idea of cannabis legalisation,” she says. “Unless you have epilepsy or truly need pain relief, there is little use for true medical cannabis – it’s just an excuse for social users to access legally. People say it’s a soft drug or that it can’t cause addiction … we have seen the opposite. Somehow cannabis use has just become a cultural blind spot. All of the pro-cannabis advocates are addicted. Of course they’re going to say it’s great. They just want access.
“But when it comes to relaxing drug laws so that users are not necessarily treated as criminals, I think that is the way we have to go.”