\n<\/p>\n
The view of the Whitsundays is postcard-perfect. The setting \u2013 a private yacht \u2013 extravagant. There\u2019s a gym downstairs, a spa upstairs and a staff ratio of 14:1.<\/p>\n
Floating off the Australian coastline is one of the world\u2019s most luxurious rehabilitation and mental health programs. Operating on a superyacht called \u201cMischief\u201d, a trip on Ocean Blue costs $600,000 a week.<\/p>\n
While many Australians struggle to navigate a fragmented treatment system with long waitlists for public rehab facilities, the private sector is booming.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Treatment onboard Mischief is secluded, anonymous and decadent.<\/span> Photograph: Jeff Brown\/Harp<\/p>\n Ocean Blue is rehab for the ultra-wealthy \u2013 C-suite professionals and elite athletes struggling with gambling, alcohol or cocaine dependence. Reached via private jet, it is secluded, anonymous and decadent.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really a product for someone who is used to it,\u201d says the Melbourne-based Hills and Ranges Private (Harp) chief executive, Edward Handley. \u201cThey probably hop on our yacht and think it\u2019s a little bit smaller than their yacht.\u201d<\/p>\n While Ocean Blue targets a global market, it represents the pinnacle of Australia\u2019s private rehab industry \u2013 a sign the sector is growing rapidly.<\/p>\n After opening Harp\u2019s first clinic in 2020, the organisation has expanded to five centres. Over the next two years, Handley plans to open facilities in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Auckland.<\/p>\n Harp is not the only new player \u2013 but not all have succeeded. Highlands Recovery in Bowral, New South Wales, closed less than a year after opening amid community backlash. The Bowral Action Group called for tighter regulation, noting the facility was not among NSW Health-accredited services.<\/p>\n In Geelong, the Hader Clinic went into liquidation last year after accumulating $3.5m in tax debt.<\/p>\n Others are expanding. The Banyans in Queensland \u2013 reportedly costing $120,000 for a four-week stay \u2013 has opened a second facility to meet demand. Luxury rehabs have also emerged on the Gold Coast and in Byron Bay.<\/p>\n <\/span>Harp\u2019s chief executive Edward Handley in the grounds of the company\u2019s Stonehurst of Sassafras rehab centre in Victoria\u2019s Dandenong Ranges.<\/span> Photograph: Penny Stephens\/The Guardian<\/p>\n While an estimated 500,000 Australians struggling with addiction miss out on treatment each year, those who can afford it can access private care almost immediately. Harp can transport patients via private jet or on business-class flights within hours.<\/p>\n Handley founded Harp with his late wife, Raya, a psychologist, after his own experience in rehab.<\/p>\n <\/span>Stonehurst of Sassafras offers five-star accommodation, concierge services, massages and personal training.<\/span> Photograph: Penny Stephens\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cThe beautiful thing about substances is that they work,\u201d he says. \u201cBut they don\u2019t solve the problem \u2013 they amplify it.\u201d<\/p>\n When he sought help, he avoided the public system, describing it as under-resourced.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one psychologist for 30 patients \u2013 sometimes more,\u201d he says. \u201cBut what I found in the private sector also needed to change.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Canap\u00e9s made from scratch by Stonehurst\u2019s personal chef.<\/span> Photograph: Penny Stephens\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Rehab at Harp comes with all the bells and whistles. Five-star accommodation, concierge services, massages and personal training. It\u2019s equine therapy on weekends, family days by the tennis court, and a private chef to cook every meal. Patients can do \u201c24\/7 therapy\u201d if they want, Handley says.<\/p>\n <\/span>Handley in Stonehurst\u2019s talk therapy room.<\/span> Photograph: Penny Stephens\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Those patients are politicians, chief executives, doctors, influencers, athletes and actors. They come here, continue working, while receiving treatment for burnout, booze, coke, gambling or meth addictions.<\/p>\n Harp has just started working with Australian Securities Exchange companies whose board members or management team might be having substance issues, to help tap them on the shoulder and offer a stint in rehab before it gets worse.<\/p>\n They often stay for 28, 60 or 90 days, with aftercare support for up to a year.<\/p>\n Sitting in the therapy room at Sassafras, a Tudor-style mansion in the lush Dandenong Ranges that costs $25,000 a week to attend, Handley rests his hands on the velvet sofa.<\/p>\n The facility only takes four clients at a time, who often need anonymity. Sometimes, executives will be in Sassafras, working while receiving treatment, unbeknown to the companies they are running.<\/p>\n The treatment is accredited by Monash University and Handley says success is measured by completion rates rather than long-term sobriety.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have a revolving door,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re not about people coming and going prematurely.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re ready to do this, I\u2019m going to tell you right now, this program is completely flawless. The only non-flawless thing about it is the person participating.\u201d<\/p>\n Handley is reluctant to criticise the government: \u201cGod bless them,\u201d he says, before admitting the process of rolling out new facilities can be slow. He feels hamstrung by the bureaucracy. Monreale House, a boutique new facility that will cost $50,000 a week, is 18 months past its due date.<\/p>\n <\/span>A bathroom at Monreale House, a new Harp facilty at Olinda in the Dandenong Ranges.<\/span> Photograph: Penny Stephens\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cBack to the yacht, it was like, OK, how can we start something that won\u2019t then be criticised or held up all the time?\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I thought, take it out to sea.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s just too many fingers in the pie \u2026 [the authorities are] the ones whinging there\u2019s not enough beds. But they\u2019re the reason why there\u2019s not enough beds.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 2 million Australians are estimated to experience addiction. Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows there were 46,000 hospitalisations due to alcohol and other drugs in 2023-24. Alcohol is the biggest killer, causing almost five drug-induced deaths a day.<\/p>\n Nicole Lee from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre says waitlists aren\u2019t published because they are long and change frequently \u2013 someone seeking treatment will put their name down at five or six places, hoping to get to one.<\/p>\n She says this has caused a \u201ctwo-tier system in addiction treatment\u201d where wealth determines access to faster, more comfortable care, while everyone else is left to wait.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest problem is that that whole sector is completely unregulated,\u201d she says. \u201cSo anybody can go and set up a private rehab.\u201d<\/p>\n Families and loved ones looking for care can easily be \u201cconvinced by dodgy providers to mortgage their houses or take out loans to put their family members through the private system\u201d, she says. The increase in private equity ownership in the space has providers like Harp and healthcare practitioners worried \u2013 there are an increasing number of voices calling for strict guidelines for practitioners to meet.<\/p>\n <\/span>Mineral springs run through the Monreale House grounds.<\/span> Photograph: Penny Stephens\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cThe unregulated system is a problem,\u201d Lee says. \u201cEven for providers doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n After alcohol, the most common substances that lead people to seek rehabilitation treatment are amphetamines, cannabis, heroin and other opioids.<\/p>\n Matt, who asked for only his first name to be used, knew he had a problem. A house painter, he had been put on opioids after having surgery on his hand due to a work injury.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter a while, I started noticing that the dose I was on with the endone wasn\u2019t working, so I would up my dose slightly,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cI was addicted before I knew I was addicted. I\u2019ve never been addicted to anything before.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year Matt, who lives on the Gold Coast with his wife and four kids, went to his GP, who put him on a tapering plan. He tried that for a few months, going through multiple withdrawals, but couldn\u2019t come off it.<\/p>\n In December, during a severe withdrawal, his wife took him to the hospital. But, after waiting for five hours in pain, he left.<\/p>\n Desperate, they tried five places in the public system but couldn\u2019t get in. They were rejected from one private place because Matt\u2019s health insurance didn\u2019t have hospital coverage. In February he finally secured outpatient treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of people out there who do want help,\u201d he says. \u201cBut they can\u2019t get it because there aren\u2019t many places that can get you in fast enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Matt now takes a medication that reduces opioid cravings and is sober. But for others, delays can be fatal \u2013 drug-induced deaths have exceeded the road toll for more than 15 years.<\/p>\n In support groups across the country, family members share horror stories \u2013 wives taking their husbands to the hospital, only to have them discharged back into the throes of addiction the next day. One woman says she lost her brother while he was waiting to get into a service. A mother says her daughter is just 23 \u2013 she can\u2019t afford to send her to private rehab, and hasn\u2019t been able to get her into the public system.<\/p>\n <\/span>The view from the gym at Stonehurst.<\/span> Photograph: Penny Stephens\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Dr Hester Wilson chairs the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners\u2019 specific interests addiction medicine network and is now helping one young patient get into a non-profit. It\u2019s been a slow process, and while a bed has been secured, paying for it is a problem.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a not-for-profit but it\u2019s going to cost them $8,000 for the six months,\u201d Wilson says. \u201cThey don\u2019t have that money.\u201d<\/p>\n Addiction treatment is complex and often requires multiple attempts. Completion rates in the public sector sit at about 65%, with relapse rates comparable to other chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes.<\/p>\n Wilson says one of the biggest challenges to the system is not happening between public and private rehabilitation, but in the community and the culture of some healthcare providers. It\u2019s stigma.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a species, we have used intoxicating substances for millennia,\u201d she says. \u201cWe always have. We probably always will.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it\u2019s not a bad thing. Not all drug use is bad.<\/p>\n \u201cBut for some people, it does cause them harm, or it makes them dependent. And there is help there, you know, so reach out for it. Don\u2019t suffer in silence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The view of the Whitsundays is postcard-perfect. The setting \u2013 a private yacht \u2013 extravagant. There\u2019s a gym downstairs, a spa upstairs and a staff ratio of 14:1. Floating off the Australian coastline is one of the world\u2019s most luxurious rehabilitation and mental health programs. Operating on a superyacht called \u201cMischief\u201d, a trip on Ocean<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[18610,2029,305,24279,37,24175,24280,365],"class_list":{"0":"post-48531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-aboard","9":"tag-australias","10":"tag-costs","11":"tag-heals","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-rehab","14":"tag-superyacht","15":"tag-week"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}