Money can buy a lot of things, but one thing it can never offer is immunity to drug and alcohol addiction. In fact, money and status can fuel addiction and create a devastating cycle that impacts the wealth and security of families for generations.

For advisors and trustees, alcoholics and addicts present an enormously frustrating and seemingly impossible challenge. But a client's addiction can also present you with a unique opportunity to help and provide valuable support as you help the addict find appropriate treatment for lifelong recovery. 

This article discusses how advisors can apply a clinical approach to addiction, treatment and recovery for the affluent, wealthy and famous. The approach is modeled on successful recovery programs for airline pilots and physicians, but modified for the well-off and well-known.  

A Frustrating Disease
For the advisor, there is perhaps nothing more vexing than dealing with a client who is an alcoholic or drug addict, particularly clients who continue to use after treatment. More than just a distraction, addiction fosters complex dysfunction that affects families on multiple levels: from the rampant financial drain to support the addict's habit to the exhausting tension and family conflicts to the public relations nightmares of outbursts and arrests.  It's a problem that can threaten the very underpinnings of the family's wealth and security.

Addiction is a chronic disease as baffling and complex as cancer, diabetes or heart disease, and sometimes just as deadly.  While in the beginning drug use is a choice made by the person, research confirms that addiction changes brain chemistry and function in fundamental, long-lasting ways.  Some addicts can even be high-functioning individuals capable of achieving continued success. However, left untreated, addicts become increasingly self-destructive, their addiction dominating and directing their behaviors.

Despite the physical, psychological and emotional complexity of addiction, it is a treatable disease.  Ultimately, through comprehensive, interdisciplinary treatment, an individual can stay clean or sober. Getting there typically involves a cycle of treatment successes and relapse-a challenging journey for addicts as well as their families and advisors.

Wealth And Addiction
A basic tenet of addiction is that no person drinks or uses drugs in a vacuum.  Family, friends and business associates can easily find themselves drawn into a maelstrom of anxiety and dysfunctional relationships and pain because of the addict's behavior. Their sincere efforts to support the alcoholic/addict may be ineffective and in many cases counterproductive.

This is particularly true in cases where the addict has unlimited access to money and can rely on others to manage personal and business affairs. These luxuries shield the addict from personal accountability. Money provides a cushion to avoid the consequences of drinking and using.

Even the idea of "hitting rock bottom" is skewed for wealthy individuals because their unlimited access to money and resources means they may never reach it. So the money paves the way for even greater self-destruction.

Wealthy addicts typically maintain a social environment conducive to their drug and alcohol use. Add to that the inherent pressures of protecting the family's name, a lifetime of being treated differently and the security of always having someone to bail you out, and you have a complex, dysfunctional, inward-facing family model that simultaneously isolates and insulates the addict.

The Treatment Cycle
While treatment and recovery are possible, it is important to understand that success rates vary greatly. This is especially true for the wealthy, who may have drug and alcohol use ingrained in their culture.

There are a wide variety of treatment options available, including many that claim to cater to the wealthy and prominent.  Where privacy and discretion were once a premium with treatment facilities, there is a disturbing trend among those of wealth and prominence to view treatment as a sign of status or a rite of passage.

For Hollywood celebrities, there is a seemingly unending list of options-from "quick-fixes" or abstinence-optional centers to luxury resorts. Too often, these cater to the high-end lifestyle more than they offer the integrated medical and behavioral support for lasting recovery.  The false assumption is that any inpatient treatment will fix the problem. Little regard is given to the real work involved in supporting lifelong recovery. 

As a result, low recovery rates for treatment are common. This is why it is so important to find the right treatment center and the right expert advice from counselors with clinical backgrounds and experience in successfully helping wealthy families.

The Advisor's Role
Wealth advisors play an increasingly important role in assisting families on issues of family governance, asset transfers, philanthropy training and mission.  An advisor's expert advice is crucial to support healthy family interaction and wealth preservation.

Advisors have a unique opportunity to address addictions head-on by working with families to exert external pressure on the addicted family member and identify the proper support services.

Here are steps that advisors can take to help families address addiction issues:

1. Consult the experts.
Just as with financial planning or investments, the savvy advisor should consult with experts when dealing with a drug-addicted client. Look for treatment professionals who have experience and training in dealing with the unique needs of families of wealth and prominence.  Ask for licensing information and references from other professionals.

2. Involve the family.
The challenge for the advisor is to know when to intervene. Many families have become so consumed by the chaos of addictive behavior that over time they go into complete denial. While some families may seek assistance voluntarily, it is more likely that the addiction problem will trigger a crisis and force a family to act. It's important to note that no matter what course of action you take, family interaction with the addict is vital. Trained addiction specialists can help identify all options available to the family-from intervention strategies to treatment to ongoing support.

3. Get the addict motivated.
The addict needs to be motivated to seek treatment and follow a course to recovery.  External pressure to enter treatment can take on many forms. You can cut off the addict's access to funds, terminate employment, or sever relationships.  Put simply, forcing addicted family members to face personal and professional consequences dramatically increases the likelihood they will enter treatment and follow through with their long-term care plans. An advisor can partner with family leaders and licensed addiction professionals, who will provide clear perspective and assist in the process.

4. Create a long-term recovery plan.
A written and structured post-treatment plan will help promote the addict's accountability and communication with him. This plan should discuss the roles and responsibilities of family members, as well as specific prevention strategies that identify relapse triggers and situations to avoid.  Having the individual sign off on the plan before leaving treatment is also helpful in establishing clear expectations and consequences if he breeches the agreement.

Your Next Step
Despite the complex and frustrating nature of addiction, there is still hope for addicts and alcoholics.  Even families that have a history of addiction can achieve sustained recovery and secure their finances and health.  Finding the right help for those of wealth and prominence requires persistence, knowledge and cooperation with proven, reliable treatment professionals.

If a wealthy family is dealing with an addiction, an advisor should look at it as another way to help them with their financial goals. Advisors have a unique opportunity to work with family leaders to address these issues and improve the value of the family support services they provide.   

Common Addiction Myths
Addicts can quit whenever they want.

Most addicts start out thinking they can stop using drugs on their own, and most try to stop without treatment.  They are rarely successful.  Research shows that long-term drug use results in significant changes in brain function that persist long after the individual stops using drugs.  These changes bring about different behaviors, including the addict's compulsion to keep using alcohol or drugs despite the consequences.

All drug treatment programs are the same.

No single treatment is the same for all addicts.  The most effective approaches attend to the multiple needs of the individual-the physical, emotional, psychological and social factors that contribute to the addictive behaviors. Medical management is needed for the critical first stage of withdrawal.  Counseling and other behavioral therapies are important components as well.  As it is with other chronic, relapsing diseases, recovery from drug addiction is a long-term process that requires an ongoing continuing care plan.

You have to be willing to accept drug treatment for it to be effective.

No one wants drug treatment.  Two of the primary reasons people seek drug treatment are because a court has ordered them to do so, or because loved ones have urged them to.  Studies show that those most successful in treatment are those with strong external motivators-the threats of losing money, status, family or work.

William F. Messinger ([email protected]), JD, LADC, is founder and president of Aureus Inc., which specializes in working with families and their advisors on addiction issues.