0:00

This episode contains disturbing content,

0:02

including mention of sexual assault,

0:05

illicit drug use, and explicit

0:07

language. Please take care while

0:09

listening. In 2013,

0:11

Rose Stahl's life was tumultuous. She

0:13

was at the beginning of a

0:16

fairly public divorce. Originally

0:18

from Austin, Texas, she ended up in

0:20

Los Angeles after getting into a relationship

0:22

with a famous actor. They have a

0:25

kid together. But their relationship

0:27

had turned problematic due to illicit

0:29

substance use. I was, you

0:32

know, struggling with depression.

0:35

I had been in my

0:37

third relationship in a row

0:39

with someone that suffered with

0:41

drug abuse stuff, and

0:43

I wanted to try to break the cycle. Rose

0:46

wanted to talk to a therapist. A

0:48

friend of hers recommended that she go

0:50

see someone named Chris Batham. Rose

0:52

had been to therapy before, but she'd

0:55

never met a therapist like Chris. You

0:57

know, you had a really kind of like dark humor and extremely

1:00

intelligent, you know, love to

1:02

wax philosophical. Like it was

1:05

just a very intelligent, interesting

1:07

person who was

1:09

willing to be as interested in

1:11

my psyche as I was at

1:13

the time, which is, you know,

1:16

I mean, that's what you want in a therapist. And

1:18

I mean, that's what you want in anybody. This

1:21

therapist, Chris Batham, happened to

1:23

be the founder and CEO

1:25

of a drug treatment and

1:28

recovery organization called Community Recovery

1:30

Los Angeles, or CRLA. Rose

1:33

liked that Chris had experienced working in

1:35

the treatment field. She had fallen into

1:37

this pattern. She would date a guy

1:39

who was sober. Then he would have

1:41

a bad relapse. And Rose would think,

1:43

I can help him

1:45

stay sober. But this never worked.

1:47

Instead, Rose would end up participating

1:50

in the substance use herself. I

1:53

was just really questioning, am I

1:55

an alcoholic? Am I not? For a lot

1:57

of alcoholics, that's they call it like the

1:59

great obsession. is that we can drink

2:01

like normal people. Rose had been

2:03

obsessing over this question. Is there

2:05

something wrong with me? And

2:08

Chris Bathum had an answer for her. I

2:11

laid bare, here's all the ways that

2:14

I'm pretty sure that I'm crazy and

2:16

out of my mind. And what

2:19

do you think? He was really like, Rose,

2:22

you're actually fine. And

2:24

I fucking believed him. And that was

2:26

really cool. There was something comforting

2:28

and calming about this. Rose

2:31

had never had anyone in her life say, you're

2:33

okay, there's nothing wrong with you. She

2:36

thought, maybe he's right. Maybe

2:39

I am okay. She began

2:41

to trust Chris Bathum. I

2:43

mean, from that point on, there's a bond

2:46

there, right? And this person knows you, and

2:48

then you tell him more and more and

2:50

more about you. And that

2:53

connection was instantaneous almost.

2:56

There's one other thing that sealed the deal for

2:58

Rose, an influencer decision to seek

3:00

therapy from Chris Bathum. He

3:02

didn't charge her any money. Rose

3:05

was never a rehab patient or

3:07

client, as CRLA called them. Instead,

3:10

she spent the next year seeing Chris for

3:12

therapy. But over time, she

3:14

would start to question what was really

3:16

going on at CRLA. Was

3:19

Chris actually trying to help her or

3:21

could he be trying to hurt her? I

3:24

sent him a text, I said, hey, I'm really

3:26

feeling like having a drink and it's sober. And

3:28

he was like, I don't

3:30

think that's a bad idea. That

3:32

was his response. It was, yes, and he goes,

3:34

in fact, I'll meet you. I'll meet you,

3:37

let's meet for a drink. We go to

3:39

the restaurant, I order a drink, and he's

3:41

like, oh, wow, okay, I'll order a drink

3:43

too. What

3:45

kind of therapist encourages a

3:47

client who has a history

3:49

of unhealthy alcohol use to

3:52

drink alcohol? Well,

3:55

it turns out that Chris Bathum

3:57

wasn't a therapist at all. He

3:59

had no training. training whatsoever, and that was

4:01

just the beginning of his secrets.

4:04

Eventually, Rose would start to find out

4:06

who Chris Basim really was.

4:09

The whole thing still haunts her to this

4:11

day. It felt kind

4:13

of, you know, like scared for like my

4:16

personal safety. For the client's personal safety, I

4:18

think I still am like kind of fucked

4:20

up, maybe beyond repair I

4:22

don't know. Not really, but

4:24

from all the bathroom stuff or from other

4:27

things. Yeah, no, from that. And just

4:29

that, and then the way that it ended

4:31

and like, yeah. You're still trying to sort of

4:33

recover from it. Yeah, I

4:35

just saw not really resumed life

4:37

as it was prior to that,

4:39

even, or even close. In

4:43

the early 2010s, Southern California

4:45

became known as the Rehab

4:48

Riviera. A series of

4:50

economic events paired with new

4:52

legislation created the perfect recipe

4:54

for the treatment industry to boom. And

4:57

at the center of it was Chris Basim, the

5:00

founder and CEO of CRLA, which

5:02

at its peak included 20 sober

5:05

living houses and outpatient treatment

5:07

facilities in Southern California

5:09

and Colorado. Chris

5:11

was the self-proclaimed rehab mogul.

5:15

He had a reputation as an innovator in

5:17

the treatment field. But in 2016,

5:19

it all came crashing down. Chris

5:22

Basim was arrested on multiple charges,

5:24

including insurance fraud and sexual assault.

5:27

Although he will most likely spend the rest of

5:29

his life in prison, the full

5:32

scope of his crimes may never be

5:34

known. There are many

5:36

people that might still be alive today had

5:38

they never met Chris Basim. For

5:41

years, he operated as if he

5:43

were invincible. Perhaps that's

5:45

because no one was watching him, except

5:48

for the people that he was supposed to be

5:50

helping. No one cares

5:53

about these women who are drug

5:55

users and alcoholics. We're

6:00

seeking help and was you know

6:02

were surrendering to this thing and

6:04

then were taken advantage of. I

6:06

didn't see that. No doubts. I saw.

6:09

A personal yeah. I never once saw a

6:11

crystal meth. The I was high on to

6:13

cement and I had no idea how I

6:16

got. I. What

6:18

happens when the only people speaking

6:20

up about a crime aren't believed

6:22

because they're addicts? On

6:24

season for of the opportunist we take

6:26

you into the Rehab Riviera a place.

6:29

Where profit reign supreme. One

6:32

we have owner I spoke with

6:34

who witnessed the birth of the

6:36

Rehab Riviera said that respect Them

6:38

was making millions That never seem

6:40

to be enough Los Angeles. He

6:42

told me that's where the devil

6:45

goes on vacation as get away

6:47

with anything. Past

6:51

Yes. This

6:55

is Season Four episode One

6:57

person. We hop Mogul. And

7:01

hannah. Subscribed.

7:13

To the Opportunist wherever you listen to podcasts

7:15

to make sure you never miss an episode.

7:18

He. Can also rate the show and write a. Review

7:20

at Apple Podcasts It really does help the

7:22

south. The thank you so much. In.

7:32

Two thousand and eleven chris bathroom appeared. On

7:34

a radio show called The Quick Fix

7:37

with host Bradley Quick. The So

7:39

focused on positive change and life.

7:41

Enhancement your now cool change Radio

7:43

Network is the true visionary. Christopher

7:46

Bassem Chris or wasn't the show

7:48

Thank you very much! Good to

7:50

have you. It. Bigger. Throughout.

7:53

The Interview Chris talks about. His

7:55

approach to drug and alcohol treatment and

7:57

recovery will use a lot of the

7:59

older. The practices and traditions of all

8:01

the cultures. A lot of indigenous experiences.

8:03

Things like a sweat lodge. Things like

8:05

going out to the desert and us

8:07

sitting around a fire. Things like I'm.

8:11

Being out in nature and do an amazing thing

8:13

sir. Chris. Love talking about

8:15

his holistic approach to treatment. Which.

8:17

Included things like sound, baths,

8:19

breath weren't classes, and sweat

8:21

lodge meditations. He then

8:23

got into the idea of treatment linked.

8:26

He said something that was actually pretty

8:28

uncommon for rehab. Owners to stay at

8:30

the time and given never seems to

8:32

work, never works as good as the

8:34

first time that they. They never does.

8:37

I'm Susan at first. I always always

8:39

so does affect the matter? Is that

8:41

a paradigm shift in treatment means was.

8:43

Both. You know, I think it means a

8:45

big differences in how we're how we actually

8:48

define what treatment as and that's one of

8:50

the biggest things. I think. I think that

8:52

while people need to be away from their

8:54

places where they use, they don't necessarily need

8:56

to be locked up in a hospital environment

8:58

and they need treatment for a longer period

9:01

of time. So it's not so much about

9:03

this. With acute saying and and come out

9:05

six, it's more about how do we purchase

9:07

for a long period of time A person

9:09

in addiction treatment probably nice. About a year

9:12

of treatment, and that's unfortunate in. A. Good reason

9:14

not to start a sense. The stats

9:16

go to prove that the sixty nine

9:19

a day or more effective than thirty

9:21

or thirty days is silly. I actually

9:23

think sixty days and in an ideal

9:25

world, a client would enter a treatment

9:28

center, go through detox as needed, complete

9:30

their thirty sixty or ninety day program

9:32

without leaving or relapse scenes, and then

9:35

reenter the world and maintain their sobriety

9:37

for the overwhelming majority of people who

9:39

into rehab. and this does not happen.

9:43

On. Average: only twenty percent of people who

9:45

go to rehab will stay sober. That

9:47

means eighty percent of the time the

9:49

treatment as not have a lasting effect.

9:52

It should be noted that there is

9:54

no standard metric across treatment facilities to

9:56

measure that, so this is just a

9:58

rough estimate. No the

10:00

numbers are allow. Prisoners

10:02

answer to this. Was. A longer treatment

10:04

days. He said people needed more time of

10:07

you look at people that of what their

10:09

program about eighty five percent of them are

10:11

doing really good. How. Are they

10:13

sober? Every minute of their lives Know

10:16

I'm sobriety is necessary. it's influence their

10:18

my people relapse and addicts in a

10:20

relapse are part of assistance together and

10:22

often what we have to do is

10:24

learn how to respond to relapse better.

10:26

Sometimes a relapse and and in a

10:28

treatment process is one of the press

10:30

promoted Cia. As successful and part

10:32

by measuring that success not

10:34

by sobriety but by the

10:36

vague answer to send. That

10:38

clients for doing well. And

10:41

twenty fifteen. He sent out a

10:43

fundraising email and that he noted

10:45

that Sierra Leone had helped three

10:47

hundred and fifty clients get sober

10:49

that year, And that quote about

10:52

seventy five percent of those. Are

10:54

doing well today. That

10:56

the interview Chris sounds knowledgeable, well

10:58

researched, a thought leader in the

11:00

field of recovery to even claimed

11:03

he'd created a new model. for

11:05

running treatment centers I but I think that

11:07

most of the works it's being done as

11:09

a money that's being spent is wasted. Really?

11:12

How would you suggest that money be

11:14

spent? Well, you know I think. said

11:16

we're working on developing some model, said

11:18

there are more ram interesting and warm.

11:20

More relevant I'd say to the way

11:23

people get better. You know it's really

11:25

about how a person lives inside of

11:27

us, a lifestyle. How do they create

11:29

a great life for themselves? Chris.

11:32

Often said, longer treatment was the

11:35

key to staying sober. It

11:37

doesn't make sense. But. Most. Insurance

11:40

plans won't cover anything beyond

11:42

ninety days. Chris. Had a solution. He.

11:44

Offered clients job. Once.

11:47

A client was sober. First certain

11:49

amount of time, say sixty days.

11:52

It was common practice for Crest to

11:54

offer them a job at Sierra Lay.

11:56

He. Called it a client staff

11:59

model. Well I did have

12:01

some people on staff who were trained and

12:03

license to work in rehab. But

12:05

the majority of the staff was

12:07

composed. Of Clients Staff. And.

12:10

Two Thousand And Fourteen. Chris offered Rose

12:12

a job. She's been making progress

12:14

and therapy over the past year, but

12:17

had recently slipped into a state of

12:19

depression. You know it's are

12:21

doing really well in helpful and

12:23

nice filling. Really depressed to get

12:25

see. Recommended that I come work

12:27

for c are always in California.

12:30

Therapists and Patience can't have social

12:32

or professional contact outside of the

12:34

therapies. That and this is true

12:36

up until two. Years after

12:38

the therapeutic relationship. Ends Rose

12:41

new this and she questioned. Press

12:43

about it. She wanted to take the

12:45

job at Sierra Lay, but wasn't. That

12:47

unethical. And Faith and I

12:49

again. Next you grab. My facial expressions and

12:51

since he went full you know you couldn't

12:53

work for me. He would have to work

12:55

and a different part of the company and

12:57

then eventually navy for the clarity and I

13:00

sit cleaned it up when and he read

13:02

by like. If

13:04

I said growth has a sort

13:06

of punk rock band. to her,

13:08

she's got bleach blonde hair tattoos.

13:10

She's not. Afraid to swear. She's

13:13

fun and easy going at times,

13:15

but she's also a rule follower

13:17

almost to a fault, In

13:19

fact, over the past year, Chris had

13:21

been working with Rose trying to get

13:24

her to loosen up. For instance, he

13:26

wanted her to become okay with telling

13:28

lies. In the past seat

13:31

ended friendships over the faintest hint of

13:33

a white lie And so when other

13:35

people my life would be done on

13:37

earth. I would say flakes. You

13:39

know, throw the baby out with

13:42

the bathwater. Chris advised her to

13:44

practice. Telling little white lies.

13:46

And just see what happens. It

13:49

was actually really helpful being

13:51

able said understand why other

13:53

people lie in that it

13:55

doesn't mean that their core

13:57

or our entire friendship or

13:59

release. Or you know, his

14:01

last tour of a farce. The.

14:04

Job offers him to fall into the same

14:06

category. Roseanne. Of all the

14:08

good that she could do by working at

14:10

Sierra Les. Plus. Chris offered

14:12

her a very generous. Salary far above

14:14

anything she could make working anywhere else

14:17

since there are gaps in her education.

14:20

So. Rustic that up. This

14:22

become a trend in roses

14:24

interactions. With Chris bath them. He

14:27

gradually encouraged. Her to stop

14:29

seeing the world with such as

14:31

the coasts darkness to be okay

14:34

with breaking the rules. This.

14:37

Was twenty four It team and Cyril.

14:39

I was about to open a brand

14:41

new community center on Melrose Avenue. In

14:43

the heart a valet it was called

14:46

M To and Rose helped open that

14:48

community center. It. Has been because

14:50

a lot of it he was talking

14:52

about was about giving their clients and

14:54

opportunity to sir skating skills for outside

14:57

of treatment so when they laughed so

14:59

if he lived as can want to

15:01

learn how to cut hair or be

15:03

a very sad or you know all

15:05

these things and so that part was

15:08

really innovative so was like wow okay

15:10

I don't think there's anything like this.

15:13

Directly in a treatment center and

15:15

there was amazing and is amazing.

15:18

Prior. To M to opening

15:20

Cla didn't have one main

15:22

building. it was a collective.

15:24

Of. Sober living houses that were spread all

15:26

across the city, a valet and up

15:28

the coast. And. To Malibu in Calabasas.

15:31

M To was the biggest

15:33

facility yet. It had space

15:35

for group therapy sessions, family

15:37

days, and offices for the

15:39

staff. Plus Zero Lay was

15:41

expanding their client staff program

15:43

to include. All. Kinds of

15:45

jobs. There was a coffee shop called

15:47

Grounded and they employed client staff to

15:49

be the barista as a recording studio

15:52

called Sound Mind Records. Some. Clients

15:54

even started. A podcast Rock Bottom

15:56

Radio listener on Bottomley A

15:59

Guess. When you for coming on

16:01

the air of there was talk of opening a medical.

16:03

Clinic and a mechanic shop. If

16:05

you had an idea, Chris Bassem

16:08

would consider it. It seemed like

16:10

anything was possible. Find

16:12

a new flag it is good

16:14

you wanted you to give me

16:17

is it really is is moving

16:19

as bad thing and my way

16:21

and a man in his are

16:23

really getting idea of like men

16:26

like a lie as there's a

16:28

lot of money and as. Many.

16:33

People who suffer. From prolonged substance use

16:35

disorder have gaps in their resume

16:37

or criminal records often as a

16:40

result of their disease. This.

16:42

Makes employment at best challenging

16:44

and at worst impossible. I

16:47

spoke with a former Crl a client

16:49

name's Danny. About that I am a felon.

16:51

The or I wanted to times and houses.

16:56

And my resume. The last job I had

16:58

was to prove and five and then they

17:00

will give me a little bit of hope

17:02

and we're myself. the maybe I am employable

17:04

and I are worthy of doing from for.

17:06

Danny. Pointed out that hiring clients

17:09

as staff members was a good

17:11

economic model. For Sierra Lay there were two

17:13

hundred for Vr to weaken. It would cover a

17:15

portion of our sober living costs you know was

17:17

like for them. they were going to give not

17:19

free labor but damn near for do whatever you

17:21

know. At times Cla

17:23

had. Over four hundred employees on

17:25

payroll, but around ninety percent of

17:27

them were clients das who were

17:29

unlicensed and still working on their

17:32

sobriety. While. The full time

17:34

staff like Bros Stall where well

17:36

paid. The client staff weren't paid.

17:38

that's. Serial. I

17:40

was providing jobs. That. They were

17:42

also getting really. Cheap labor out of the deal.

17:45

And then there's the fact that once

17:47

client started to get paid, there was

17:49

a lot of incentive for them to

17:51

stay at Cla. Some. Of them

17:53

stayed. For years. it

17:55

also made it harder to speak up when

17:57

things started to go wrong Chris

18:05

understood a critical aspect to

18:08

recovery. Community. There's

18:10

a popular saying that the

18:12

opposite of addiction is connection.

18:15

Here's Chris again in the radio interview

18:17

speaking about community. One of

18:20

the most important is immersion in a

18:22

community of sobriety. Now that

18:24

we know more about the brain, we know

18:26

the brain responds very well to other people's

18:28

brains that are in sobriety. And we

18:30

know this if you're trying to get clean, you don't

18:32

hang out with a bunch of people who are using. In

18:34

the same way when people can be in

18:37

a community of people in sobriety, it works

18:39

very, very well. At the heart of

18:41

the CRLA community was Chris Bassam

18:43

himself. He was unconventional,

18:45

not afraid to push boundaries, but that was also

18:48

part of his charm. He was accessible. Clients had

18:50

his personal cell phone number. He

18:54

often wore jeans with a suit

18:56

jacket and t-shirt, looking professional enough,

18:59

but also messy, like a

19:01

busy dad. And then there

19:04

was the undeniable fact that

19:06

CRLA was literally saving people's

19:08

lives. People like Danny.

19:11

When Danny checked into CRLA, he

19:14

had no other options. I started using IV amphetamines

19:16

and smoking opiates, and then I was doing a

19:18

lot of benzos. I was smoking a lot of

19:20

PCP at the time. I mean, it's a miracle.

19:22

It's a miracle that I'm alive. It's a miracle

19:24

that I'm here to talk to you guys. It's

19:26

like really, really, really miraculous that I am able

19:29

to even, you know, get a chance, like another

19:31

chance at life. On

19:33

his 30th birthday, a friend of

19:35

his who had gotten sober at

19:37

CRLA convinced Danny to join him

19:39

there. Danny is still sober

19:41

today. His choice

19:44

to get sober was literally a matter

19:46

of life or death. That is not an

19:48

exaggeration. Danny has had

19:50

so many friends die. That

19:53

friend who brought him to CRLA in the

19:55

first place, he recently overdosed

19:57

and died. has

20:00

too many stories like this. Danny's

20:03

voice sounds kind of casual when he

20:05

talks about the death of his friends, but I

20:08

think that's indicative that death has

20:10

become common for him. It's

20:13

still very painful, but it's

20:15

also just a reality of his life. My

20:18

friend Max Rossman, who was a kid from Jersey, was like

20:20

the sweetest little punk rock kid he passed away, and then

20:22

there was a bunch of these kids from Boston that would

20:24

come, and then they would complete treatment or whatever, and then

20:27

go back home, and a lot of them would get back

20:29

home and they would die. There was another girl, Lindsay

20:31

McCulley, I don't know if you guys, if anyone's mentioned

20:33

her, she just passed away three weeks ago. She did

20:36

admissions there. You know, her aunt Sheila McCulley was one

20:38

of the family coordinators, you know? And she was in

20:40

sober living, was in one of the best programs in

20:42

LA, like

20:45

behavioral modification, 12-step

20:47

heavy, very, very, very good

20:49

program, and they found her in her bathroom,

20:51

passed away. A difficult part

20:53

in telling this story is that many of

20:55

the people who were around to witness it

20:58

are now dead, or missing,

21:00

or have relapsed, and we

21:02

can't get a hold of them. While

21:05

I was talking with Danny, I thought, it's

21:07

like he's been to war or something. When

21:10

else do you have five, six, seven,

21:13

10, 20 friends die before

21:16

you're barely into your 30s? For

21:20

everything good at CRLA, there

21:23

was a dark side as well. There's

21:26

43 people that have passed away since I

21:28

went into this treatment center on July 9th

21:30

of 2015. Those are just

21:32

the people that I know, you know? 43

21:34

people, like this is 43 sons,

21:36

daughters, fathers, mothers,

21:39

sisters, brothers. Even

21:42

when a treatment center does everything right,

21:44

people can still die. So

21:47

if things are intentionally done wrong,

21:50

or if there's a bad actor who is

21:52

causing people to die, it

21:54

can actually be kind of hard to spot. And

21:58

as Danny told me, When someone

22:00

offers you a lifeline, your

22:02

first thought isn't to do a background check on

22:04

them. And I didn't go

22:07

like looking up what degrees he had or anything, you know,

22:09

because I was like, I wasn't homeless and I wasn't putting

22:11

a needle in my arms, you know, and they were feeding

22:13

me pretty damn good food. And, you know, there was yerba

22:15

mathes in the fridge at the house that was out. Like,

22:17

there was no complaints on my end. It

22:21

makes sense that Chris was focused on the community

22:23

aspect of recovery. It's what he knew. After

22:26

he was the rehab mogul, he

22:28

was pursuing spiritual and community-oriented

22:31

endeavors. He was born

22:33

in 1961 and grew up in the suburbs

22:35

of Chicago. He was raised by, like,

22:38

really cool parents who were into, like,

22:40

religion. They were Catholics, but they were

22:43

liberal, like, you know, lefty Catholics in

22:45

Chicago in the 60s and 70s. And

22:48

he also said he wanted to be a monk when

22:51

he was a young man or a priest.

22:53

This is Evan Wright. He wrote a book

22:55

about Chris Bassam called Bad Therapist. Evan

22:58

spoke to Chris about his life before he

23:00

became an entrepreneur. He was

23:02

a community organizer. He was massively

23:05

committed to all of these social

23:07

justice issues in the 80s. He

23:10

came to California because Jane Fonda

23:12

and Tom Aiden brought him here

23:15

to train volunteers that they were

23:17

sending out for this national community

23:19

action program. So he was, like,

23:22

not just a do-gooder, he was

23:24

very effective at organizing and committed

23:26

to it. Chris valued

23:28

community and social justice, but

23:30

wanted to go deeper, to be part

23:33

of something truly authentic. He

23:35

was searching. Maybe he was trying

23:37

to find his life's purpose. He

23:39

had a growing love of sitta yoga,

23:41

and he spent five years of his

23:43

20s living in ashrams in India. And

23:46

I think he was seeking — this is my theory

23:48

— he was seeking religious

23:50

enlightenment. Some

23:52

form of purification enlightenment, his

23:55

whole life, he

23:57

leaves India, ends up in Topanga Canyon.

24:00

in the early 90s. He's had now 15,

24:03

20 years of this journey. He's now trying to

24:05

make money. And he just

24:07

started using all of this knowledge and

24:10

understanding of the talk, the healing, the

24:12

sensitivity, healing, and it dovetailed into rehabs.

24:14

But I think to my dying day,

24:16

if you ask me why he did

24:19

what he did or what changed him,

24:21

is I think he failed

24:24

to get enlightenment. It embittered him

24:26

and he like, revenged himself on

24:28

the world. In

24:33

the 1990s, Chris moved back to

24:35

the U.S. He was in his 30s and

24:37

starting over into Panga Canyon. He

24:39

did odd jobs once starting a pool

24:41

cleaning service around the Malibu area, but

24:44

it wasn't very successful. He

24:46

filed for bankruptcy in 1997. By the year 2000, he

24:51

was 39 years old with his second

24:53

child on the way. He had no

24:55

meaningful income or career. His

24:58

wife encouraged him to pursue

25:01

hypnotherapy. So in 2001,

25:03

he got a certificate in

25:05

hypnotherapy and opened his own practice.

25:08

He took clients over the phone. And

25:10

this is when Chris first started to realize

25:12

that there were a lot of people trying

25:15

to get sober. His clients

25:17

would call in wanting to be hypnotized to

25:19

help them stop drinking or smoking

25:21

or using. Often,

25:23

Chris just ended up talking with them.

25:26

Some have theorized that this is when

25:29

he first started to see himself as

25:31

a therapist. In

25:33

the next few years, there were a series

25:36

of events that when looked at

25:38

together, can only be described as

25:40

the perfect storm. Chris

25:43

Batham was in the right place at

25:45

the right time, or

25:47

the wrong place at the wrong time, depending

25:49

on how you look at it. First

25:52

came the opioid epidemic. in

26:00

the height of the opioid crisis. The opioid

26:02

crisis is more than a human tragedy that's

26:04

claimed a half a million lives. It's

26:07

part of what America's become, a

26:09

nation of addicts. Need for

26:11

rehab was higher than ever, and sober

26:13

living houses started to proliferate

26:15

across Southern California. In

26:18

the early 2000s, California passed

26:20

multiple initiatives, allowing nonviolent drug

26:22

offenders to choose drug treatment

26:25

as opposed to incarceration. The

26:27

industry was booming. The

26:30

second factor is how easy it is

26:32

to start a sober living house. Here's

26:35

Evan Wright again. Once I

26:37

open a sober living house and

26:39

I declare, and I say, this is a sober

26:41

living house, I can get a license from the

26:44

state for like 30 bucks online or something. Once

26:46

I declare that I have a sober living house,

26:49

I can advertise it, I can

26:52

invite recovering addicts to move into

26:54

that house, I can charge them

26:56

rent, I can do all of that. I

26:59

cannot be discriminated against. And the

27:01

other thing that the state cannot

27:03

do is they're not allowed to

27:05

come inside and see what I'm

27:07

really doing in that house. Sober

27:11

living houses are not treatment

27:13

centers. They're houses where

27:15

sober people live together. But

27:17

it's not so easy to monitor what

27:19

happens inside these sober living homes. The

27:22

Americans with Disabilities Act recognizes

27:24

addicts as a protected class.

27:27

The health department can't just march into a

27:29

person's home to inspect it without reason. The

27:31

same goes for sober living homes. So

27:34

sober living homes are easy to start,

27:37

hard to regulate, and in high

27:39

demand. Which brings us to the

27:42

next factor. I

27:44

found something really interesting. The

27:47

whole housing market is propped up on

27:50

those bad homes. They

27:52

will fail. The housing market

27:54

is rock solid. It's

27:57

a clock restart. That's

28:00

I'm a twenty fifteen film. The Big

28:02

Short. The. Growing financial crisis

28:05

created a wave of foreclosures

28:07

across Southern California. Mansions

28:09

and Malibu. The sat empty and

28:11

rent was cheaper than ever. If.

28:13

Someone to get a lease on a Malibu. Property and

28:15

turn it into a sober living house. They

28:18

could search two grand a month to each

28:20

tennis and turn a quick profit. And

28:23

that to tell Chris Botham got his

28:25

start. For the first

28:27

time in his life he was making

28:29

good money. He moved his family and

28:31

a home and Agoura Hills and affluent

28:33

suburb of Los Angeles. He. Started

28:35

to network. Meeting leaders in the

28:37

industry, listening and learning, he worked

28:40

his way up the social ladder,

28:42

making a name for hims. And.

28:44

Then came to the. And

28:47

it was as if a bomb went off. And

28:49

the industry. The Affordable Care

28:51

Act passed and for the

28:53

first time ever, insurance companies

28:55

are required to cover substance

28:57

use disorder. It wasn't just

28:59

wealthy people seeking treatment anymore.

29:01

Suddenly anyone with insurance could

29:03

go to rehab. And

29:05

that would change the entire industry.

29:11

By. Twenty Thirteen Insurance money.

29:13

Was flowing in Syria. lay still

29:15

charged an entrance fee for clients

29:17

with insurance, but it was often

29:19

waves for clients who couldn't pay.

29:22

Jimmy. Gilbert was offered a scholarship to

29:24

check into Cla and twenty the team.

29:27

She suffered from an eating disorder at the

29:29

time, but she didn't have insurance and couldn't.

29:32

Afford to pay out of pocket to

29:34

attend an eating disorder treatment facility. She

29:36

was told Cla could help her. Iran's

29:39

on. You know? I know you don't

29:41

struggle with substance abuse, but like that's

29:43

okay. They take care of everything here.

29:46

You know? I know you don't have

29:48

health insurance or they're gonna set of

29:50

health insurance for you. They're gonna give

29:52

you a full scholarship. So.

29:55

You are aware that. They. Opened

29:57

Insurance and your name. Yes,

30:00

they framed it to me like it was a good

30:02

thing. It made me feel

30:04

so fortunate. I

30:06

was like, wow, he would pay for

30:09

health insurance for me? That's so great.

30:12

Before Kimi met Chris Bathum, she heard

30:14

about him from the other clients at

30:17

CRLA. Everyone was obsessed

30:19

with the CEO. It was like

30:21

they worshipped him. They were

30:23

like, oh, but wait until you meet Chris. Chris

30:26

has studied with these ancient

30:28

shamans. He's written all these

30:30

scholarly books. He's

30:32

like a multimillionaire. He's as

30:34

like a genius IQ. I

30:38

mean, he sounded

30:40

like a god or something.

30:43

The first time Kimi saw Chris, she

30:46

was surprised. He was a

30:48

nerdy middle-aged guy with the receding

30:50

hairline and red blotchy skin. But

30:53

the clients around her looked at him

30:55

as if he carried the secrets to the universe.

30:58

There was just a group of

31:01

young, really attractive women around him

31:03

in a circle. And wherever he

31:05

went, they all went. It

31:07

was funny. At the time, I was kind of thinking,

31:09

this feels a little like a cult.

31:12

Everyone just kept saying, oh, Chris is

31:14

just eccentric. He is just unconventional.

31:18

Kimi struggled to find her place at CRLA. And

31:22

it makes sense why. The classes

31:24

and therapy sessions were all focused

31:26

on helping people get sober. But

31:29

Kimi had never struggled with substance abuse.

31:31

She would sit through meetings about the 12 steps and

31:34

think, this doesn't apply to me. The

31:37

staff's response to Kimi was basically,

31:40

you need to lean into the work.

31:42

You aren't getting better because you're resistant.

31:45

It was always like, why can't

31:47

she get with the program? We're

31:49

all doing it. We're all having

31:52

this spiritual experience. Clients

31:54

and staff, they all just kind of viewed me

31:56

as like a problem. And so

31:58

I thought of myself that way, too. So

32:01

I kind of thought I deserved it. All

32:04

the clients at CRLA had advocates

32:06

assigned to them, and often those

32:08

advocates were client staff, people who'd

32:10

achieved 30 or 60 days of sobriety

32:12

and then got hired for $150 a week

32:15

to work at CRLA. They

32:18

were untrained and fiercely loyal to

32:20

Chris Batham. The longer

32:22

Kimmy was at CRLA, the more

32:25

her mental health deteriorated. She

32:27

attended a meeting in which CRLA brought

32:29

in a supposed health expert to speak

32:31

with all the clients. And

32:34

he was teaching this group, where he's like,

32:36

you know, I think it would be great if everyone

32:39

here started taking diet pills and talking

32:41

about stuff like that. And you know,

32:43

I had like an eating disorder and

32:45

I was like, this is unethical. I

32:47

don't believe in this. After

32:50

she threatened to harm herself, Kimmy was assigned

32:52

a guardian to watch over her 24-7. Our

32:56

guardian was an untrained client staff who

32:58

started bullying Kimmy and once even slammed

33:01

her up against a wall. In

33:04

a desperate attempt for relief, Kimmy tried

33:06

to escape from CRLA. And

33:08

then I tried to jump out the window to try

33:11

to run away. So

33:14

that's when like things started to

33:16

really shift in my

33:19

treatment there. And that's when I

33:21

became personally involved with

33:24

Chris Basim. Technically

33:30

Kimmy could leave CRLA. She

33:33

was an adult and CRLA was a

33:35

voluntary program, but she

33:37

didn't really have anywhere to go. Her family

33:39

had stopped helping her and she didn't have a

33:41

place to live or a job. And

33:44

this is when Chris Basim personally reached

33:46

out to her and offered himself as

33:48

a friend and confidant. So

33:51

then Chris introduced himself and he was

33:53

like, I just want to say like,

33:55

I am so sorry that you felt

33:57

so ostracized by this community. I

34:00

believe in you. I'm never gonna give up on

34:02

you. You know, I'm gonna start working with you

34:04

personally to make sure You get

34:07

all the healing that you deserve and

34:10

like I had mixed feelings about him.

34:12

It was very strange um,

34:14

and also he was a lot older

34:16

like it was kind of a creepy

34:20

older guy But

34:22

then at the same time I was like I

34:24

kind of forgot about that. So I'm like

34:26

wow he's the only one here who's showing

34:28

me all this like warmth and compassion and

34:32

You know saying he sees potential in me

34:34

and that I'm not worthless They

34:36

started spending time together He'd

34:39

pick her up when she was being bullied by the

34:41

other women in her house and drive her around This

34:44

is inappropriate behavior for a

34:46

therapist But again Chris's whole

34:48

persona and approach was that he was

34:50

eccentric The ethical boundaries

34:53

between client and therapist seem

34:55

to dissolve in favor of his

34:58

unconventional approach to therapy I

35:00

was like wow he's going like above and

35:02

beyond like picking me up when I'm crying

35:04

and You know He's making all this like

35:06

extra time for me that like he doesn't

35:09

have to be making so I really I

35:11

felt like I owed him It was always a sense

35:14

of like I owed him While

35:17

they were driving around in the car

35:19

Chris offered Kimmy individual therapy sessions

35:22

over the next few months this became the norm

35:25

Kimmy would feel isolated lonely

35:27

and depressed. She'd text Chris

35:30

He'd pick her up and they would drive around and talk

35:33

now that she had insurance Thanks to

35:35

CRLA Kimmy started pressing to go

35:37

to an eating disorder facility called

35:39

Montanito CRLA was paying

35:42

her monthly insurance premiums, so she felt

35:44

she needed a Chris's permission at first

35:47

He was resistant, but eventually he

35:49

conceded Kimmy went to treatment

35:51

at Montanito But before long

35:54

she had checked herself out and was back

35:56

at CRLA why? Chris

35:59

Basim had been been texting her the entire

36:01

time. Somehow, Kimmy had become

36:03

convinced that Chris was the only one who

36:05

could help her. In

36:13

2014, Kimmy returned from the

36:15

eating disorder treatment facility and resumed

36:18

the car therapy sessions with Chris

36:20

Batham. He would take me

36:22

out to dinner and take

36:24

me for rides in his car where

36:26

he was driving a maniac. But then

36:29

he would listen to me for hours

36:31

and hours. And I remember one night,

36:33

I asked Chris, I was like, Chris, what

36:36

do you think is the missing link

36:38

in my recovery? What have we not

36:40

talked about or covered? Or what

36:43

is it? And then he looked at

36:45

me, and he was like, well,

36:48

I think a part that's missing for

36:50

you is talking about your sexual trauma.

36:53

Kimmy didn't want to talk to Chris about

36:55

her sexual trauma, and she made that known.

36:58

But I said, Chris, I don't really

37:00

feel comfortable talking about that with

37:03

you. And he said, well, I

37:05

do offer, and I don't

37:08

do this for everyone, I do

37:10

offer these hypnotherapy sessions for some

37:12

of my favorites like you. And

37:16

maybe if you did this hypnotherapy

37:18

session with me tomorrow, that you

37:20

would feel more comfortable opening up

37:22

about your sexual trauma. So

37:24

then what happened the next day? So

37:28

I met him. It was called Summer

37:30

Hill. It was in Malibu. And this

37:32

was like the biggest of all the

37:34

facilities. CRLA had just

37:36

added a new location to the growing

37:38

company, a mansion with a

37:40

grand spiral staircase in the entrance, a

37:43

sweat lodge on site, and a pool

37:45

with a water slide. Chris's office was

37:47

also located there. This place

37:49

is huge. And I met

37:51

him at his office. And

37:54

I had been in that office before, but

37:56

I had never noticed that there was a

37:58

door behind his desk. Chris

38:01

opened the door, walked through it, and

38:03

invited Kimmy to join him. And

38:05

then there was another door inside of

38:08

that, and he locked both doors behind

38:10

him, which made me feel really uncomfortable.

38:12

Then I saw there was like a

38:15

dirty mattress on the floor in a

38:17

bucket. And I asked Chris, I

38:19

was like, Chris, what is this mattress here for? And

38:23

he was like, oh, I use that for naps.

38:26

And like at the time, I

38:28

remember thinking that was bizarre because

38:30

he had his own nice mansion,

38:33

like 15 minutes away in a gora,

38:35

like could easily go take a nap

38:37

there. Was there anything

38:39

else in the room besides this

38:42

mattress and bucket? No, that

38:44

was it. Were there any windows in the

38:46

room? No. Chris

38:48

told Kimmy that he was going to lead

38:50

her through a guided meditation. He

38:53

told her to sit on the mattress and close her eyes.

38:55

He said he was going

38:57

to use the bucket as like a drum

38:59

or whatever. He was like, and if your

39:01

mind wanders, like, let it come back to

39:03

like the beats of the drum.

39:05

So I closed my eyes.

39:08

I couldn't tell you for the life of me,

39:10

the actual guided meditation, like what he said in

39:12

it. But it was something

39:14

about finding like my spirit

39:17

animal. I slowly started

39:19

to like open my eyes and just look

39:21

at what was around me. And

39:23

I saw

39:26

Chris like laying

39:28

on his side, like on

39:30

the mattress, doing that,

39:32

that weird look where he's like glancing up

39:35

from his glasses like at me. And

39:38

he started like, he

39:43

started to like button

39:46

his shirt and was like,

39:50

like, like touching

39:52

himself and like

39:54

it wasn't okay. Kimmy

39:57

thought of an excuse as to why she suddenly needed to be a

39:59

part of the family. to leave. I got out

40:01

of there before it went any further, but

40:04

that's when I felt like

40:06

things were not like what

40:09

they seemed at CRLA.

40:12

Kimi didn't know how to leave CRLA

40:15

by this point. It

40:17

wasn't just that she had nowhere to go, it was

40:19

that she was afraid to leave. And

40:22

to be honest, like, that's also part

40:25

of the reason why I classify this

40:27

whole experience as a cult, because I

40:29

was terrified to leave. It was

40:31

made so like you were stuck there

40:34

forever in an endless cycle of treatment.

40:36

It was awful. It was just awful. So

40:39

what happened when you were finally, when you,

40:41

you know, how did you finally exit CRLA?

40:45

I was kicked out. Kimi

40:48

wasn't given a reason. Later, a

40:50

friend who worked in the billing department told

40:52

her that because of her stint at the

40:54

eating disorder facility, the insurance had

40:57

flagged her claims coming from

40:59

CRLA. They had stopped paying.

41:02

Kimi believes that Chris Basim intentionally

41:04

kept her at CRLA when he

41:06

knew she wasn't getting any better

41:08

so that he could keep billing

41:10

her insurance. And once the

41:12

insurance stopped paying, she was kicked

41:14

out. Kimi feels

41:16

that Chris Basim derailed her treatment,

41:18

that her time at CRLA only

41:21

made her journey to recovery

41:23

more difficult and drawn out. I've

41:26

become pretty public with my story about

41:28

all of this because, I mean,

41:30

it affected me for almost 10 years

41:33

after that. Like, I finally recovered from

41:35

my eating disorder. It took me a

41:37

lot, a lot longer than it should

41:39

have. In

41:44

October of 2014, Rose Stahl

41:46

wasn't feeling as excited about CRLA as

41:48

she had that summer when M2 opened.

41:51

She saw the negligence at CRLA. It

41:55

started becoming kind of weird and toxic to

41:57

me. And

42:00

they were starting to, you know,

42:02

refer to clients as like pieces

42:04

of shit when they weren't in the

42:06

room. So it was like

42:09

when they liked someone, they

42:11

really liked them and they would go to bat

42:13

for them. But then there were

42:15

people that they saw as just quote unquote pieces

42:17

of shit. So that's sort

42:19

of being really weird. It

42:22

was standard practice that when clients checked

42:24

into CRLA, all of their belongings would

42:26

be confiscated. Over time,

42:28

if they stayed sober, they would start to get

42:30

privileges back, such as use of their phone, or

42:33

they might be able to go on a day

42:35

trip away from CRLA. But

42:37

there wasn't a set rule for what

42:39

milestones clients needed in order to get

42:42

privileges. It was solely decided by

42:44

the whims of the people in charge. Rose

42:47

witnessed the staff withholding privileges from

42:49

clients that they personally disliked.

42:52

One day in October of

42:54

2014, Rose vented her frustration

42:56

to her fellow coworker and

42:59

mentor, Nina N'Praia. Rose

43:02

was not expecting Nina's response. Nina

43:04

had her own concerns that she wanted

43:06

to vent about. She'd

43:08

heard disturbing rumors about Chris Batham.

43:11

She opened the floodgates of

43:13

this entire tale that

43:16

I was not privy

43:18

to. Nina unheard

43:20

that Chris was sexually assaulting

43:23

clients during therapy sessions. There

43:26

were additional rumors of lawsuits from

43:28

past clients, insurance fraud, and even

43:30

that Chris was using drugs. Saying

43:33

that clients were being raped

43:36

and tortured and murdered, and

43:38

she's like, so anyway, what

43:40

if it's true? I

43:44

had heard nothing about anything like

43:46

this, and it fucking

43:49

freaked me the

43:51

fuck up. It

43:54

went against his entire philosophy

43:56

and ethos his entire...

44:00

If he had been inappropriate

44:02

with a client, it would be just like,

44:05

this guy is a fucking con

44:07

artist. When she first told

44:09

you this of her suspicions,

44:13

what did you think like, and you know, did

44:16

you think that it might be true? I was

44:19

just freaking freaking out. But I

44:21

was totally open to it being true. But I

44:23

was like, I need to find out. I need

44:25

to find out. Like I couldn't handle the not

44:27

knowing. Rose went home. Her

44:30

friend Jane was visiting her from out of town

44:32

and Rose vented about her day and the

44:34

rumors she'd heard about Chris Bathum. Weirdly,

44:37

Jane could relate. Jane's

44:39

ex wife had worked in a rehab

44:41

five years prior and she had also

44:44

had an abusive and problematic boss. And

44:46

so when I was like telling Jane

44:49

about it, she just like

44:51

let me call my ex and see, you

44:53

know, give you some insight or like what

44:55

you could do or whatever. And I was

44:57

like, yeah, I would love to see like,

44:59

what, how does she handle it? And then

45:01

I, you know, we were talking about it

45:03

more and I'm just like, Jane's

45:05

ex wife didn't answer the phone. So they

45:07

waited for her to text back. Rose

45:10

hoped she would have some advice on how to

45:12

proceed and what to do. But

45:14

she was also in a panic. It

45:17

could be hours before Jane's ex wife got

45:19

back to them. Rose wanted

45:21

answers now. Was her

45:23

beloved and trusted therapist abusing people?

45:27

She decided to confront Chris directly.

45:29

She was worried that if she texted him that

45:32

she needed to talk, he might dodge her. So

45:34

instead she invented a crisis. And

45:37

so I finally ended up, I

45:39

found the top, I have it in text, I

45:41

was like, hey, boss, can I really

45:44

need to talk with you? I

45:47

said, hey, I'm really feeling like having a drink and

45:49

it was sober. And he was

45:51

like, I don't think that's a

45:53

bad idea. That was his

45:55

response. It was, yeah, something of that.

45:57

He's like, And he goes, in fact, Amit?

46:00

yeah I meet you. less meat for a drink.

46:02

Rose. Was sober during this time

46:05

months before Chris had suggested to

46:07

her that she should drink alcohol

46:09

in front of him. Rose

46:11

had been questioning again if she

46:13

had an alcohol addiction or not.

46:16

Chris. Is solution was for her to drink in

46:18

front of him and find out she had turned

46:20

him down at the time. But. Now

46:23

she was on her way to meet

46:25

him at a restaurant. Rose.

46:28

Was too sick enough to drive so

46:30

her friend Jane drove her. On.

46:32

The car Ride Their Jane told

46:34

Rose more about her ex wife's

46:37

boss. The guy sounded awful. The

46:39

guy was. Like smoking crack the plants

46:41

in being cited the you know seen

46:43

that of real I've seen under the

46:46

pressure and perfect yet even don't target

46:48

with how. She realized like he

46:50

gave. Her coffee is that in the

46:52

i'm having a matheny like some pretty

46:54

fucked up that. Silly.

46:57

Chris wasn't that bad but the story

46:59

made. Rosa said it was a reality

47:01

check. Their bad actors in this industry.

47:03

Not everyone is who they say. They

47:05

are. This was sunny day

47:08

and was on the highway and sustained

47:10

on Benetton center and going to have

47:12

a meeting of for the street and

47:14

I'm just going to have ten and

47:16

will be family plans to sanitize in

47:18

as you might have waiting for me

47:21

be jumps off chain and Rose pulled

47:23

into the parking lot. Rose

47:25

From members Chris was wearing Bermuda shorts.

47:28

She never seen him dressed so casually and

47:30

it was kind of comical. And the midst

47:32

of this very intense crisis since he got

47:34

ready to get out of the car and

47:36

meet him when Jane got a text message.

47:39

It was her ex wife. She texted

47:41

Jane the name of her abusive ex

47:43

and player who she claimed. Drugged

47:45

and raped the clients and staff

47:48

members. And as seen

47:50

a fucking pulls in the

47:52

white man's wife for spies

47:54

and says chris bad thing.

47:58

is a guy And

48:04

I just, I

48:07

mean just, and

48:11

so I just keep saying like,

48:13

gee, I can't do really, and I'm like, I have to, I

48:15

have to talk to him, I have to talk to him, I

48:17

have to find out. What

48:20

happened next is a blur. Rose got out of

48:22

the car, went into the restaurant with Chris, and

48:24

they both ordered a beer. She

48:26

confronted him about all the rumors, and he

48:28

denied them all. The employee who

48:30

first told Rose about the rumors? Chris

48:33

discredited her. He told Rose

48:35

she'd recently been demoted. This

48:37

ended up being true. Chris

48:40

explained away every single

48:42

accusation. Rose

48:44

took a drink of her beer. That

48:46

night, she relapsed, and it started by

48:48

drinking with Chris Batham, her therapist, and

48:51

CEO of a recovery center. Somehow

48:56

in a matter of hours, Rose

48:58

had gone from fairly certain the rumors were

49:00

true to fairly certain

49:02

the rumors were fabricated. Thinking

49:05

back now, she's not sure how she explained away

49:07

the fact that Jane's ex-wife corroborated

49:09

the story. So that

49:12

had to be some weird cognitive dissidence going on

49:14

for me, because I don't know what happened to

49:16

that story. But in that

49:18

night, he really, that's when he

49:20

introduced me to really just how

49:22

insane and crazy Cliff Brosky was.

49:26

Chris said he was the victim of a stalker

49:28

who was slandering him and the

49:30

company, paying people off to

49:32

say bad things about him, dragging his name through

49:35

the mud. He told Rose

49:37

that a deranged ex-investor was trying

49:39

to destroy CRLA. It

49:42

turns out Chris Batham had a

49:45

nemesis, and his name was

49:47

Cliff Brosky. Next

49:50

time on The Opportunist. He

49:53

said, like, I'm being spiritually raped by that.

49:55

And then he would pose like a glamour

49:57

shot next to his mother, Roddy. His

49:59

room. are enough to take this huge company down and

50:01

at that point we had like 400 having good.

50:05

Let's just say no one in their

50:07

right mind would have done what I

50:09

did had it there been some nefarious

50:11

psychological subliminal shit going on. I'm not

50:13

saying he hypnotized me but he definitely

50:15

was able to get under my skin.

50:18

So Kirsten also became kind of

50:20

a member of the family. She was

50:22

constantly there. Which is really pretty crazy.

50:25

You know that I knew that they were

50:27

having an affair and she's coming to enter.

50:29

The illegal treatment unlicensed

50:32

flophouse by Chris Batham

50:35

with one two three four

50:37

five six seven please call.

50:54

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51:28

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51:31

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