In real world, rehab is unglamorous but successful

A few years ago, I went on a ride-along with a Volunteers of America outreach van. Walt, the driver, was making a concerted effort to reach out to people who most of us give a wide berth. Many were drunk. All were homeless. Walt was offering rides to a shelter where these men could detox and, perhaps, enter a treatment program.

He impressed me on several levels. He had a friendly, nonjudgmental manner about him. He met folks where they were and respected that not everyone was interested in the hand up he had to offer. That was a real education for me. Maybe they wouldn't give up the booze and drugs, but weren't these men interested in getting off the cold, dangerous streets for the night? A good many weren't. Perhaps they were mentally ill or they simply did not want to conform to shelter rules. Still others didn't believe they needed help.

Recently, I've thought a lot about that last category of people. I'm fairly convinced that Lindsay Lohan fits in that group. Sure, she'll go through the motions of "rehab," but she won't deal with her substance abuse or underlying emotional baggage because "her people" have led her to believe she doesn't have a problem.

Yeah, right.

The difference between Lohan and the men I met on my VOA ride-along is resources. She has a ton of money, and she's surrounded by people who don't dare (for fear of unemployment or being removed from her "circle") confront her about her issues. They're enablers, which means they're her worst enemies.

The men huddled in doorways and alleyways? Some of them were in deep denial, too. Even though they lived in a manner most of us would consider having bottomed out, they were not yet at a place where they recognized they needed to make serious lifestyle changes or end up dead.

I also have had the opportunity to visit programs at Odyssey House in Salt Lake City. It's a private, nonprofit substance abuse treatment program that is about the furthest thing from the "celebrity rehabs" we see on the nightly entertainment reports. There's no spa treatments or sunning by the pool. There's lots of structure and personal accountability.

Many of the clients have been ordered to the programs by courts. Some are parents at risk of losing custody of their children if they don't get their substance abuse and emotional issues in check. Some are youths whose lives have been derailed by drugs, alcohol and anti-social behavior. The goal, according to the program's Web site, is to "meet the challenges of life without returning to former, self-destructive patterns."