Telegraph [UK]

A luxury hotel-style addiction clinic is offering a lifeline to City types who turn to cocaine and alcohol to ease their stress, reports Christopher Hope

'I know of at least three dried-out alcoholics with senior jobs in private equity. One of them is one of the industry's leading lights," says Jon Moulton, the venture capitalist and millionaire businessman who recently opened Winthrop Hall, a residential addiction treatment centre aimed at City workers for whom mental burnout is still a shameful secret.

Winthrop Hall opened in October, but it's in late January and early February, after the handout of the final Christmas bonuses, that Moulton expects to see his 25-room, hotel-style centre booked out.

Moulton, 57, says the worst victims are City lawyers, whose "stress levels and hours have gone through the roof. The drink or the cocaine after work has become quite serious."

Moulton, whose company, Alchemy Partners, employs 31,000 people in hotels, pubs, insurers and engineering firms, says a highly remunerated boss addicted to drink or drugs can cause serious damage through erratic decision-making, changeable moods and increased absenteeism.

"It is a big problem at senior level. Somebody with only a mild addiction problem at the top of a law practice can do incredible amounts of damage to a client's and a firm's interests. I have heard examples of senior lawyers so drunk that they could not actually deal with a meeting."

Drug and alcohol misuse is estimated to cost businesses £6.4 billion a year, according to 2003 government figures, and up to 17 million working days are lost to it every year.

A survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in September found that four in 10 companies rate alcohol as an important cause of absence and lost productivity. The proportion of companies concerned about drug use was three in 10.

Dr David Bremner, Winthrop's consultant psychiatrist specialising in addiction, explains the build-up to burnout.

"Decades of financial security have led some executives to take more risks," he says. "Often it is when this security is threatened that an addict will finally admit to a problem."

Referrals to addiction clinics peak during the annual City bonus season, when six-figure sums are dished out to top performers; so far, bonuses have been higher than expected, though they are expected to be down on last year overall. Bremner says: "It is stress galore - 'Am I going to get a 400 per cent bonus, or am I going to get fired?'?"

Moulton says some of the country's biggest law firms now hire full-time addiction specialists who work, unannounced, in their human resources departments, ready to intervene if a problem arises.

But, he adds, it is when those problems escalate into full-blown addiction or emotional breakdown that high-earning executives need somewhere else to turn to. Frequently, they choose clinics in America.

Inspired by the fact that one clinic, Cottonwood De Tucson in Arizona, was "fully a third Brits", Moulton decided to set up Winthrop Hall, aiming to remove the stigma of drying-out clinics by giving the centre the feel of a luxurious, four-star hotel - and a price tag to go with it.

A six-week residential course, including a year's follow-up support, costs £32,000. The staff-patient ratio is two to one. A "treatment triad" of "12-step" therapy (based on the Alcoholics Anonymous blueprint in which patients are encouraged to admit they cannot control their addiction), cognitive behavioural therapy (in which damaging behaviour patterns are "unlearned") and regular meetings with the families every weekend form the basis of all care.

It is the surroundings that represent a new departure in addiction treatment. From the low-slung maroon sofas in the lobby and high-tech gym to the minimalist bedrooms with their double beds, fine linen and power showers, it is a far cry from traditional rehab clinics. There are no lime-green walls or cold waiting rooms at Winthrop Hall.

For more information about Winthrop Hall, visit www.winthrophall.co.uk.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Image from "Boston Legal" TV series.