Davis Cup Hero Cliff Richey’s Harrowing Addiction Recovery
By Cliff Richey
@AcingDepression
The United States, as we all know, is in the middle of a very bad drug crisis.
In my opinion the COVID crisis made it even worse. Being very isolated helps to create drug and alcohol abuse. In my case I had a five-month battle with COVID and it turned into COVID Long Haul and that was a two-and-a-half-year fight. Both diseases gives you insomnia. I became addicted to a very popular sleep med. After trying to beat my addiction on my own, after one-and-a-half years it became clear that I couldn’t do it on my own and needed professional help.
On March 12th, 2025 I checked myself into a detox and rehabilitation facility. It was in a big metro area of Texas. My sister Nancy and I looked on the internet and I chose one that we felt would be a good one. The webpage for this facility said that I would have a doctor, a psychiatrist, and a case manager. It also touted having a world-renowned chef and gourmet food. In my case I wanted a single private room and I got one. I also wanted an air conditioning system that I could control a thermostat in my room. I assumed that for the price I was paying and the overall pictures and description of this facility I would certainly have a full bathroom with all the necessities. I didn’t have AC I could control and I had no bathroom … not even a sink.
The purpose of this article that I am writing is to warn people to not believe everything a rehab center touts on their website. One last thing that I knew about was that for the first eight days I would not have use of my phone. More about that in a minute.
In my opinion, fraud, a sham, and misrepresentations adequately describes what I actually walked into. Take heed! I never once saw a doctor. The only people that I spoke to were not even on property. What should have been doctors were Physician Assistants. And that was three different people done by telemeds from out of state. I never saw a psychiatrist in person or by telemed. I think I did have a case manager but in the eight days that I was there I never met the person. So in my opinion, that is three huge misrepresentations.
Now let’s go back to the “world renowned chef” and the cuisine. The chef was an obese woman with tattoos ( yeah I know a lot of you have tattoos) but I personally don’t like them. She did not wear any head gear and she was vaping while cooking. The “cuisine” the last night I was there was hotdogs! The kitchen was part of a hallway that led to the snack cabinet. The clientele and all of the staff could and did walk into this walkway kitchen and stand around a few feet from the stove having conversations. I think you get the idea. One last thing about the kitchen. One of the managers of the facility had a very big dog that also was roaming the kitchen. He had a very nice dog and I am a dog lover but they shouldn’t be in the kitchen.
The first PA I talked to took me off the sleep med cold turkey. Now I digress. Cold turkey is not a good idea because it’s dangerous. I’ve studied it and that’s just a fact. As it turns out it turned out to be a good thing for me. I am now 25 days clean. I’m not quite through the withdrawal symptoms but feel I am close to getting there. The withdrawals are severe, but I am very determined and it truly is one of the biggest matches of my life.
I’m almost through with this saga, I will tell you the shocking end game. Having gotten off the sleep med I felt there was nothing more they could do for me except sessions of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I decided after eight days of the 10 day program I’d leave. I didn’t need their CBT because I wrote a whole book on it. You can find my book on Amazon written with a licensed cowriter. The title of the book is “Your Playbook for Beating Depression” (which is for sale and download here: https://a.co/d/0or8sZv I have another book which is my memoir titled “Acing Depression: A Tennis Champion’s Toughest Match” (which is for sale and download here: https://a.co/d/e1Zd6lQ That book details my successful 25-year career in professional tennis. In that book you will see so many aspects of CBT played out in real life.
So I decided on the eight day to leave. I asked the manager for my phone to call my ride who was three-and-a-half hours away. He flatly said “No” when I asked for my phone. He also insinuated that because I had not completed the last two days of the detox I would not be allowed to leave with or without my phone. Hotel California had come alive. Of course the famous line in that song is “You can check out any time you like but you can never leave”. I told him that regardless of their rules for my stay I would call the police and also I told him that I could prove they were a fraud. He was very adamant about his position but the simple fact was I had PAs not a doctor so agreement was broken. With his boss at his side he said “we will let you go”. I got my phone and I left.
I am sure you are curious as to what the fee was for this horrible experience. I paid $25,000 for a 10-day stay, and as I said, I only stayed eight. I simply write this article to warn everybody to vet a facility better than I did. On a final note, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services is actively investigating all of this.
Let’s all try to make a difference in this national drug problem!
