Owen Wilson's Sober Buddy May Help Him Snap Back

Sept. 17, 2007 — -- After a very public meltdown and a suicide attempt, actor Owen Wilson followed what used to be standard protocol -- first brief hospitalization, then right into rehab. But reports say Wilson cut short the typically lengthy stay in rehab in favor of a newer method of treatment called sober companionship. A "sober buddy" isn't just a pal you give your keys to at the start of the night, and it's not a friend. These buddies mean business.

Rather than spending the standard 60 to 90 days in a chic celebrity-filled clinic like Promises or Betty Ford, Wilson has hired a sober companion to keep him on track. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, he'll have someone by his side making sure he doesn't give in to temptation. Sure, the stars can afford such intense monitoring, but they're not the primary clientele for the service.

Doug Caine, founder and president of Sober Champion, a sober companion company with offices in Los Angeles, New York and London, says the majority of his clients are not famous.

"Most people with drug problems aren't celebrities, so most of our clients are not," says Caine. "Our clients are executives, adolescents, housewives, businessmen, trust fund kids and hardworking people who develop chronic substance abuse problems."

Nineteen year-old Brandon Lucks is one of those clients. Plagued for most of his teenage years with a heroin addiction, Lucks has been in and out of rehab without being able to maintain a clean lifestyle. He says a recent event snapped him back to reality and made him realize he needed something other than rehab to get over his addiction.

"It was during rehab. I had to leave treatment because I had a heart attack and I needed to stay clean while I was out of treatment," says Lucks.

Despite suffering a heart attack at just 19 years old, Lucks didn't trust himself to stay clean alone or under the supervision of his parents.

"There's no way of getting away from it. It takes away your freedom to a certain extent," says Lucks.