The System Failed the Reiner Family

                                                                 

The brutal deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele, allegedly at the hands of their 32-year-old son Nick, tragically and dramatically brings the systemic failures of the current treatment practices and approaches for substance abuse, mental health and homelessness into stark relief.  

In a 2016 People Magazine[i] article Nick stated that his first trip to rehab was at age 15 (2008), returning 17 times with sporadic periods of homelessness between trips.

Since the publication of the article it has been reported Nick had numerous further stints in treatment, both for Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and mental health issues (principally schizophrenia), and was placed in a mental health conservatorship[ii] for a year in 2020. In interviews Nick has been candid about his mental health struggles, illicit drug use, including Crystal Meth[iii] and homelessness.

With over 40 years in recovery and one of 14 Certified Mental Health Recovery Peer Specialists (CMHRPS)[iv] in California I know - and have known - many Nick Reiners’ as well as their families and loved ones who struggle and suffer as well trying to comprehend their often-baffling behavior, consistently questionable decisions, the lies and manipulations coupled with the frustration of dealing with a wholly inadequate system in seeking help for them.

For most initial contact when seeking help is routinely conciliatory and accommodating in tone while your information is gathered for placement. But once admitted to a SUD treatment or a mental health facility the realities of the current system become painfully apparent. Try to imagine (I am sure many reading this won’t have to) dealing with someone in a call center, often in another country[v] working from a carefully worded script, making decisions on the length, level and type of care you, your child or loved one receives.

Having personally lobbied for clients who were making real headway, only to have further treatment denied based on inflexible metrics and cold financial benchmarks, knowing the possible real-world consequences, the frustration is impossible to convey with mere words.

Then there is the nightmare call from a parent whose child “completed” treatment and returned home, often with the best of intentions but lacking an integrated Aftercare plan, within weeks, sometimes days succumbs to an overdose. As you can rightly imagine, words fail.

Additionally individuals who “AMA” (leave Against Medical Advice) often “disappear” into a shadow world of no questions asked hotels/motels, homeless encampments, or Skid Row[vi]. Nick chose this path, by his own accounts, numerous times.

Trying to explain to someone that their child or loved one has “left” and legally you can provide no information due to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations; saying this is a hard conversation doesn’t come close to the reality of it.

The true horror begins though when they fall prey to rehab “body brokers”[vii] who stalk this shadow world. For brokers these individuals are gold since upon relapse and reentry into treatment their insurance payout clock resets.

Brokers are essentially human traffickers who are paid finders fees from unethical facilities to locate “relapsers” and encourage (i.e. pay) them to return to treatment. Though costs vary, the average in California for a 30-day Residential Rehab is over $50,000[viii]. Once the facility bills their insurance and gets paid, the broker receives an additional large kick back (thousands of dollars) for their efforts.

Routinely the individual will leave treatment again, relapses (often with the assistance of the broker), and the cycle repeats. Body brokers have been known as well to fraudulently purchase insurance for individuals to perpetuate this horrific but incredibly lucrative illegal practice.

I worked with many on their 4^th, 5^th or more times around this block. One young man I worked with was on his 41^st round of treatment. He was an expert at the game and lured other clients in to it. In 2023 one of the owners[ix] of a facility this young man cycled through was arrested for utilizing body brokers and money laundering and is currently incarcerated in a Federal Penitentiary. HIPAA must be amended to more easily identify these individuals and facilities for prosecution.

We may never know if Nick Reiner fell into this dark circus, but he would have been a very tempting target. The Reiner’s case demonstrates, by all accounts, that Nick received the best treatment and support available, and though we will probably never know with certainty all that transpired, like so many Nick fell through the holes and his parents paid the price emotionally for years watching their son struggle despite their best efforts, and if accounts are true, finally with their lives.

Though the Government does occasionally hold someone’s feet to the fire for malfeasance, fraud is rampant. Every year from the local to the Federal level BILLIONS of dollars are spent on addiction, homelessness and mental health and the results are, if I am being kind, lackluster at best to downright tragic. Since 2019 California alone has spent over 24 BILLION[x] on these issues which has accomplished precious little while the funds are mostly unaccounted for.

Additionally since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Healthcare Providers profit margins have increased by a reported 230%[xi] yet coverage and resources, particularly for this population, though still substantial, have diminished.

Today’s current built-in limitations and hurdles, of both Healthcare Providers and Governmental agencies, coupled with a lack of any real cohesion between the professional and non-professional treatment communities perpetuates the lack of any truly effective and AFFORDABLE Aftercare for sufferers and their families after a SUD treatment cycle or mental health hospital stay.

Combine this with the overall failure in honestly addressing the realities of the homeless population, which is largely composed of the addicted and mentally ill, while adding in the unfortunate stigma[xii] toward addiction and mental illness that is alive and well and a true picture begins to take shape.

A new and innovative paradigm is required. A fresh but uncomfortable look at the current state of professional treatment practices, the failure of truly integrating the real-world experience of those living full lives free of active substance abuse and untethered mental illness and homelessness into a new, all-encompassing approach.

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change is as true today as ever.

In conclusion: the resources for change are available now, the problems lie in the bureaucracies that manages them, the bad actors preying on this population, the current regulations and restrictions which often do more harm than good, the one-dimensional approaches, in both professional and real world recovery, and the lack of any real coordination between professional engagement and those demonstrating real world recovery must all be addressed.

Instead of one-size-fits-all metrics, arbitrary limits and counterproductive restrictions, the focus must be on the individual’s needs, bringing to bear all the tools and approaches available today while effectively utilizing the deeply experienced individuals in both long-term SUD and mental health recovery who stand ready to be of service since it is an integral aspect of their continued success. As the saying goes “To keep it you have to give it away.”

But as dire as it is, there is hope. Habilitat[xiii] in Hawaii created a model based on long-term engagement (i.e. Aftercare) teaching people to live beyond their addictions and homelessness which has worked with thousands since 1971 and recently the Grammy Award winning artist Jelly Roll[xiv] (Jason DeFord) was instrumental in opening the first 100% free recovery and medical center for the homeless in Nashville which provides 200 beds and is privately funded, as is Habilitat.

As a society the hope is that the Reiner tragedy is the spark which ignites real conversation with a no-holds-barred assessment fomenting concrete actions and positive change. The question is, will it? 

 

 

I am the creator of Miracles Of Recovery which is a blueprint for an honest dialogue concerning addiction, mental health and homelessness. I am one of 14 CCAPP Certified Mental Health Recovery Peer Specialists (CMHRPS) in California having over 40 years’ experience in personal recovery. I have worked with individuals from all walks and strata of society, from Park Avenue to park benches, from the instantly recognizable to the forgotten and lost, and have dealt with all manner of governmental entities, agencies and healthcare providers (both public and private) intimately familiar with the often one-dimensional “solutions” and the insidious stigma and curious prejudices surrounding treatment, recovery processes and homelessness found in both the professional and “real world” recovery and mental health communities.

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[i] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/us/nick-reiner-rob-reiner-son.html

[ii] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/us/nick-reiner-conservatorship-schizophrenia.html

[iii] https://news.northeastern.edu/2025/12/22/nick-reiner-drug-use/

[iv] https://ccappcredentialing.org/verify-a-mh-credential/ 

[v] https://mybillingguy.com/the-end-of-offshore-billing-how-us-practices-are-reclaiming-revenue-and-control/

[vi] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvaqofXheTo

[vii] https://449recovery.org/what-you-need-to-know-about-body-brokering/

[viii] https://recovery.com/resources/how-much-does-rehab-cost-in-california/

[ix] https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/hollywood-hills-man-sentenced-nearly-3-12-years-federal-prison-paying-nearly-29

[x] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/04/11/california-homelessness-programs-audit-billions/73282144007/

[xi] https://truthout.org/articles/top-5-us-health-insurers-annual-profits-jumped-230-percent-since-acas-passage/

[xii] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychological-science-meets-the-streets/202601/addiction-a-disease-both-like-and-unlike-many

[xiii] https://habilitat.com/

[xiv] https://addictionrecoveryebulletin.org/jelly-roll-just-opened-the-first-100-free-recovery-center/

Why This Universe Puts You Through So Much Pain PART III:

 

 From Ruin to Rebirth

After the breaking a new version of you begins to rise, quietly, steadily almost unrecognizably. The pain that once seemed like it would destroy you becomes the very soil from which strength grows (Pain is the only instrument sharp enough to truly cut away the bondage of self). Not all things are restored to their original form nor should they be. Some pieces remain altered, cracked or missing altogether. But those broken edges catch the light differently now. The fragments of your old life begin to form a new shape. One that's not perfect but more powerful, more present, more real than before (Authentic). What once felt like devastation slowly reveals itself as Divine design. The universe doesn't restore by rewinding time. It redeems by rewriting: meaning scars once seen as flaws become the sacred script of survival. They tell a story not of weakness but of resilience. Each one is evidence that something tried to break you and failed.

Your suffering becomes the ink through which compassion writes its message. When someone meets you now they don't just encounter a person they encounter a Presence* that has been tempered by fire and yet remains soft enough to hold another's hand through the heat. There is a quiet strength that emerges from ruins.

You begin to understand life in layers. What once angered you now humbles you. What once frightened you now grounds you. Pain no longer owns you. It becomes a reference point not a residence. The storms you survived re-calibrate  your values. Joy becomes simpler. Peace becomes more precious. And faith, true enduring faith, is no longer an idea you talk about but a force you carry. You don't cling to certainty anymore. You walk with Trust. This transformation doesn't announce itself with fireworks. It arrives slowly almost silently as you realize you're no longer reacting out of fear but responding with wisdom. Where you once wanted answers now you offer Presence*. Where you once demanded reasons now you extend understanding. People begin to listen. Not because you shout but because your very existence has something to say. Redemption has reshaped your posture. You stand taller not because you're unbroken but because you've learned how to walk with pieces (The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves. BB pg.25).

(*From Let Go and Let God part 4: TRUST: PRESENCE is more than just being physically here. It’s a state of FULL AWARENESS, where your mind, body and emotions converge in the moment. When you are TRULY PRESENT your energy is undivided and your focus sharpens. THIS is where TRUST begins to grow, not from forcing outcomes but from aligning yourself with the flow of life. By practicing PRESENCE you learn to silence the inner noise, transcend old patterns and create space for something new to emerge (“As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn.” BB pg.63).)

You are no longer a victim of your story. You are a vessel of its power. The ruins are still there but they've been rearranged into something beautiful, something useful, something sacred. The universe did not remove your history. It repurposed it (“Cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have...” BB pg. 124). And now every step forward becomes a quiet declaration: “The breaking didn't end me, it equipped me.” What once was a story of survival begins to radiate beyond the borders of your own Life. You become a beacon not because you aimed to be one but because you walked through fire and didn't lose your light.

People are drawn not to your perfection but to your Presence. There's a gravity in your energy now, a quiet authority that doesn't need to announce itself. You speak not as someone who read about the storm but as one who has stood in its eye, wept through its winds, and emerged still breathing. The light that now lives in you was forged in darkness and that origin gives it a depth no spotlight ever could. There is a distinct weight to a voice born from pain. It carries something the untouched can't offer: Empathy without pity, truth without Superiority (No one stands above another, for any reason, for in truth we all stand together, each in our own “curriculum”, having become convicted in the truth of being, we now carry a silent blessing for all, helping when asked while releasing with Love all who choose, out of fear, to continue walking in pain, unwilling to embrace the healing and freedom that is only a heartbeat away).

When others see your life they don't see someone who avoided the fall. They see someone who learned how to rise. And because of that, your story becomes a mirror in which others can glimpse their own healing. Not everyone will understand what you carry. Not everyone will

recognize what it cost you. But those who are meant to find you will. And when they do, your scars will speak the language (The Language of the Heart) of their silent wounds. Being a beacon doesn't mean having all the answers. It means being willing to stay lit even when the wind tries to put you out. It means refusing to hide your process just to look put together. The cracks in your foundation are no longer weaknesses. They are windows through which the light escapes. You don't need a platform. Your presence is the message (“But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got.” BB pg. 164). Without striving you become an invitation to others to feel, to heal, to believe. Again, the universe is not using your perfection to reach the world. It's using your Redemption.

You've become proof that healing is possible that growth is real and that pain is not the final word. Were others hide their past in shame; you carry it like a torch because you know the night someone else is still walking through.

What once nearly destroyed you now becomes a map for someone else to follow and the beauty of it all you're not leading them to you. You're guiding them to the same PRESENCE that led you through. You are not the destination. You are the evidence that the path exists.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, pain when viewed through the eyes of Eternity, ceases to be Meaningless. It becomes the very path by which a person is refined, humbled and Commissioned (Our Commission: “Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail.” BB pg.89). The UNIVERSE (GOD) does not put you through pain to break you down but to build you into something deeper, truer, and unshakable (Def: Calm, not easily panicked or upset).

So if you are hurting, doubting, questioning your worth in the shadows, remember, the darkness you walk through today may be the very place your roots are taking hold. And when you rise, as you’ll understand: the pain was not the end. It was the beginning of everything you were meant to become. (“A.A.” is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted (Def: to change or alter in form, appearance, or nature and especially to a higher form), under grace (Def: unmerited divine assistance), into spiritual progress.” AS BILL SEES IT, pg. 35)

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