Teen Trouble (2012) s01e06 Episode Script
Ashley
1 - Just take it off! - You are terrified right now and you have to trust me.
I'm Josh Shipp.
When a teen is out of control Oh, my God.
And the parents are out of options She's destroying her life and mine.
I get the call.
You want two G's? Tonight on "Teen Trouble" Yeah, I'll see if I can get that for you right now.
I got one shot to save 19 year old Ashley.
Something horrific is not an "if" but a "when.
" This is what drugs did to my body.
This is how it could turn out for you.
You are crazy if you think I'm-a (bleep) walk around like this.
She slaps me or punches me in the face.
You are not a victim to this.
You are terrified right now and you have to trust me.
No! This is not gonna happen! I know what it means to be a teen in trouble.
I was one Abandoned, abused, addicted.
But I beat the odds.
I'm a teen behavior specialist.
My approach is gritty, gutsy You can lie to everyone else.
You will not lie to me.
And in your face.
You're acting like a spoiled brat.
It's ridiculous.
My mission is to wake these teens and their parents up Here is a condom.
Here we have a beer can.
Before it's too late.
I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you throw away your life.
This week, I'm in Ventura, California, where 19-year-old Ashley is hooked on heroin and meth.
She's smoking it, shooting it, and selling it.
You want two g's? Yeah, I'll see if I can get that for you right now.
Her mother is terrified I fear every day she's gonna die.
Every day.
But Ashley couldn't care less.
If there's a drug I haven't tried, I wanna try it.
The first drug I ever tried was meth in middle school.
I tried every pill you could ever think of ecstasy, of course, almost every day.
I tried acid, mescaline, opium, mushrooms.
What I'm using now is heroin and I use meth.
I can't do heroin every day, so I go straight to meth.
Like, I can't feel this because I'm not slamming it.
When I smoke, I feel like yeah, I feel mellow but I don't feel high.
You know? It sucks.
I don't have a point right now.
If I was, like, real sick, I'd probably get high on a point.
Heroin kind of sucks you in.
All of a sudden, you start getting sick.
Using needles instead of using foil, you can just start dying.
I've O.
D.
ed so many times, I can't even remember.
I shot up heroin with Xanax one time.
The E.
M.
T.
guys, they had to restart my heart.
Like, my heart stopped.
Maybe I should kind of think about that 'cause I've O.
D.
ed a lot.
Like, usually, I'll O.
D.
And I'll wake up, I'll be fine.
But what if I, like, don't wake up one time? Thanks, mom.
Ashley's my 19-year-old daughter.
Right now, she's destroying her life and mine.
I worry every time she leaves the house.
I fear that she's surrounded by people that don't love her and don't care about her and will let her overdose and let her die and walk away Which has happened.
And I don't really wanna think of that because it would be such an enormous amount of pain.
I don't want what I would do.
Ashley's birth is the most special moment of my life.
Just seeing my new baby Just sweet little girl.
She was full of personality, full of life.
Very friendly, social, smart.
Ashley's father left when she was a little girl.
My dad married somebody else, he had another kid, so I wasn't really important.
I mean, he told me that I was important, but he didn't really show it.
He made me feel like I wasn't worth anything.
Because I was a single mom, we had a very close relationship.
I'd do everything to make Ashley happy.
I took her to ballet, jazz, tap dance.
She almost got kicked out of tap dance because she was singing at the top of her lungs.
Since birth, I've loved to sing.
I just, like, came out singing.
She always sang so amazing, and I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm her mother.
She touched people.
I mean, I was, like, recording when I was 8 years old.
I was doing, like, so many projects.
She sang for a Disney benefit for the boys and girls club.
She sang with Michael Jackson for a Christmas show.
My mom was like, "Wow! You get to meet Michael Jackson?!" I mean, Michael Jackson was her idol, and I got to sing with him.
Oh, my gosh.
It was amazing.
It made me happy.
I loved singing.
Like, it just made me happy.
But then it started becoming all about work.
You know, "you have to be here.
We want you here.
" Everybody was just trying to use me for my voice.
I wasn't happy anymore.
It wasn't something I loved doing anymore.
So I stopped.
When I was probably like 14, I stopped.
It's her life.
She could do what she wants.
She always could.
I just think it's sad because she lost her way.
I wasn't like a normal kid and started smoking weed or something.
I mean, I started snorting lines of meth.
I was just bored.
I was so bored all the time that I wanted to just do something.
And then after that it was kinda like I got stuck on heroin.
And that's when things just got so out of hand.
Really out of hand.
We had some pretty volatile Physical Fights.
I would come home, and she'd be in the worst mood ever, and I'd just have to fight with her.
She would tell me to eff off and attack me, usually.
So I don't even know if she remembers half of the time because she was probably high.
She would rip up all my pictures.
She'd start breaking everything, then I'd start breaking things.
It got pretty bad.
I think the police were called a few times.
She would just fight with me.
She'd come at me and and come at me and come at me, and I just didn't know how to, like, handle it.
Well, obviously at that point, I couldn't discipline her.
My whole life was falling apart and I was having nightmares.
I was I couldn't sleep.
I didn't know what to do.
I just I had to take care of myself.
I felt like my mom was kind of just abandoning me, kinda sending me away.
Like, just like "Done with her, you know.
I just I can't take care of her.
Somebody take her.
" You know, like, what, you can't take care of your own child? Like, really? I was so pissed off that I got sent away, I just wanted to get high and just be with my friends.
I felt like I was better with my friends than I was at home.
And I started hanging out and partying with the Avenue gang.
They were like my family.
The avenues all gang.
Bad area, it's poor, it's drugs.
I moved into my boyfriend's house.
I wasn't scared.
I'm a little white girl with a bunch of Mexicans, big ol' Mexicans trying to scare me, little eses No.
They did not scare me at all.
I don't think I really knew what was going on, that she was really living with a gang member or hanging out with really bad, bad people until she was in the hospital.
I got a phone call at midnight on Christmas Eve.
She was left on the side of the road by the hospital, for dead.
So I didn't have a very good Christmas.
I didn't care what happened to me.
I kinda have that mentality with everything now.
I feel like I've just been, like, recycled, just thrown around, not really cared about.
She doesn't seem to really care.
It's hard for me to comprehend why she doesn't have a conscience that her mother loves her very much, and why she would put me in situations to make me worry so much about her.
My life is just as out of control as hers.
The thought that she could be dead any second is a very scary thought.
I'm in Ventura, California, and I'm on my way to meet with Ashley and her mother Maureen for the first time.
You know, in this family, you have a 19-year-old young lady who does not see her value, she does not see her worth, and she is destroying her life.
And then the mom She's a pretty poor role model to her daughter.
It's I mean, it's definitely a volatile situation.
She often buys into the drama and fights with her daughter, which only makes the situation more volatile and only makes the situation worse.
She's, like, throwing gas on this fire.
So I think that's gonna be really tricky.
And the challenge in Ashley's situation is that ultimately, she can choose not to get help.
She's an adult.
She can do as she wishes.
She can choose not to go to detox, not to go to rehab, and that worries me.
- Hello.
- Hi.
- Hi.
You must be Maureen? - I'm Maureen.
Hi.
How do you do? Josh.
- Good.
How are you? - Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Ashley, what's up? Nice to meet you.
I've been so looking forward to meeting you.
Shall we have a seat? Where should I sit? - Wanna sit with us? There's a chair.
- All right.
So talk to me about what your hope is for all this.
What specifically do you want to change? Specifically, I hope that she will stop hanging out with the people she's hanging out with, the very bad people, and getting her mind clear so she can maybe go to school or start singing again like she used to.
And you think she has what it takes to change? I think she does because she wouldn't have agreed.
- Yeah.
- I didn't know if she was going to agree.
And then she backed out and agreed again.
I thought, all right.
Yeah, so what did you initially kind of think? "Oh, no, I don't want to do this"? Like, I wanted to do it, but I kinda backed out.
I'm like, maybe I don't need this.
Maybe I can just, like, do it myself.
And were you using at the time? Yeah.
Sometimes change is scary.
You know, sometimes what we're doing, even if it's bad and destroying us, at least it's familiar.
But she seems positive and I don't think she's used in a while.
No, I haven't been using.
I couldn't sleep at all because she kept kicking me and shaking me.
But I knew that she was with me and that she was safe - and she wasn't with anybody else.
- That's cool.
And the good news is, is that it's not too late.
And I wanna be clear.
When Ashley changes, she is a hero.
This is your life that's at stake, and when you turn it around, you are the one to be celebrated.
All right, so this week is going to be challenging.
This week is going to be about seeing what your future could be like, both good and bad.
And I need to be very clear that this week, I'm in charge.
Sounds good.
- You're okay with that? - I am.
Yes.
Okay, well, I'm not joking.
Handcuff her with to you.
No, I mean, I'm talking to you.
- I'm saying - I'm fine.
For you, I'm in charge.
No, I want I want you to be.
Yes, definitely.
Okay.
So, Ashley, I'd like for the two of us to hang out - Mm-hmm.
- Spend some time together.
And then I'd love later this evening for the two of us to be able to sit down and spend some time together.
I feel there's hope now and I feel really good about that.
But what he hoped for me It's like He's not giving money to this place.
Nobody helps out.
And I just wanna get my life back, and I can't get my life back unless she's in my life, so I can stop worrying so much, and everybody can start taking care of themselves.
So You used to perform in places like this.
- Right? - Yeah.
This is actually kind of cool.
I never heard you sing.
I would love to hear you sing.
- Eventually, yeah.
- Yeah.
But that's something you haven't done in a while, right? Unh-unh.
I you know, I kinda just stopped when I was probably, like, 14.
I stopped singing and I kinda just started turning into this rebellious teenager.
- Mm.
- Like, especially, like, doing what I was doing, You know, the drugs and everything, it's just like, I wasn't doing anything.
I was kinda, like, stuck.
- So singing was something you loved - Yeah.
- That you felt like sort of the drugs took away from you.
- Yeah.
And there are probably other things in your life you feel like drugs have taken away from you - Yeah.
- That you actually at one point loved.
Yeah.
I always loved to do fun things, and I loved to try new things, and I was so adventurous.
- Mm-hmm.
- And now it's like I am not like that anymore.
I'm like, what happened to me? Like, I felt I just like, my soul just, like, went - Yeah.
- Like, gone.
Like, everything just left.
I just feel like I'm dead every day.
Like, it gets worse and worse where I'm just, like, nothing, like there's nothing there.
There's something I really want to get across to you, because I feel like this represents you.
What is this? A $100 bill.
How much is that worth? $100.
All right.
What about now? How much is that worth? $100.
And now? $100.
This is my fear for you, is that you've been hurt, you've been stomped on, you've been abused.
There's this lie in your mind, and you feel like you're not worth anything.
Mm-hmm.
This has been beat up, it's been through some stuff, but it still has its value.
- And listen to me very carefully.
- Mm-hmm.
You are still valuable.
I truly believe that the key to you getting better is that when you begin to understand that you're valuable and worth something, you will naturally protect yourself.
Seriously, this is you.
- You've been through some stuff - Yeah.
And so have I.
Foster homes, the getting beat up in those foster homes.
Yeah.
I was, you know, raped by a guy in one of those foster homes.
And look, I've come out the other side of it.
Yeah, I'm a little banged up, maybe not as crisp.
But it doesn't mean that I am worth one penny less.
And it doesn't mean that you are worth one cent less.
Mm-hmm.
I was surprised at how different Ashley was from the tough girl I saw on tape.
You know, she seems a lot sweeter and willing to make changes in her life.
My biggest fear is that this week goes well, she has hope, I have hope, everyone's cheering and it feels good.
But then I check back in with her 60 days, and she's just back to her old ways.
I really need to put her through some stuff.
I really need to put her through some experiences she will never, ever forget.
Wait a minute.
This isn't the plan.
What are you doing to me? I'm on my way to meet with Maureen, Ashley's mom.
I'm concerned about how volatile their relationship is.
My goal is to get Maureen to spend less energy fighting with Ashley and more energy trying to help her.
- Hello.
- Hey, Maureen.
- Hi.
- How are you? - I'm good.
How are you? - Good.
Good to see you.
You, too.
How'd it go with Ashley? It went quite well.
Really? Yeah, she's very open, very committed.
I mean, really my only concern is that she's an addict.
Addicts have a tendency to lie, tell you what you wanna hear.
It's good you know those things.
Oh.
, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Sometimes I hear her stories.
Like I don't remember that.
Yeah.
No, I'm not easily fooled.
Yeah.
But I get that she has disappointed you, lied to you, manipulated you.
This is a crazy relationship that we have, this mother/daughter thing between us.
It was she just tells me to eff off or she starts attacking me.
How do you tell your mother to eff off? It's that one word.
My heart starts racing.
I can't stop from getting so angry.
Like, how disrespectful that is.
I'm like, why would you say that to me? Or she slaps me or punches me in the face.
I'm like, why would you do that to your mother? - And I get so angry.
- It's horrible.
And you just feel deeply hurt by it and - I feel betrayed.
- Sort of attacked.
Yeah.
Yeah, I feel betrayed because I-I you know, I-I stopped going to school and and I-I-I focused on being a parent because that was the most important thing to me.
I could've continued doing other things, but you know what? This was the most important thing to me.
And then when she goes to college, - then I can do what I need to do - Yeah.
Because that's my job.
And then this happened.
I thought, wait a minute.
This isn't the plan.
What are you doing to me? This is ridiculous.
Why did this happen to me? - Well, here's here's the thing.
- Yeah.
I need you to listen to me.
- Yeah.
- You are not a victim to this.
Yeah.
- Do you understand me? - Yeah.
Yeah.
I do.
You are not a victim to this.
I feel like a victim sometimes.
No, but I understand.
Yeah, but it's important you not position yourself as a victim.
The victim mentality is worrying too much about me and all the bad things are going on, instead of, "what is the situation?" - Yeah.
- "How can I attack it and make it better?" You must understand you are not a victim to this.
I know.
And you've gotta be careful about falling in that trap.
Yeah.
Because Maureen sees herself as a victim, she can't resist fighting back when Ashley attacks, and that only makes things worse.
Listen, there's never any excuse for abuse, period.
- Yeah.
No.
- There is anything that you can do That it's appropriate for her to punch you.
Let me give you a little tool.
Don't rage.
Disengage.
- This is Paramount, particularly for this week.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm gonna be putting her through a lot.
She's going to be very emotionally raw, very emotionally raw.
So it's Paramount that you're working with me, not against me.
- Yeah.
I need you to trust this process.
- Yeah.
- And I need you to be committed to it.
I am.
And and I can't overcommunicate how important it is that you don't sabotage this process by throwing gas on the fire when she wants to When she wants to verbally spar.
Okay.
I agree to that.
- All right? - Yeah.
All right, I'll see you tomorrow.
Okay.
Ashley is facing the hardest challenge of her life, and she needs stable footing in order to do that.
So today we really get started.
Okay.
And, you know, part of my method is that I want to fast forward to your potential future for you.
Part of my concern for you is that you don't see where you're headed - Mm-hmm.
- And how dangerous it is, And today, I'm gonna bring you face-to-face with that.
- All right.
- All right? So come on in.
If a kid is making a laundry list of stupid decisions, no little pep talk you can give them is gonna change that.
That is why my method is to bring them face-to-face with the reality of the choices they're making and where that's taking them.
- Hey, Jeremy.
Hey, Sarah.
- Hello.
This is Jeremy and his assistant Sarah.
I'm gonna leave you alone with them.
Okay.
I've asked them not to talk to you.
Mm-hmm.
And I'll check back in with you later, okay? Okay.
- So just have a seat right there.
- Okay.
Sometimes it's not enough to just talk to a kid about the dangers of using drugs but literally show them.
And the fact is, Ashley's face is already showing the signs of meth use.
I wasn't really sure what was happening, but it took forever to do my makeup.
I was just freaking out.
I was like, I know they're gonna do something bad to my face.
I know they're gonna do something bad.
We're done.
Hey, Ashley.
So what do you think is going on here? I think they did something really horrible to my face.
Well, you are using drugs, specifically meth, which is a drug that can do to your face what your face looks like right now.
This is a real possibility for you, and it's something you need to face, something you need to see.
Are you ready to do that? Oh, my God.
What are you thinking right now? I want you to look at yourself.
I don't unh-unh.
I want you to look at yourself.
That is so horrible.
I don't even want to look at that.
- I don't - I need you to look at this.
This is your future.
Look at yourself in the eyes right now.
Mnh-mnh.
Look at yourself in the eyes.
If you do not stop using meth, this is what you will look like.
You already have some signs of use on you face.
You are a beautiful young woman, but if you do not stop, this is exactly what you're gonna look like.
Look at yourself.
I don't wanna look like this! So can you take it off? I don't look like this! Take it off! I'm doing this because I do not want this to be you future.
I want this image seared in your mind so that when you have the opportunity to use again, which you will, you remember this moment right here, right now, and you make the right choice.
I wanna take this off now.
You're not gonna take it off the rest of the day.
That is (bleep).
- Listen - It's not gonna happen.
- Yes, it is.
- I'm not no, it's not.
That's not gonna happen.
I'm sorry.
I'm not doing that.
You told me you were committed.
You told me you'd do what it takes.
I am committed.
Well, I guess I'm not committed then.
You are (bleep) crazy if you think I'm gonna (bleep) walk around like this.
It's not gonna happen.
This is a part of it.
- No.
- My guys are not taking the makeup off.
Well, I'll take it off then.
I'm taking this (bleep) off my (bleep) face.
Don't can you guys, like, take it I'm not gonna do this.
I can't do this! Listen, I don't want this for a future for you.
Neither do I, so just take it off! You are terrified right now and you have to trust me.
I am asking you to give me a couple hours of your life.
No! I want you to take it off right now! I'm asking you to give me a couple hours of your life.
No! It's not gonna happen! Take it off now.
If you want my help, - you have to - I'm sorry.
I don't want your help then.
Trust me.
No, I'm not trusting you.
Mnh-mnh.
It's not happening.
I'm gonna take this off right now.
- Look, I genuinely 100% - I will take it off.
- Want - I'm not kidding.
I'm gonna take it off right now.
I genuinely 100% want to help you I understand that, but I'm gonna take this off right now.
- But you have to trust my methods.
- I don't think you get it.
I'm gonna take this off right now.
It's not funny.
- I'm going to.
- Well, I can't control you.
All right.
Fine.
I don't know what the right next move is here.
Ashley, if you try taking that off by yourself, you could hurt yourself.
No, I'm not.
Some of that stuff is engrained in there.
I don't care.
Honey, you okay? Yeah, I'm fine.
What's wrong? Listen, I don't want you to hurt your face - taking those things off.
Let them help you.
- No.
- Okay.
- Why are you acting like this? Come on.
Seriously? Did it scare you? Oh, my God.
It didn't scare me, okay? It looked disgusting.
I'm not gonna have that (bleep) on my face.
What do you want me to do, Ashley? I don't want you to do anything.
It's understandable she wouldn't want this.
It's understandable to flip out.
But what I can't have is her starting to control what this process is or is not.
What I can have is her designing her own help program.
Oh, my God.
Stop oh, my God.
Can you stop? Hey, Maureen? I'd disengage from that.
Hey.
You got the makeup off your face.
Would you mind just going in there and cooling down for a little? She just needs a little space right now.
I had to go in that room prepared that I would have to walk away, but I was willing to do anything but negotiate on my consequences to bring her back into this.
Do you hate me? - Kind of.
- That's okay.
I don't hate you.
I'm just really mad.
I understand how you could feel that way.
Well, I tried to lead with empathy.
That helps.
And it's not condescending.
You know, it's gotta be genuine.
You're being very brave, you know? It's hard as (Bleep) To do.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, it is true.
You could end up like that.
And then a few subtle threats.
You know, here's sort of what's at stake.
Just gonna show you one picture.
This is not of you.
Normal lady.
Same lady.
That's disgusting.
That doesn't even seem like the same lady.
Unh-unh.
Oh, my God! That's so gross! And, like, just so you know, like, I wasn't (Bleep) You.
I threw four or five different things at her, and I'm glad one of them worked.
So you gotta stay committed to this.
Mm-hmm.
And you gotta do what I ask.
Mm-hmm.
That means today, you would need to get back in the makeup.
Hmm.
She's gonna get the makeup back on, which means she's buying back into the process.
There is literally nothing I could've said to her in the bathroom that would have helped her think rationally.
So the appropriate thing was to disengage, let her calm down, and there she was again, the rational kid I'm here to work with.
We're just gonna get out of here.
It's another example of why, when your kid is flipping out, the best thing you can do is just give them a little space.
I'm gonna take her through the next part of the process, which is having her meet someone whose life was dramatically and forever altered by using drugs.
I decided the meeting should take place at a chemical company, so Ashley can see exactly what goes into her body when she uses meth.
Hey, Tiffany.
- Hey, Josh.
- How are you? - Good to see ya.
- This is Ashley, who I was telling you about.
Hi, Ashley.
Very nice to meet you.
- Hi, Tiffany.
- And this is her mother Maureen.
- Hi, Maureen.
Nice to meet you.
- Hi.
How are you? You, too.
Good.
Nice to meet you both.
So Tiffany is a part of my network And she has a very similar background to you.
Let's get right into it.
Um, I wanted to share my story with you and how drugs affected not only myself but my family.
I started when I was 15 with marijuana, and from marijuana to other drugs, such as cocaine, acid, heroin, and then eventually ending with meth.
Meth was my drug of choice.
I was shooting meth into my veins, and didn't really realize what was in it.
There's lithium batteries, there's anhydrous ammonia, there's paint thinner, denatured alcohol.
I was putting all of these things into my body.
Now my face didn't look like your makeup face does today because it started eating my body from the inside out.
So I thought I was invincible to the world because I didn't ever think anything was wrong.
On my 30th birthday, um, my "boyfriend" and I were having a little quarrel, and he left, and my girlfriend and I were gonna go out for my birthday.
So I said, "I'm hopping in the tub.
Come on over.
" When my friend came over, she knocked on the door, and I didn't answer.
Then she came back couple hours later didn't answer.
So she thought I was standing her up.
So two days later, she comes back, and she finds my "so-called boyfriend" moving out of my house.
My friend said, "where's tiff? What's going on?" And she got in there and found me Not breathing, eyes wide open, my hands and feet turning purple.
So basically I was in the bathtub, and he was leaving me there to die.
Thank goodness she had the wherewithal to even say, "we need to get her to the hospital.
" They then dropped me off outside of the hospital and left, not telling them who I was, what was wrong, or anything.
That began a 180-day stay in the hospital.
I wanna show you some pictures of the third day I was in the hospital.
This is my body.
These are my hands.
Um, these are my feet.
Each of my fingernails peeled off one by one.
Those were my fingernails.
And I'd like to show you what drugs really did to me and my body.
I live with these every day.
This is what drugs did to my body.
Can you hold this for a second? All right.
Thank you.
And then also this one.
This is what drugs did to me.
I would give anything to have your feet, in the whole entire world.
Anything.
I live with these every day.
This is a constant reminder of what I did to myself and my family.
And I wish I could take it all back.
If something like that was to happen to you, do you feel like these friends who are partying with you and using would really be there for you? No.
Why not? I'd had times before where I've been left for dead and I woke up in the hospital.
I could've lost my legs.
I could've lost limbs.
I could've died.
This is how it could turn out for you.
And I know you want to change.
But if you do not, something horrific like this is not an "if" but a "when.
" Now, Maureen, what would that do to you if your daughter ended up with this sort of disability? I would be really sad, but, um You adapt.
Because I-I almost lost my leg when I was 15, and so I've lived with it.
I had surgery twice and I lost two toes, and it took me six months to walk again, so it's like There's sort of this moment of it taking your breath away.
She's being so selfish and thinking about such and such, about rehabilitation and "I did this and I did this and I've been through this.
" And, like, what about your daughter? I was running again in two in two years, I was running.
I'm I'm but I'm I'm just curious.
- But - What would this What would this do to you if this happened to your daughter? - I - Not to you, but to your daughter.
I think no, I think that for her, though I don't want anything bad to happen to her, but I love her so much that I-if she had one leg, I'd still love her.
But I don't want you to ever end up like me.
Ever.
That's what I wanna share with you.
I just basically beg you, please just stop.
Thank you for sharing with me.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you for coming to see me.
Yeah, thank you so much, Tiffany.
- All right.
Thank you, Josh.
Great to see you.
- Great to see you.
Thank you.
Bye.
Give me one more hug.
I'm a hugger.
People can tell you a story, but you're not there.
You're not actually seeing it.
So when I'm actually there and I see the person, and they're actually talking to me, it's, like, different.
- I'll I'll tell you.
- It's like it's like, oh, my God.
Like, I mean, I'm this is gonna be stuck in my head forever.
That's all part of my evil plan.
I know.
It's evil.
All right.
Well, I'll walk you guys outside.
Tiffany said she would do anything to have her legs back.
I should be able to do anything to get my life back, to get myself back.
I just have to, like, keep faith in myself and just stay strong.
I've asked Ashley and Maureen to meet me at sober college in woodland hills.
- Hi.
- Good morning.
They have a recording studio there, so this is an opportunity for her to reconnect with an old passion.
So let's talk about the next part of the process.
Mm! To me, this is the fun part, 'cause you saw where you don't wanna go.
Yeah.
And now I wanna show you where you could go.
This is actually a sober college.
- Oh, really? - And so there are students - Who are dedicated to being sober - Mm-hmm.
But also dedicated to doing something they love, - and I think this will really inspire you.
- Okay.
Cool.
So no makeup today, all right? - Yeah.
- All right.
Come on.
I want to begin to sort of push her in the direction of reconnecting with something that she loves, something that can give her a reason to say "no.
" Because for a kid to really become sober long-term, it's not just about saying "no" to the substance, but it's about saying "yes" to something that you're passionate about.
- Hey, Jeff.
What's up, man? - Hey, Josh, how's it going? - How you doing, man? Good to see you.
- Good to see you.
So this is Ashley, who I was telling you about.
- Hello.
Nice to meet you.
- Ashley.
My name's Jeff.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Jeff is the music director at sober college.
Yeah.
Actually, I came here in early 2010 as a resident.
I was kicking heroin.
And this place saved my life.
I mean, you can pretty much do anything you want to do here.
And one of the reasons we wanted to have you here was to try and maybe record an original song.
I don't know if that's interesting to you.
Yeah.
It's kind of scary, but, yeah.
Oh, it's always scary.
That never goes away, no matter how sober you get.
It's been a scary week.
- Yeah.
- But you've done well.
So I'm gonna show you give you a little bit of a tour.
This is the control room, which is where Julius sort of mans the station.
This is where we have all our instruments.
- Oh, it's nice and cold in here.
- Whole smorgasbord of toys.
Okay.
So like I said, part of what we want to have you do is take one of your original songs - Mm-hmm.
- Try and rediscover that passion of yours, - Try and record it in here - Okay.
And have you walk out at the end of the day - with an actual track recorded in a studio.
- Oh, wow.
There's a song that I wrote on the guitar.
It's kind of it's simple.
- Simple's good.
We like simple.
- Yeah.
Aah! Ha ha! Sing? I haven't sang in forever.
Bring it on.
I can't I don't even remember it.
I'm trying.
Like, "I don't want to do it," but then I was like, "this is cool.
" I I'm feelin' so free And I Can hardly breathe Life just takes over Evil on my shoulder Lost in my direction Eyes filled with obsession Please I was able to kind of get used to it.
And when everything was going, it kind of like, yeah, it, like, brought back my confidence.
It brought back so many memories.
I felt this warmth this amazing, like, rush.
'Cause I can't take this I just love making music.
It's like medicine.
Imagine if I wasn't able to get here today, I wasn't able to sit down there and make that music.
That it was like we made something amazing in there.
- You facing underground - Ooh-ooh No more tears, no more sounds Lie Lie away Away That sounds cool.
Oh Very nice.
I think it's important that we address where you've come from.
I have one more crucial step to this process, which I call the summit.
The two of you sit right there please? This is truly an opportunity for the teen and the parent to humble themselves, take responsibility, and commit to doing something different.
So it's been quite the week, - has it not? - Yes.
- Yeah.
- I mean for you this week, I've been very proud of you.
Thank you.
And I feel like your future, you genuinely have hope.
- Yeah.
- And that the next day Could be better than the last.
And that's really what I want from you.
- Mm-hmm.
- But I think it's important That we address where you've come from, what you've been doing, how dangerous that is, so that everyone understands how important you moving forward is.
- Mm-hmm.
- So I have a video.
This video was taken by a member of my team a few days before I came out to work with you, and this is sort of a glimpse into what a day in your life used to look like.
Oh, this is heroin? I'm smoking heroin? There should be a little bit more.
It's really sad to see myself like that, and the fact that my mom had to watch that, and I had to watch her watch that and see her cry next to me I've always been so private.
I've never wanted her to see what I've been doing.
It made me feel bad.
Made me feel really, really bad.
I've O.
D.
ed, like, 20 times.
But you don't see me stopping, no.
'Cause I'm not gonna stop just 'cause I O.
D.
What's it like for you to watch that video? It just it's hard to watch something like that, people killing themselves.
And to see my daughter doing that, it's really hard.
Very hard.
It's so weird.
It doesn't even seem like me.
I can't believe that's me.
Part of what I want to do right now is give you both the opportunity for sort of a-a clean slate here.
And I know that you've put your mom through a lot, and you know that.
The drug abuse, being verbally abusive, physically abusive.
I think it would be very mature of you to apologize to your mom for that.
If you mean it.
I'm sorry that, you know, I've yelled at you or spoke down to you or said anything that hurt you, because I didn't mean it.
It's just, like, when anybody's coming at me, I automatically put up a wall, and I-I'll hurt them like I feel like they're trying to hurt me.
But I'm so sorry that I ever hurt you.
I just want there to be another way for us so that we don't fight.
I just appreciate that I have a mom that really does love me instead of hating me.
I do love you.
I know you do.
And, Maureen, can you talk to your daughter about regrets that you have about, you know, at times being selfish and not being a responsible role model for her.
I apologize if I was any disappointment, 'cause you know that you're always first in my life.
I've been selfish, and I don't wanna be selfish, 'cause I'm your mother.
And I want to do what's best for both of us.
You first, 'cause you're very important to me, and you're my baby.
Thank you, mom.
Thank you very much.
So, Ashley, I have one more video for you to watch.
- Mm-hmm.
- I think you'll find this video A bit more encouraging.
Ashley's dad Richard reached out to me, saying that he wants to be involved in this process.
So I made the call of having him make a video for her saying how much he loves her and is rooting for her.
Hi, Ash, it's dad.
I love you with all my heart, and I will do anything I can to support you in any way.
You really can count on me.
And I think if you set your mind to this and stick with it, I know you'll be able to succeed.
So give it a try.
Catch that wave and go all the way.
I love you.
I'll see you soon.
That was so nice.
How does it feel to have the support of your dad? Real good.
It's so nice that he cares, that he would take the time out of his day just to say something to me.
Just so you know, he reached out to me.
- Said, you know, "how's she doing?" - That's not like him.
Well, you know, maybe he's seeing you be unlike how you used to be.
- Yeah.
- And he's saying, "well, You know, maybe I need to change a little bit, too.
" Yeah.
That's really cool.
And so I think in a in a cool way, you've sort of inspired your dad.
That's cool.
I would hope that that's it.
I'm glad that Ashley was moved by her dad's video, but it's sad that such a small gesture was such a big deal to her.
So let's talk about the next part of this.
As I've said all along, this week is no magic cure.
You, right now, I believe are committed to changing.
But change takes a while, and you need help.
And so first thing I have set up for you is a top-notch residential rehab program.
It's called prototypes women's center.
They'll take great care of you and help you become the person that you desire to be, free of drugs.
So that's phase one.
Now assuming you agree to that and you complete that, I am committed to helping you get into a place where you can pursue your music.
Wow.
Everything that you need for a better you Actually, the best version of you.
That's amazing.
- What do you think? - I wanna do it all.
It's, like, the direction I've always been looking for but but I didn't know how to find.
I'm happy that you were able to do it for me.
Well, I didn't do it for you.
You did this for yourself.
- Thank you.
- You're the one that should be proud.
Thank you for everything.
You're welcome.
Thank you for being there and standing by me.
I will be keeping in touch.
I will be writing you.
I will be checking in on you.
- You promise? - I promise.
- Okay.
- You have my word.
- Okay.
- All right, give me a hug.
I'm proud of you.
You're very brave.
A week ago, all I was thinking about was how to get high the next day.
This experience is the first positive thing that's happened to me in so long.
When I think about Josh and what he did for our family, his influence and his positive outlook has really made a huge, huge impact on our lives this week, and hopefully forever.
I've been waiting to have the courage to do something like this, but I just kept falling back down.
This time I was like, "I'm not gonna give up.
" This means too much to me.
I can already see everything in front of me.
I can feel in my bones that I'm getting my life back, and I'm so thankful.
I'm Josh Shipp.
When a teen is out of control Oh, my God.
And the parents are out of options She's destroying her life and mine.
I get the call.
You want two G's? Tonight on "Teen Trouble" Yeah, I'll see if I can get that for you right now.
I got one shot to save 19 year old Ashley.
Something horrific is not an "if" but a "when.
" This is what drugs did to my body.
This is how it could turn out for you.
You are crazy if you think I'm-a (bleep) walk around like this.
She slaps me or punches me in the face.
You are not a victim to this.
You are terrified right now and you have to trust me.
No! This is not gonna happen! I know what it means to be a teen in trouble.
I was one Abandoned, abused, addicted.
But I beat the odds.
I'm a teen behavior specialist.
My approach is gritty, gutsy You can lie to everyone else.
You will not lie to me.
And in your face.
You're acting like a spoiled brat.
It's ridiculous.
My mission is to wake these teens and their parents up Here is a condom.
Here we have a beer can.
Before it's too late.
I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you throw away your life.
This week, I'm in Ventura, California, where 19-year-old Ashley is hooked on heroin and meth.
She's smoking it, shooting it, and selling it.
You want two g's? Yeah, I'll see if I can get that for you right now.
Her mother is terrified I fear every day she's gonna die.
Every day.
But Ashley couldn't care less.
If there's a drug I haven't tried, I wanna try it.
The first drug I ever tried was meth in middle school.
I tried every pill you could ever think of ecstasy, of course, almost every day.
I tried acid, mescaline, opium, mushrooms.
What I'm using now is heroin and I use meth.
I can't do heroin every day, so I go straight to meth.
Like, I can't feel this because I'm not slamming it.
When I smoke, I feel like yeah, I feel mellow but I don't feel high.
You know? It sucks.
I don't have a point right now.
If I was, like, real sick, I'd probably get high on a point.
Heroin kind of sucks you in.
All of a sudden, you start getting sick.
Using needles instead of using foil, you can just start dying.
I've O.
D.
ed so many times, I can't even remember.
I shot up heroin with Xanax one time.
The E.
M.
T.
guys, they had to restart my heart.
Like, my heart stopped.
Maybe I should kind of think about that 'cause I've O.
D.
ed a lot.
Like, usually, I'll O.
D.
And I'll wake up, I'll be fine.
But what if I, like, don't wake up one time? Thanks, mom.
Ashley's my 19-year-old daughter.
Right now, she's destroying her life and mine.
I worry every time she leaves the house.
I fear that she's surrounded by people that don't love her and don't care about her and will let her overdose and let her die and walk away Which has happened.
And I don't really wanna think of that because it would be such an enormous amount of pain.
I don't want what I would do.
Ashley's birth is the most special moment of my life.
Just seeing my new baby Just sweet little girl.
She was full of personality, full of life.
Very friendly, social, smart.
Ashley's father left when she was a little girl.
My dad married somebody else, he had another kid, so I wasn't really important.
I mean, he told me that I was important, but he didn't really show it.
He made me feel like I wasn't worth anything.
Because I was a single mom, we had a very close relationship.
I'd do everything to make Ashley happy.
I took her to ballet, jazz, tap dance.
She almost got kicked out of tap dance because she was singing at the top of her lungs.
Since birth, I've loved to sing.
I just, like, came out singing.
She always sang so amazing, and I'm not just saying that 'cause I'm her mother.
She touched people.
I mean, I was, like, recording when I was 8 years old.
I was doing, like, so many projects.
She sang for a Disney benefit for the boys and girls club.
She sang with Michael Jackson for a Christmas show.
My mom was like, "Wow! You get to meet Michael Jackson?!" I mean, Michael Jackson was her idol, and I got to sing with him.
Oh, my gosh.
It was amazing.
It made me happy.
I loved singing.
Like, it just made me happy.
But then it started becoming all about work.
You know, "you have to be here.
We want you here.
" Everybody was just trying to use me for my voice.
I wasn't happy anymore.
It wasn't something I loved doing anymore.
So I stopped.
When I was probably like 14, I stopped.
It's her life.
She could do what she wants.
She always could.
I just think it's sad because she lost her way.
I wasn't like a normal kid and started smoking weed or something.
I mean, I started snorting lines of meth.
I was just bored.
I was so bored all the time that I wanted to just do something.
And then after that it was kinda like I got stuck on heroin.
And that's when things just got so out of hand.
Really out of hand.
We had some pretty volatile Physical Fights.
I would come home, and she'd be in the worst mood ever, and I'd just have to fight with her.
She would tell me to eff off and attack me, usually.
So I don't even know if she remembers half of the time because she was probably high.
She would rip up all my pictures.
She'd start breaking everything, then I'd start breaking things.
It got pretty bad.
I think the police were called a few times.
She would just fight with me.
She'd come at me and and come at me and come at me, and I just didn't know how to, like, handle it.
Well, obviously at that point, I couldn't discipline her.
My whole life was falling apart and I was having nightmares.
I was I couldn't sleep.
I didn't know what to do.
I just I had to take care of myself.
I felt like my mom was kind of just abandoning me, kinda sending me away.
Like, just like "Done with her, you know.
I just I can't take care of her.
Somebody take her.
" You know, like, what, you can't take care of your own child? Like, really? I was so pissed off that I got sent away, I just wanted to get high and just be with my friends.
I felt like I was better with my friends than I was at home.
And I started hanging out and partying with the Avenue gang.
They were like my family.
The avenues all gang.
Bad area, it's poor, it's drugs.
I moved into my boyfriend's house.
I wasn't scared.
I'm a little white girl with a bunch of Mexicans, big ol' Mexicans trying to scare me, little eses No.
They did not scare me at all.
I don't think I really knew what was going on, that she was really living with a gang member or hanging out with really bad, bad people until she was in the hospital.
I got a phone call at midnight on Christmas Eve.
She was left on the side of the road by the hospital, for dead.
So I didn't have a very good Christmas.
I didn't care what happened to me.
I kinda have that mentality with everything now.
I feel like I've just been, like, recycled, just thrown around, not really cared about.
She doesn't seem to really care.
It's hard for me to comprehend why she doesn't have a conscience that her mother loves her very much, and why she would put me in situations to make me worry so much about her.
My life is just as out of control as hers.
The thought that she could be dead any second is a very scary thought.
I'm in Ventura, California, and I'm on my way to meet with Ashley and her mother Maureen for the first time.
You know, in this family, you have a 19-year-old young lady who does not see her value, she does not see her worth, and she is destroying her life.
And then the mom She's a pretty poor role model to her daughter.
It's I mean, it's definitely a volatile situation.
She often buys into the drama and fights with her daughter, which only makes the situation more volatile and only makes the situation worse.
She's, like, throwing gas on this fire.
So I think that's gonna be really tricky.
And the challenge in Ashley's situation is that ultimately, she can choose not to get help.
She's an adult.
She can do as she wishes.
She can choose not to go to detox, not to go to rehab, and that worries me.
- Hello.
- Hi.
- Hi.
You must be Maureen? - I'm Maureen.
Hi.
How do you do? Josh.
- Good.
How are you? - Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Ashley, what's up? Nice to meet you.
I've been so looking forward to meeting you.
Shall we have a seat? Where should I sit? - Wanna sit with us? There's a chair.
- All right.
So talk to me about what your hope is for all this.
What specifically do you want to change? Specifically, I hope that she will stop hanging out with the people she's hanging out with, the very bad people, and getting her mind clear so she can maybe go to school or start singing again like she used to.
And you think she has what it takes to change? I think she does because she wouldn't have agreed.
- Yeah.
- I didn't know if she was going to agree.
And then she backed out and agreed again.
I thought, all right.
Yeah, so what did you initially kind of think? "Oh, no, I don't want to do this"? Like, I wanted to do it, but I kinda backed out.
I'm like, maybe I don't need this.
Maybe I can just, like, do it myself.
And were you using at the time? Yeah.
Sometimes change is scary.
You know, sometimes what we're doing, even if it's bad and destroying us, at least it's familiar.
But she seems positive and I don't think she's used in a while.
No, I haven't been using.
I couldn't sleep at all because she kept kicking me and shaking me.
But I knew that she was with me and that she was safe - and she wasn't with anybody else.
- That's cool.
And the good news is, is that it's not too late.
And I wanna be clear.
When Ashley changes, she is a hero.
This is your life that's at stake, and when you turn it around, you are the one to be celebrated.
All right, so this week is going to be challenging.
This week is going to be about seeing what your future could be like, both good and bad.
And I need to be very clear that this week, I'm in charge.
Sounds good.
- You're okay with that? - I am.
Yes.
Okay, well, I'm not joking.
Handcuff her with to you.
No, I mean, I'm talking to you.
- I'm saying - I'm fine.
For you, I'm in charge.
No, I want I want you to be.
Yes, definitely.
Okay.
So, Ashley, I'd like for the two of us to hang out - Mm-hmm.
- Spend some time together.
And then I'd love later this evening for the two of us to be able to sit down and spend some time together.
I feel there's hope now and I feel really good about that.
But what he hoped for me It's like He's not giving money to this place.
Nobody helps out.
And I just wanna get my life back, and I can't get my life back unless she's in my life, so I can stop worrying so much, and everybody can start taking care of themselves.
So You used to perform in places like this.
- Right? - Yeah.
This is actually kind of cool.
I never heard you sing.
I would love to hear you sing.
- Eventually, yeah.
- Yeah.
But that's something you haven't done in a while, right? Unh-unh.
I you know, I kinda just stopped when I was probably, like, 14.
I stopped singing and I kinda just started turning into this rebellious teenager.
- Mm.
- Like, especially, like, doing what I was doing, You know, the drugs and everything, it's just like, I wasn't doing anything.
I was kinda, like, stuck.
- So singing was something you loved - Yeah.
- That you felt like sort of the drugs took away from you.
- Yeah.
And there are probably other things in your life you feel like drugs have taken away from you - Yeah.
- That you actually at one point loved.
Yeah.
I always loved to do fun things, and I loved to try new things, and I was so adventurous.
- Mm-hmm.
- And now it's like I am not like that anymore.
I'm like, what happened to me? Like, I felt I just like, my soul just, like, went - Yeah.
- Like, gone.
Like, everything just left.
I just feel like I'm dead every day.
Like, it gets worse and worse where I'm just, like, nothing, like there's nothing there.
There's something I really want to get across to you, because I feel like this represents you.
What is this? A $100 bill.
How much is that worth? $100.
All right.
What about now? How much is that worth? $100.
And now? $100.
This is my fear for you, is that you've been hurt, you've been stomped on, you've been abused.
There's this lie in your mind, and you feel like you're not worth anything.
Mm-hmm.
This has been beat up, it's been through some stuff, but it still has its value.
- And listen to me very carefully.
- Mm-hmm.
You are still valuable.
I truly believe that the key to you getting better is that when you begin to understand that you're valuable and worth something, you will naturally protect yourself.
Seriously, this is you.
- You've been through some stuff - Yeah.
And so have I.
Foster homes, the getting beat up in those foster homes.
Yeah.
I was, you know, raped by a guy in one of those foster homes.
And look, I've come out the other side of it.
Yeah, I'm a little banged up, maybe not as crisp.
But it doesn't mean that I am worth one penny less.
And it doesn't mean that you are worth one cent less.
Mm-hmm.
I was surprised at how different Ashley was from the tough girl I saw on tape.
You know, she seems a lot sweeter and willing to make changes in her life.
My biggest fear is that this week goes well, she has hope, I have hope, everyone's cheering and it feels good.
But then I check back in with her 60 days, and she's just back to her old ways.
I really need to put her through some stuff.
I really need to put her through some experiences she will never, ever forget.
Wait a minute.
This isn't the plan.
What are you doing to me? I'm on my way to meet with Maureen, Ashley's mom.
I'm concerned about how volatile their relationship is.
My goal is to get Maureen to spend less energy fighting with Ashley and more energy trying to help her.
- Hello.
- Hey, Maureen.
- Hi.
- How are you? - I'm good.
How are you? - Good.
Good to see you.
You, too.
How'd it go with Ashley? It went quite well.
Really? Yeah, she's very open, very committed.
I mean, really my only concern is that she's an addict.
Addicts have a tendency to lie, tell you what you wanna hear.
It's good you know those things.
Oh.
, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Sometimes I hear her stories.
Like I don't remember that.
Yeah.
No, I'm not easily fooled.
Yeah.
But I get that she has disappointed you, lied to you, manipulated you.
This is a crazy relationship that we have, this mother/daughter thing between us.
It was she just tells me to eff off or she starts attacking me.
How do you tell your mother to eff off? It's that one word.
My heart starts racing.
I can't stop from getting so angry.
Like, how disrespectful that is.
I'm like, why would you say that to me? Or she slaps me or punches me in the face.
I'm like, why would you do that to your mother? - And I get so angry.
- It's horrible.
And you just feel deeply hurt by it and - I feel betrayed.
- Sort of attacked.
Yeah.
Yeah, I feel betrayed because I-I you know, I-I stopped going to school and and I-I-I focused on being a parent because that was the most important thing to me.
I could've continued doing other things, but you know what? This was the most important thing to me.
And then when she goes to college, - then I can do what I need to do - Yeah.
Because that's my job.
And then this happened.
I thought, wait a minute.
This isn't the plan.
What are you doing to me? This is ridiculous.
Why did this happen to me? - Well, here's here's the thing.
- Yeah.
I need you to listen to me.
- Yeah.
- You are not a victim to this.
Yeah.
- Do you understand me? - Yeah.
Yeah.
I do.
You are not a victim to this.
I feel like a victim sometimes.
No, but I understand.
Yeah, but it's important you not position yourself as a victim.
The victim mentality is worrying too much about me and all the bad things are going on, instead of, "what is the situation?" - Yeah.
- "How can I attack it and make it better?" You must understand you are not a victim to this.
I know.
And you've gotta be careful about falling in that trap.
Yeah.
Because Maureen sees herself as a victim, she can't resist fighting back when Ashley attacks, and that only makes things worse.
Listen, there's never any excuse for abuse, period.
- Yeah.
No.
- There is anything that you can do That it's appropriate for her to punch you.
Let me give you a little tool.
Don't rage.
Disengage.
- This is Paramount, particularly for this week.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm gonna be putting her through a lot.
She's going to be very emotionally raw, very emotionally raw.
So it's Paramount that you're working with me, not against me.
- Yeah.
I need you to trust this process.
- Yeah.
- And I need you to be committed to it.
I am.
And and I can't overcommunicate how important it is that you don't sabotage this process by throwing gas on the fire when she wants to When she wants to verbally spar.
Okay.
I agree to that.
- All right? - Yeah.
All right, I'll see you tomorrow.
Okay.
Ashley is facing the hardest challenge of her life, and she needs stable footing in order to do that.
So today we really get started.
Okay.
And, you know, part of my method is that I want to fast forward to your potential future for you.
Part of my concern for you is that you don't see where you're headed - Mm-hmm.
- And how dangerous it is, And today, I'm gonna bring you face-to-face with that.
- All right.
- All right? So come on in.
If a kid is making a laundry list of stupid decisions, no little pep talk you can give them is gonna change that.
That is why my method is to bring them face-to-face with the reality of the choices they're making and where that's taking them.
- Hey, Jeremy.
Hey, Sarah.
- Hello.
This is Jeremy and his assistant Sarah.
I'm gonna leave you alone with them.
Okay.
I've asked them not to talk to you.
Mm-hmm.
And I'll check back in with you later, okay? Okay.
- So just have a seat right there.
- Okay.
Sometimes it's not enough to just talk to a kid about the dangers of using drugs but literally show them.
And the fact is, Ashley's face is already showing the signs of meth use.
I wasn't really sure what was happening, but it took forever to do my makeup.
I was just freaking out.
I was like, I know they're gonna do something bad to my face.
I know they're gonna do something bad.
We're done.
Hey, Ashley.
So what do you think is going on here? I think they did something really horrible to my face.
Well, you are using drugs, specifically meth, which is a drug that can do to your face what your face looks like right now.
This is a real possibility for you, and it's something you need to face, something you need to see.
Are you ready to do that? Oh, my God.
What are you thinking right now? I want you to look at yourself.
I don't unh-unh.
I want you to look at yourself.
That is so horrible.
I don't even want to look at that.
- I don't - I need you to look at this.
This is your future.
Look at yourself in the eyes right now.
Mnh-mnh.
Look at yourself in the eyes.
If you do not stop using meth, this is what you will look like.
You already have some signs of use on you face.
You are a beautiful young woman, but if you do not stop, this is exactly what you're gonna look like.
Look at yourself.
I don't wanna look like this! So can you take it off? I don't look like this! Take it off! I'm doing this because I do not want this to be you future.
I want this image seared in your mind so that when you have the opportunity to use again, which you will, you remember this moment right here, right now, and you make the right choice.
I wanna take this off now.
You're not gonna take it off the rest of the day.
That is (bleep).
- Listen - It's not gonna happen.
- Yes, it is.
- I'm not no, it's not.
That's not gonna happen.
I'm sorry.
I'm not doing that.
You told me you were committed.
You told me you'd do what it takes.
I am committed.
Well, I guess I'm not committed then.
You are (bleep) crazy if you think I'm gonna (bleep) walk around like this.
It's not gonna happen.
This is a part of it.
- No.
- My guys are not taking the makeup off.
Well, I'll take it off then.
I'm taking this (bleep) off my (bleep) face.
Don't can you guys, like, take it I'm not gonna do this.
I can't do this! Listen, I don't want this for a future for you.
Neither do I, so just take it off! You are terrified right now and you have to trust me.
I am asking you to give me a couple hours of your life.
No! I want you to take it off right now! I'm asking you to give me a couple hours of your life.
No! It's not gonna happen! Take it off now.
If you want my help, - you have to - I'm sorry.
I don't want your help then.
Trust me.
No, I'm not trusting you.
Mnh-mnh.
It's not happening.
I'm gonna take this off right now.
- Look, I genuinely 100% - I will take it off.
- Want - I'm not kidding.
I'm gonna take it off right now.
I genuinely 100% want to help you I understand that, but I'm gonna take this off right now.
- But you have to trust my methods.
- I don't think you get it.
I'm gonna take this off right now.
It's not funny.
- I'm going to.
- Well, I can't control you.
All right.
Fine.
I don't know what the right next move is here.
Ashley, if you try taking that off by yourself, you could hurt yourself.
No, I'm not.
Some of that stuff is engrained in there.
I don't care.
Honey, you okay? Yeah, I'm fine.
What's wrong? Listen, I don't want you to hurt your face - taking those things off.
Let them help you.
- No.
- Okay.
- Why are you acting like this? Come on.
Seriously? Did it scare you? Oh, my God.
It didn't scare me, okay? It looked disgusting.
I'm not gonna have that (bleep) on my face.
What do you want me to do, Ashley? I don't want you to do anything.
It's understandable she wouldn't want this.
It's understandable to flip out.
But what I can't have is her starting to control what this process is or is not.
What I can have is her designing her own help program.
Oh, my God.
Stop oh, my God.
Can you stop? Hey, Maureen? I'd disengage from that.
Hey.
You got the makeup off your face.
Would you mind just going in there and cooling down for a little? She just needs a little space right now.
I had to go in that room prepared that I would have to walk away, but I was willing to do anything but negotiate on my consequences to bring her back into this.
Do you hate me? - Kind of.
- That's okay.
I don't hate you.
I'm just really mad.
I understand how you could feel that way.
Well, I tried to lead with empathy.
That helps.
And it's not condescending.
You know, it's gotta be genuine.
You're being very brave, you know? It's hard as (Bleep) To do.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, it is true.
You could end up like that.
And then a few subtle threats.
You know, here's sort of what's at stake.
Just gonna show you one picture.
This is not of you.
Normal lady.
Same lady.
That's disgusting.
That doesn't even seem like the same lady.
Unh-unh.
Oh, my God! That's so gross! And, like, just so you know, like, I wasn't (Bleep) You.
I threw four or five different things at her, and I'm glad one of them worked.
So you gotta stay committed to this.
Mm-hmm.
And you gotta do what I ask.
Mm-hmm.
That means today, you would need to get back in the makeup.
Hmm.
She's gonna get the makeup back on, which means she's buying back into the process.
There is literally nothing I could've said to her in the bathroom that would have helped her think rationally.
So the appropriate thing was to disengage, let her calm down, and there she was again, the rational kid I'm here to work with.
We're just gonna get out of here.
It's another example of why, when your kid is flipping out, the best thing you can do is just give them a little space.
I'm gonna take her through the next part of the process, which is having her meet someone whose life was dramatically and forever altered by using drugs.
I decided the meeting should take place at a chemical company, so Ashley can see exactly what goes into her body when she uses meth.
Hey, Tiffany.
- Hey, Josh.
- How are you? - Good to see ya.
- This is Ashley, who I was telling you about.
Hi, Ashley.
Very nice to meet you.
- Hi, Tiffany.
- And this is her mother Maureen.
- Hi, Maureen.
Nice to meet you.
- Hi.
How are you? You, too.
Good.
Nice to meet you both.
So Tiffany is a part of my network And she has a very similar background to you.
Let's get right into it.
Um, I wanted to share my story with you and how drugs affected not only myself but my family.
I started when I was 15 with marijuana, and from marijuana to other drugs, such as cocaine, acid, heroin, and then eventually ending with meth.
Meth was my drug of choice.
I was shooting meth into my veins, and didn't really realize what was in it.
There's lithium batteries, there's anhydrous ammonia, there's paint thinner, denatured alcohol.
I was putting all of these things into my body.
Now my face didn't look like your makeup face does today because it started eating my body from the inside out.
So I thought I was invincible to the world because I didn't ever think anything was wrong.
On my 30th birthday, um, my "boyfriend" and I were having a little quarrel, and he left, and my girlfriend and I were gonna go out for my birthday.
So I said, "I'm hopping in the tub.
Come on over.
" When my friend came over, she knocked on the door, and I didn't answer.
Then she came back couple hours later didn't answer.
So she thought I was standing her up.
So two days later, she comes back, and she finds my "so-called boyfriend" moving out of my house.
My friend said, "where's tiff? What's going on?" And she got in there and found me Not breathing, eyes wide open, my hands and feet turning purple.
So basically I was in the bathtub, and he was leaving me there to die.
Thank goodness she had the wherewithal to even say, "we need to get her to the hospital.
" They then dropped me off outside of the hospital and left, not telling them who I was, what was wrong, or anything.
That began a 180-day stay in the hospital.
I wanna show you some pictures of the third day I was in the hospital.
This is my body.
These are my hands.
Um, these are my feet.
Each of my fingernails peeled off one by one.
Those were my fingernails.
And I'd like to show you what drugs really did to me and my body.
I live with these every day.
This is what drugs did to my body.
Can you hold this for a second? All right.
Thank you.
And then also this one.
This is what drugs did to me.
I would give anything to have your feet, in the whole entire world.
Anything.
I live with these every day.
This is a constant reminder of what I did to myself and my family.
And I wish I could take it all back.
If something like that was to happen to you, do you feel like these friends who are partying with you and using would really be there for you? No.
Why not? I'd had times before where I've been left for dead and I woke up in the hospital.
I could've lost my legs.
I could've lost limbs.
I could've died.
This is how it could turn out for you.
And I know you want to change.
But if you do not, something horrific like this is not an "if" but a "when.
" Now, Maureen, what would that do to you if your daughter ended up with this sort of disability? I would be really sad, but, um You adapt.
Because I-I almost lost my leg when I was 15, and so I've lived with it.
I had surgery twice and I lost two toes, and it took me six months to walk again, so it's like There's sort of this moment of it taking your breath away.
She's being so selfish and thinking about such and such, about rehabilitation and "I did this and I did this and I've been through this.
" And, like, what about your daughter? I was running again in two in two years, I was running.
I'm I'm but I'm I'm just curious.
- But - What would this What would this do to you if this happened to your daughter? - I - Not to you, but to your daughter.
I think no, I think that for her, though I don't want anything bad to happen to her, but I love her so much that I-if she had one leg, I'd still love her.
But I don't want you to ever end up like me.
Ever.
That's what I wanna share with you.
I just basically beg you, please just stop.
Thank you for sharing with me.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you for coming to see me.
Yeah, thank you so much, Tiffany.
- All right.
Thank you, Josh.
Great to see you.
- Great to see you.
Thank you.
Bye.
Give me one more hug.
I'm a hugger.
People can tell you a story, but you're not there.
You're not actually seeing it.
So when I'm actually there and I see the person, and they're actually talking to me, it's, like, different.
- I'll I'll tell you.
- It's like it's like, oh, my God.
Like, I mean, I'm this is gonna be stuck in my head forever.
That's all part of my evil plan.
I know.
It's evil.
All right.
Well, I'll walk you guys outside.
Tiffany said she would do anything to have her legs back.
I should be able to do anything to get my life back, to get myself back.
I just have to, like, keep faith in myself and just stay strong.
I've asked Ashley and Maureen to meet me at sober college in woodland hills.
- Hi.
- Good morning.
They have a recording studio there, so this is an opportunity for her to reconnect with an old passion.
So let's talk about the next part of the process.
Mm! To me, this is the fun part, 'cause you saw where you don't wanna go.
Yeah.
And now I wanna show you where you could go.
This is actually a sober college.
- Oh, really? - And so there are students - Who are dedicated to being sober - Mm-hmm.
But also dedicated to doing something they love, - and I think this will really inspire you.
- Okay.
Cool.
So no makeup today, all right? - Yeah.
- All right.
Come on.
I want to begin to sort of push her in the direction of reconnecting with something that she loves, something that can give her a reason to say "no.
" Because for a kid to really become sober long-term, it's not just about saying "no" to the substance, but it's about saying "yes" to something that you're passionate about.
- Hey, Jeff.
What's up, man? - Hey, Josh, how's it going? - How you doing, man? Good to see you.
- Good to see you.
So this is Ashley, who I was telling you about.
- Hello.
Nice to meet you.
- Ashley.
My name's Jeff.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Jeff is the music director at sober college.
Yeah.
Actually, I came here in early 2010 as a resident.
I was kicking heroin.
And this place saved my life.
I mean, you can pretty much do anything you want to do here.
And one of the reasons we wanted to have you here was to try and maybe record an original song.
I don't know if that's interesting to you.
Yeah.
It's kind of scary, but, yeah.
Oh, it's always scary.
That never goes away, no matter how sober you get.
It's been a scary week.
- Yeah.
- But you've done well.
So I'm gonna show you give you a little bit of a tour.
This is the control room, which is where Julius sort of mans the station.
This is where we have all our instruments.
- Oh, it's nice and cold in here.
- Whole smorgasbord of toys.
Okay.
So like I said, part of what we want to have you do is take one of your original songs - Mm-hmm.
- Try and rediscover that passion of yours, - Try and record it in here - Okay.
And have you walk out at the end of the day - with an actual track recorded in a studio.
- Oh, wow.
There's a song that I wrote on the guitar.
It's kind of it's simple.
- Simple's good.
We like simple.
- Yeah.
Aah! Ha ha! Sing? I haven't sang in forever.
Bring it on.
I can't I don't even remember it.
I'm trying.
Like, "I don't want to do it," but then I was like, "this is cool.
" I I'm feelin' so free And I Can hardly breathe Life just takes over Evil on my shoulder Lost in my direction Eyes filled with obsession Please I was able to kind of get used to it.
And when everything was going, it kind of like, yeah, it, like, brought back my confidence.
It brought back so many memories.
I felt this warmth this amazing, like, rush.
'Cause I can't take this I just love making music.
It's like medicine.
Imagine if I wasn't able to get here today, I wasn't able to sit down there and make that music.
That it was like we made something amazing in there.
- You facing underground - Ooh-ooh No more tears, no more sounds Lie Lie away Away That sounds cool.
Oh Very nice.
I think it's important that we address where you've come from.
I have one more crucial step to this process, which I call the summit.
The two of you sit right there please? This is truly an opportunity for the teen and the parent to humble themselves, take responsibility, and commit to doing something different.
So it's been quite the week, - has it not? - Yes.
- Yeah.
- I mean for you this week, I've been very proud of you.
Thank you.
And I feel like your future, you genuinely have hope.
- Yeah.
- And that the next day Could be better than the last.
And that's really what I want from you.
- Mm-hmm.
- But I think it's important That we address where you've come from, what you've been doing, how dangerous that is, so that everyone understands how important you moving forward is.
- Mm-hmm.
- So I have a video.
This video was taken by a member of my team a few days before I came out to work with you, and this is sort of a glimpse into what a day in your life used to look like.
Oh, this is heroin? I'm smoking heroin? There should be a little bit more.
It's really sad to see myself like that, and the fact that my mom had to watch that, and I had to watch her watch that and see her cry next to me I've always been so private.
I've never wanted her to see what I've been doing.
It made me feel bad.
Made me feel really, really bad.
I've O.
D.
ed, like, 20 times.
But you don't see me stopping, no.
'Cause I'm not gonna stop just 'cause I O.
D.
What's it like for you to watch that video? It just it's hard to watch something like that, people killing themselves.
And to see my daughter doing that, it's really hard.
Very hard.
It's so weird.
It doesn't even seem like me.
I can't believe that's me.
Part of what I want to do right now is give you both the opportunity for sort of a-a clean slate here.
And I know that you've put your mom through a lot, and you know that.
The drug abuse, being verbally abusive, physically abusive.
I think it would be very mature of you to apologize to your mom for that.
If you mean it.
I'm sorry that, you know, I've yelled at you or spoke down to you or said anything that hurt you, because I didn't mean it.
It's just, like, when anybody's coming at me, I automatically put up a wall, and I-I'll hurt them like I feel like they're trying to hurt me.
But I'm so sorry that I ever hurt you.
I just want there to be another way for us so that we don't fight.
I just appreciate that I have a mom that really does love me instead of hating me.
I do love you.
I know you do.
And, Maureen, can you talk to your daughter about regrets that you have about, you know, at times being selfish and not being a responsible role model for her.
I apologize if I was any disappointment, 'cause you know that you're always first in my life.
I've been selfish, and I don't wanna be selfish, 'cause I'm your mother.
And I want to do what's best for both of us.
You first, 'cause you're very important to me, and you're my baby.
Thank you, mom.
Thank you very much.
So, Ashley, I have one more video for you to watch.
- Mm-hmm.
- I think you'll find this video A bit more encouraging.
Ashley's dad Richard reached out to me, saying that he wants to be involved in this process.
So I made the call of having him make a video for her saying how much he loves her and is rooting for her.
Hi, Ash, it's dad.
I love you with all my heart, and I will do anything I can to support you in any way.
You really can count on me.
And I think if you set your mind to this and stick with it, I know you'll be able to succeed.
So give it a try.
Catch that wave and go all the way.
I love you.
I'll see you soon.
That was so nice.
How does it feel to have the support of your dad? Real good.
It's so nice that he cares, that he would take the time out of his day just to say something to me.
Just so you know, he reached out to me.
- Said, you know, "how's she doing?" - That's not like him.
Well, you know, maybe he's seeing you be unlike how you used to be.
- Yeah.
- And he's saying, "well, You know, maybe I need to change a little bit, too.
" Yeah.
That's really cool.
And so I think in a in a cool way, you've sort of inspired your dad.
That's cool.
I would hope that that's it.
I'm glad that Ashley was moved by her dad's video, but it's sad that such a small gesture was such a big deal to her.
So let's talk about the next part of this.
As I've said all along, this week is no magic cure.
You, right now, I believe are committed to changing.
But change takes a while, and you need help.
And so first thing I have set up for you is a top-notch residential rehab program.
It's called prototypes women's center.
They'll take great care of you and help you become the person that you desire to be, free of drugs.
So that's phase one.
Now assuming you agree to that and you complete that, I am committed to helping you get into a place where you can pursue your music.
Wow.
Everything that you need for a better you Actually, the best version of you.
That's amazing.
- What do you think? - I wanna do it all.
It's, like, the direction I've always been looking for but but I didn't know how to find.
I'm happy that you were able to do it for me.
Well, I didn't do it for you.
You did this for yourself.
- Thank you.
- You're the one that should be proud.
Thank you for everything.
You're welcome.
Thank you for being there and standing by me.
I will be keeping in touch.
I will be writing you.
I will be checking in on you.
- You promise? - I promise.
- Okay.
- You have my word.
- Okay.
- All right, give me a hug.
I'm proud of you.
You're very brave.
A week ago, all I was thinking about was how to get high the next day.
This experience is the first positive thing that's happened to me in so long.
When I think about Josh and what he did for our family, his influence and his positive outlook has really made a huge, huge impact on our lives this week, and hopefully forever.
I've been waiting to have the courage to do something like this, but I just kept falling back down.
This time I was like, "I'm not gonna give up.
" This means too much to me.
I can already see everything in front of me.
I can feel in my bones that I'm getting my life back, and I'm so thankful.