hen Laurie Couch first joined the Affected by Addiction Support Group, a closed Facebook group with 70,000 members, she felt a sense of belonging. Here were people who understood her struggle to care for a son addicted to drugs, and they were there to support her, any time of the day or night. She began regularly responding to people who were dealing with cravings and comforting parents devastated by their children’s addictions.
Private addiction support groups are abundant on Facebook, and Affected by Addiction is one of the most high-profile. Last June, the group’s owner Matt Mendoza spoke at the Facebook Communities Summit, where Mark Zuckerberg unveiled his plan to get a total of 1 billion people into “meaningful groups.” In July, Zuckerberg posted a glowing review of the support group on his Facebook page. The group was profiled by Good Morning America in February, sparking a flood of new members. In the segment, Mendoza told the hosts that “there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of people that have gotten treatment as a result of this community.” He didn’t expand on the process.
In March, Couch’s son almost overdosed. They live together in rural Kansas, where she doesn’t have access to much in-person support, which is part of what made Affected by Addiction attractive to begin with. In the wake of his near-overdose, she reached out to the group for comfort and encouragement while she panicked and figured out what to do.
Shortly after that, a stranger named Garrett Hall sent Couch a Facebook message.
“Hey Lauri [sic], I saw your name on the Affected By Addiction support group, and I had this weird/strong impulse to just reach out,” Hall wrote to Couch. “[A]re you doing ok?”
“ARE YOU DOING OK?”
Though there’s no indication of it on his Facebook page, and he never mentioned it to Couch, Hall had a professional connection to Affected by Addiction. Between 2015 and 2016, he’d worked for Mendoza’s blog company, Addiction Unscripted, which owns Affected by Addiction.
Hall never disclosed to Couch that he had professional ties to Affected by Addiction. He simply offered to put her in touch with “someone who I have come to love over the last 12 months.”
“She is the woman who helped me get sober and my life back on track and she has helped so many people and families,” he continued. “I honestly believe she is a miracle worker. She is my hero.”
Couch soon got a call from Meghan Calvert, a paid marketer for a treatment center called Pillars Recovery. It’s owned by Darren Orloff, who is part of Affected by Addiction’s volunteer leadership team. Couch, who has a background in sales, knew a sales pitch when she heard it. She told Calvert off for taking advantage of desperate people.