Rainbow Hill Recovery is Now Open and Serving the Queer-Sober Community

Husbands Joey Bachrach and Andrew Fox are pioneering a queer sobriety brand they call Rainbow Hill.

For them, sober living is a choice, not a sentence. Oftentimes, however, sober living facilities don’t cultivate a safe, welcoming environment conducive to recovery. So, almost three years ago, armored with backgrounds in real estate and grounded by their own sobriety, Bachrach and Fox founded Rainbow Hill Sober Living.

“We saw a need for the LGBTQ+ community and nice spaces,” Fox says.

Tucked in the Echo Park hills of Los Angeles, the colorful home features shared bedrooms, bright common spaces, a front-yard garden, and a sunny patio out back. They can serve up to fourteen male-identifying queer folks who have completed at least two weeks of sobriety and, either works a program (like Alcoholics Anonymous), or regularly sees an addiction-specialized therapist.

As the only LGBTQ+ exclusive sober living house in Los Angeles, Rainbow Hill Sober Living not only provides space for recovery, but also provides queer-affirming refuge for residents who have been misgendered or have faced homophobic slurs at prior homes.

For Bachrach, “[Being affirming] lets our clients know we hear you [and] we’re here for you.”

While they don’t put a time cap on a resident’s stay, it’s common that housemates become friends and, when they’re ready, move out and find new homes together.

“We don’t want return clients,” Fox says. “We want to set them up so they’re good. We want to be the last house.”

They opened the house in part because they wish something like it had existed when they were getting sober.

For Fox, alcoholism ran in his family. His drinking started in high school and became a habit in his 20s, even while making strides in his career.

“You can be a functional alcoholic your whole life,” Fox says, “but it doesn’t prepare you for when things happen. That’s when you can’t control it.”

He was already unhappy when his father and grandmother died and, bogged down by guilt and depression, he fell into a dark place. And then he climbed out, sober.

For Bachrach, alcohol started as a coping mechanism when he lost his father as a teenager; it became a social lubricant as he came-of-age on the Hollywood scene.

“I was a despicable human being,” Bachrach remembers.

He was forced against his will to get sober, and relapsed. Then, he tried again on his own accord, and his sobriety lasted.

Before they started dating, Bachrach and Fox were friends. They met in real estate and found sober accountability partners in each other during work events. Together, they bonded over the resemblance of their recovery stories. They were also both left-handed, go-getters, and lovers of challenges.

Now, two-months married, they have embarked on the next phase of their expanding mission. They opened Rainbow Hill Recovery, a treatment center located in a Miracle Mile high-rise. Like their sober living house, the space is brightly colored and also features a balcony overlooking the city.

Headed by seasoned clinical director Betsy Spier (to be featured on The Q Agenda), the queer-centric center offers daily partial hospitalization programs (PHPs), intensive outpatient programs (IOPSs), outpatient programs (OPs), and other group sessions like experiential therapy. Tailored to the individual, the recovery center serves all shades of the LGBTQ+ community.

In opening Rainbow Hill Recovery, Bachrach and Fox offer the queer-sober community options: sponsors, guidance counselors, life coaches, and more. Here, an addict will find an array of resources that will make recovery less lonely and all the more possible.

“We are here, and we are very queer,” Bachrach says, “and if you’re looking for a program that heals you and understands you, you should reach out.”

Two facilities in, the Rainbow Hill duo is just getting started.