Season 22 Episode 1
Susan
Age: 32
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Addiction: Heroin
Official Synopsis: Susan grew up in a devoutly Mormon household. As an adult, she suffered a back injury and was prescribed OxyContin. Not only did the medication ease her back pain, it also numbed the memories of her turbulent family upbringing and a recent breakup. She became addicted, and when her doctor stopped prescribing them, she turned to heroin.
What’s Memorable: The arms. The unbelievably toxic parents, their next level enabling. The bible on the bed between mother and daughter as they smoke heroin & meth and talk about the Heavenly Father. The dad who can’t answer a question. Ken’s total exasperation. The eye appointment (“I AM CHOOSING MY EYE!”) The video call at the end when Dawn asks her sober and thriving daughter “um what do you mean by that, ‘boundaries’?” and Susan tells the camera that she knew in that moment that her mom hasn’t changed at all – it was like the twist ending of a thriller movie, actually gave me chills. And made me very grateful to not have someone like that in my life anymore. So toxic, so ugly.
All that said, I have questions. The interventionists have said repeatedly in the past that they don’t continue when the subjects find out about what’s going on. (I’ve argued that that isn’t actually true, but regardless, they do still say that). I’m honestly not sure as to why Ken & the producers continued with this one, other than it was by that point shaping up to be a shocking(!) episode with all the big gripping reveals and mystery basement dwellers, and they simply didn’t want to lose it. And when it became clear that Dawn and Susan knew that this was Intervention and had already been preparing to go to treatment, I got suspicious about their motives. They supposedly had plenty of money and didn’t need free treatment, and they had seemingly decided they were going already, so why were they even pretending that they didn’t know what was coming? What were Dawn and Chuck getting out of this? Why did he tell them, or was it Dawn’s idea all along? Seems like something else was going on here, some plan that we weren’t privy to. Anyway, between the manipulative, shady AF parents and Ken continuing the intervention instead of reasonably pulling the plug on the whole thing, I feel like this whole situation was just…off. Doesn’t sit right.
Interventionist: Ken
Date Aired: March 15, 2021
I don’t even know where to start about this episode. It was so chaotic.
You got that right. What a nightmare. Poor Susan. Those arms… Several observations: (1) People can call themselves ‘ducks’ but they’re still people; these people call themselves ‘Mormons’ but they don’t live the teachings of the church, starting with don’t abuse your children or call them names for being overweight & don’t use any drugs ~ not even caffeine ~ except as prescribed. (2) Taking strong painkillers as prescribed does NOT lead to addiction; patients can become physically dependent over time, but unless the dose keeps getting raised, patients are not addicted; a physical dependence is easy resolved by tapering off a drug when it’s no longer needed. (3) Addicts often say they got hooked on pain pills, but the only way that happens is if they start taking pills for how they feel emotionally rather than as directed for pain. I feel so sorry for the people in this episode. How does a person get SO screwed up?
I’m not sure where you got knowledge of Mormonism, but sadly almost every Mormon I have known (well over 100+, having lived in Idaho/Utah/Arizona) has gotten pregnent as a teenager, addicted to prescribed and street drugs, had affairs, drank all kinds of caffeine etc etc smoked cigarettes…. They are by far less than superior Christians. The business deals, the hypocrisy, I mean seriously. Don’t attempt to give anyone this false ideal of Mormonism….please don’t put Mormonism on a pedestal. Human beings, no matter their “religion” are fallible at best.
This family was whacked out crazy. But, pretty standard. Susan was the only relatively sane one of the group. I hope she stayed away, but I’m guessing they are right back where the episode started. Pretty sad.
Let me also add, if you are not an addict, you have zero knowledge of addiction. It is VERY EASY to become addicted to a prescription drug following how they are to be taken. Please educate yourself. I dont want to hear that you are in the medical field in any capacity. If you were, you would know how easy it is to get addicted, ESPECIALLY to opioids! You cannot generalize addiction.
I think you need to educate yourself on what addiction really is and how someone becomes addicted. You seem to lack the full knowledge of addiction. Placing all addicts into one fish bowl is not the way to go. Addiction happens for different reasons. Many addicts followed the doctor’s rules. You are seriously lacking knowledge on this subject.
As for religion, same thing….you need to educate yourself about religion and addiction. Not one religion is perfect and every religion have addicts. Mormons are no better or less than any other religion. Addiction doesn’t discriminate. It happens to the rich, poor, black, white, etc.
You have been seriously misinformed about people being unable to get addicted to pain medication if it’s taken as directed. Not only is that a possibility, it’s quite common.
That last part about it being easy to come off of prescription painkillers… I’m guessing you must work for a pharmaceutical company 🤣
It’s quite obvious that you don’t have a clue about anything you are stating as being facts.
Seriously.
Right away, I noticed how the interviews of Susan’s family were really compassionate towards her. They didn’t sound like people who had been on the periphery of watching someone destroy themselves. I thought that was odd, and it only clicked in response to uncovering just how deeply dysfunction runs in that family. I have to wonder—who called for the intervention? It had to have been Jessica, the only one from that family who seemed remotely healthy in the episode. I hope Susan makes it, but I think doing so depends on permanently severing contact with her parents.
I thought Ken looked worn out in the episode, but given how things developed, it’s not surprising. All in all, his work was incredible. Who knew his easiest task would be getting Susan to go to treatment? She was really just a likable person who wanted to change and was ready. Given the scope, I can’t blame Ken for declaring Susan’s family the sickest, most dysfunctional family he’s seen in over 20 years of doing this. I think the show should have sent in some of the other interventionists (Candy would have been incredible at handling Susan’s mother, I think, and possibly Sylvia or Seth for Julie) and it could have been a cool way to kick off the season, but mostly I think that entire debacle was just too much to put on any one interventionist’s shoulders.
I agree with you about Ken. He did extremely well being alone. But, a few times I was like Ken, you’re losing them. You’re losing it. You need backup. But, the editing seemed a lot more choppy this episode. So there may have been more interventionists we didn’t see. Since Ken does have his own treatment centers.
I’m confused about the brother Nathan. When Chuck was backed into a corner about revealing the intervention, he said Nathan told Susan and Dawn. I don’t believe anything Chuck says, as he seems like a delusional liar, but it was strange that nobody asked Nathan about it. I was also struck by how many times Ken said that Susan had no hope of sobriety if she came back to the house with her family still using. I would think her coming back to the house at all would be out of the question if she wanted to remain sober (and sane). It was strange that it was just assumed that she would return to the house after treatment.
maybe it was a way to at least get them on the path of sobriety. Once they start the rehab and actually commit to them, they should realize how bad it would be to return there.
I would have LOVED seeing Seth in there – not that Ken’s ineffective because he’s not. But Seth has this way about him that firmly – without histrionics – deals with enabling people as well as those who have caused trauma to the addicts themselves. I wish they used Seth more – wow.
I’ve seen every episode a dozen times and I don’t remember ever seeing someone as physically damaged then when Susan pulled the bandages off her arm. Jesus Christ. I haven’t even finished the episode yet (another 35 minutes to go) but this is hands-down one of the most shocking ones ever. In so many ways.
Courtney from last season had a shocking wound on her leg, but Susan’s arms take the cake for most horrifying drug-related injury, I think. I hope the scars she is left with remind her to never use again, but then again she didn’t seem very concerned about her wounds while she was still using. I wish the best for her. She seems about as level-headed as you can be with the parents she has.
I don’t even know what to say regarding this. Never have seen a parent use on camera with there kid. I know dawn suffers from bipolar and borderline personality disorder which may explain her behavior to a certain extent but smoking meth is not the way to handle it. I’m glad Susan was so agreeable to go and her brother Daniel also went to treatment. I wish the best for Susan truly. She looked amazing at the end. Not really surprised that dawn relapsed shortly after getting out I think she uses meth as a excuse to help with her issues.
The episode with the two 20something year old brothers were living in abandoned housing with their dad and were using heroin with their dad. Their name escapes me but I think it’s happened before on this show.
Tom and John?
This episode was wild. Talk about family addiction, this is definitely a memorable one. If i were Susan I would stay as far away from that family as i could. If she gets anywhere near her mother again she will relapse. Her siblings Daniel and Julie need to do the same. None of them will stay clean if they dont stay away from their mother.
I found myself holding my breathe like I was in the room with them. It was a shit show but Ken kept his cool and thank goodness they all, at the least, have sober time and therapy in their lives.
Ken did a phenomenal job of maneuvering the incessant obstacles thrown at him in this episode. I have so much respect for him. I don’t know how he kept his cool when Chuck was trying to gaslight him!
Susan: I have a lot of hope for her. She seems like she has embraced recovery and has no hesitation about putting in the work. She needs to stay very far away from her family to remain successful.
Dawn: It’s hard for me to feel sympathy for her. Mental illness is definitely at the root of her addiction, and that’s not her fault. But her manipulation and constant need to keep her kids sick made me dislike her.
Dawn is such a classic borderline…I think it must be one of the hardest personality disorders to both treat and live with.
You’re not kidding. I’m a nurse and had a patient with severe BPD and it really opened my eyes. It’s so hard to treat and it really stands out against other mental illnesses.
I noticed that Chuck said he would only make the minimum payments on the credits cards so that they remained maxed out if Dawn refused treatment. I thought that was interesting, given they seemed to be very comfortable money-wise. I speculated that maybe they’re deep in debt and were hoping for free treatment for the multiple addicts.
This was truly the most bizarre episode I’ve ever seen. The twists just kept coming. Dawn terrifies me. I really don’t think there is any hope for her, and I hope her children set hard boundaries for her, or cut her out completely.
Hmmm, good point. You could be right about secretly being in debt and wanting free treatment. That would explain a lot actually.
I agree with you about Dawn. I said it to a friend last night – she seemed like a lost cause. I hate to give up on anyone with addiction issues, but her meth use was only in the last couple of years, and by all accounts from her family, she’s had issues with mental health for decades. She was cruel, manipulative, argumentative…there’s no way she’d ever heed the advice of any doctor or a loved one.
Sadly Borderline Personality Disorder can be impossible to recover from, and can be a black hole to treat.
I thought that was interesting too. I took it as if he paid the whole balance she could just get cash advances from a zero balance. Keeping it maxed would only allow her low to no amounts to be able to do that. His strategy made me think he’s learned his lesson with that.
Of COURSE they’re deep in debt. $300,000 per year with two entire households to support, and two people using $100+ a day in drugs with no income doesn’t go very far.
Edit: just got to the part where he’s paying for the other two siblings’ addictions as well! There’s no way he’s not deep in debt.
$300,000/year doesn’t go very far when you are paying $100/day for 5 people…..
I think it’s the credit cards that he gave her to use and not all of them. I’m sure he has the other ones in his possession.
That’s what happens when you have a house full of addicts. Credit cards get maxed out pretty quick. I’m sure he had other credit cards and money that the rest of them didn’t have.
I work as a substance abuse therapist and I’ve never seen anything like this family…. also curious as to why they wanted free treatment. The comment below by Ann posts a good theory about them being in debt — it makes sense considering Chuck doesn’t work anymore but supports all of their habits. But then why move into a whole house by himself? Why not just stop funding 4 addicts — 5 including the friend. Something is really strange there.
Many of the clinics they feature on the show seem to be quite expensive, and health insurance (if any is to be had) doesn’t always have the greatest coverage for actual 90 day rehab.
This is correct. I have excellent insurance, and I went to outpatient rehab in 2019 while still working full time, and I still had to pay hundreds of dollars.
I guess I missed the “chuck not working” part. Is he retired or something?
According to LinkedIn, he’s still working as the CEO.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuck-kroegel-145342?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
I feel like only certain family members should know about the intervention. Would change some things about the format but still. For the families who reach out for this, they probably know which family members would make it hard to keep it a secret. Telling them only at the pre intervention.
Old Intervention: participant has agreed to be in a documentary about addiction but doesn’t know they will soon face an intervention but producer does
New intervention: participant has agreed to be in a documentary about addiction and knows they will soon face an intervention but don’t know that the producer knows they know and still go through with it.
Oh wow, there were so many curveballs thrown at us in this episode that I lost count how many times my jaw dropped to the floor. And the way the matriarch rationalizes that “Heavenly Father” actually condones her smoking meth while she lovingly watches her daughter doing heroin? Blasphemous Heavenly son!
By the way, the patriarch of the family is Chuck Kroegel and has a multilingual Wikipedia article to his name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Kroegel
Thanks for the link. Shame: all that hard work and all he has to show for it is a house full of delusion and addicts, including his personality disordered wife, and a crushing mountain of related debt. I wish them all the best..
So, I also have BPD and I was blown away at how bad Dawn was in her mood swings. The over-attachment to Susan. The total split on Chuck over the phone thing. The manipulative victim complex. Her outburst over the eye appointment and her ridiculous behavior was almost like a caricature of the disorder. I was creeped out at the end with Dawn still having no boundaries with Susan and trying to bring up such a horrific situation as a fond memory because she’s so attached. I really hope Susan keeps her at a large distance.
I was never officially diagnosed with BPD, but I did have many of the traits and I felt the exact same about Dawn – a BPD parody
I’ve had a busy week and forgot there was a new episode. I finally came onto the site and saw the plethora of comments and knew this was going to be a crazy episode. My God it didn’t disappoint to say the least. Dizzy your post sums up my thoughts succinctly so I don’t have much else to add, except for that this is another example of how extreme religiosity can destroy lives (especially Mormonism, as we’ve seen on this show multiple times), not only in terms of addiction, but also murder, as we saw with the Atlanta shootings this past week.
Did anyone else notice the hoarding going on in Dawn’s room? And on the bed? She exhibits textbook Borderline behavior, and when she was losing control, you could totally tell.
SO glad this episode is up here now. It wasn’t when I watched the episode, and I was just like, omg, this is the episode to end all episodes- must discuss!!
Wow. You can totally see the law of Karma at work with Chuck, he used to yell at them and order them around, and now Susan and Dawn were ordering him around and getting him to get groceries and make up. Truly God is not mocked, we reap what we sow.
Neither Chuck or Dawn couldn’t handle raised voices or stern behavior on the part of Ken. Chuck could be talked down, but not Dawn. Oh man.
Oops – “could handle” is the proper wording
The nurse in me cringed when she ripped that dressing off of her arms and just slapped a clean one on. No normal saline, no wound wash, no non adhesive dressings. I know this was the least of her worries but it was so hard to watch because I just wanted to fix it.
Lol. I said the SAME thing. I’m an ICU RN and it made me CRINGE!!! She probably doesn’t have NS at the house but at the very least wet it with some water. And cleanse it before re-wrapping! Something 😩 Walmart has all types of NS products for piercings and whatnot. I just shook my head. That’s also probably why she’s hurting so much. She’s just ripping off the granulation tissue.
Absolutely! I’m not in health care but I’ve had wounds I needed to treat/heal over a long period of time. I buy calcium alginate dressings on Amazon, for pete’s sake. As well as NS, sterile non-stick gauze, 4x4s, everything you need.
It’s easy to judge someone when you don’t know why their behavior is the way it is. Maybe Chuck lost his mother at a very young age. Maybe his father soon married a malignant narcissist which later resulted in a young man handling emotions the way he was taught -with anger. Besides anger, maybe scapegoats of narcissists cause their victims to become people pleasers. Maybe studies have proven that these victimized children grow up to marry natcissists, aka users, also.
Best comment.
Chuck and Dawn were difficult to like (I certainly didn’t) but their behavior is likely rooted in lots of trauma.
Hopefully, Susan can stay sober and strong. I fear that Dawn, however, won’t. Between her age and the borderline personality disorder, it will be difficult.
My mouth dropped when I saw Susan on the bed and her mother right next to her getting out a baggie of heroin to give to her. My mouth stayed permanently open when I saw the mother pull out a glass pipe from under the pillow and started smoking meth. My mouth has yet to shut from last week’s episode…lol. You just can’t make this shit up…..or can you? LOL.
It’s definitely one to add to the most shocking/disturbing/memorable episodes lists.
You forgot the Bible on the bed between them.. I just can’t imagine what level of religious guilt inducing mind-diddling was being practiced.
I’ve been the CD field for years and when she just pulled out a pipe and a bubble (I think she actually said that) and then I DIED finding out there’s two people in the basement.
My mouth was literally dropped, yelling OMG the entire episode! I couldn’t believe it! The mom and 3 of her kids!! She needs serious help!
The best work I’ve seen from an interventionist on this show. Ken did the work of 5 interventionists. He deserves an Emmy for this episode.
In spite of her horrific addiction Susan’s kindness and vulnerability really shone through. I really found myself wanting to hug her. I was so proud to learn that she completed her program and cut her mother off.
I agree! You could tell she was a kind soul with a lot of trauma. And getting injured, it’s pretty quick and easy for not just your mind but your body to get dependent. Her mother was something else. She doesn’t seem willing to fully change or maybe she just needs longer treatment – if she is willing to give it her all. I’m glad she cut her mother off
I’ve been a long time follower of intervention and posting on this site. This episode was absolutely insane. The more and more addicts coming up, the mom when she first smoked that pipe in front of her daughter, and the worst case of enabling that I think has ever graced this show.
This was a shit show. This episode seemed more about the drama than about helping the addict, but in the end she got sober so…that’s what matters, right?
as someone with BPD, Dawn’s behavior was incredibly hard to watch. It is especially hard because her children described her as arrogant and self important. When having BPD you have to have a certain amount of self awareness to manage it properly because you can often get in your own head and think your emotions are more important than others because you feel them so strongly. I myself have worked for years on this through therapy and other methods. You’d think Dawn would be taught cognitive exercises to help her with this in therapy but sadly I think she is past help. I really do wish Susan the best though, she seemed like a really kind and warm hearted person.
Oh wow… this episode was so hard to watch…chaos, enabling, mental and physical problems…. I was horrified to think what it looked like under Susan’s bandages she had on her arms. I seriously wonder if she isn’t in danger of losing them by just the little I could see, also the discoloration of hands and around the bandages. I really pray she can get better. This mother’s combination of addiction and mental illness is keeping her family addicted and sick. She is like the anti-christ to her own family… 3 children addicted, under her roof…with a husband who can’t stand up and cut them off- no one has a chance here until the Mother is out of their lives. Just my opinion here- bit she needs them sick and addicted to keep them close and to control them. Just like she tries to control the husband and everyone else.
This episode has been terrifying to watch.
I’m so proud of Susan for not only accepting help but for setting boundaries with her mother and siblings. Susan seems like such a great person who came from two emotionally abusive parents. I’m not surprised so many of her siblings also struggled with addiction, and I’m amazed at Susan’s strength in getting sober! Sending you love, Susan!
WOW this episode had my head spinning!! Four addicts in a family, five in one home. A rich crack house! Susan, bless her honestly, you can tell she really wanted to get out of this mess, here is an addict who willingly accepted treatment then spent time during her own intervention trying to convince someone to get help too, don’t think I’ve seen that before. How nervous everyone was around the mom, pure toxic. The video call at the end between them, like you said Dizzy, gave me chills honestly! Mom trying to reminisce and make something positive out of those times. How nervous Susan was during that call. Sad, but I am so glad she realised that her mom has and probably won’t change. She needs to stay well away from her!! Oh god, so many things in this episode were absolute heartbreaking and shocking.
The one time I can remember that happening – the subject participating in an additional intervention on a family member – was Tiffany with her father https://intervention-directory.com/2014/01/episode-181-tiffany/
It took me about 5 days to get through this episode.
I hate Dawn
I hate Chuck
Even George and Jessica(?) irked me, and made me annoyed when they talked too much.
Susan seemed sweet and has her head in the right place and thank GOD she got her arms healed and is in recovery. That last phone call with her mom was amazing, impossibly hard, and entirely correct.
What an absolute shit show, probably my bottom 3 least favorite episodes ever. God bless you Ken, for doing an impossible job and handling it as well as anyone could, without losing your shit at these jerks.
I actually really despised STAN!
i was ok with George and Jessica, especially when they worked with Chuck to get over himself and plan the intervention. Sadly, Dawn was quite difficult to work with.
There’s so much to be said about the mom and their religious dynamic “We just have to see the good in everything for heavenly father” such a typical Mormon way of never acknowledging actual something can be wrong in their “perfect Mormon family”. One thing I haven’t seen anyone comment on is the brother Nathan. He lives in the basement, has trouble making his own meals I’m assuming from some sort of disability but it hasn’t been discussed. Yet he talks about the father paying Susans bills like he isn’t also living there watching this all unfold and eating the groceries provided for him. Jessica is the only one who I think can see the problems in each of them. This is like watching a horror movie but it’s someone’s actual life. I wonder how many others in their congregation have the exact same story that is also glazed over in the name of religion.
Hence why so many addicts per capita are from Utah.
Wow, I didnt know utah had so many addicts. Meth mostly?
it’s second in the US for per capita valium addictions
Daniel was the brother who lived in the basement and was also addicted. He declined to participate. From what I could tell Nathan lives on his own and is sober.
Daniel did go to rehab in the end, didn’t he?
Ive been around drug users before but ive never been around anyone that smoked meth. It kept showing the mother hitting a meth pipe but there was never any smoke coming from the pipe nor did it show her exhaling smoke. Can you suck on a meth pipe and not create smoke? To me it just looked like she was pretending to smoke.
she was probably “zeroing” the hit – if you hold in vapor/smoke for a while, the smoke isn’t as visible, if that makes sense. my guess is that she was taking small hits and holding them in for a couple moments.
Wow. That was crazy. Mind blown.
That last phone call was scary. BPD is really uncommon in someone her age, usually people with untreated BPD mellow with age but this mom is off the charts. I bet there’s a few psychiatrists who would love to do a case study on her cuz it is really unusual to have such bad BPD at her age. Back to that last call, it was actually scary. I wonder if there’s another illness that hasn’t been diagnosed. The mom would know what boundaries are, most people with BPD are very smart and they use their wits to be extremely manipulative. The mom talking reminded me of when I’d chat to sociopaths and get a chill go down my spine.
BPD most often presents in late teens-30s. it’s not that BPD symptoms are “uncommon” in late adulthood, or have “mellowed out” if left untreated. it’s that those with severe BPD have developed maladaptive coping mechanisms deemed acceptable to the people who manage to stick around… or they’ve completely isolated themselves. or, frankly, they’ve k*lled themselves after being unable to cope with the disorder. 3 in 4 people with BPD will attempt suicide. 1 in 10 people with BPD will die by suicide.
I have BPD (started therapy six years ago, been in remission for two) and so did my dad (never got/refused treatment). By the time he died, his symptoms were still extreme but he’d isolated most of his friends and all of his family. There are real treatment options for BPD that WORK and it’s no longer a death sentence. Dawn was that deep in her mental illness because the people around her did not set & stick to boundaries, and continued to enable her destructive and dangerous behavior.
I don’t intend to be flippant but why are you in3 regular communications with numerous psychopaths? Please tell me you work for a triple max Federal prison similar to Arkham.
this one was intense. susan seems incredibly dedicated and genuine and i sincerely wish her the best in her sobriety. the mother was a nightmare, and i also hope she gets the help she needs. ken handled this like a champ, i can’t imagine the stress.
Just rewatched it and as crazy as it was the first time around. I hope Susan is still going strong.
Wow! I watched that episode once and that was enough for me. It was that gross stuff on Susan’s arms. It was making me sick to my stomach. I couldn’t even eat afterwards. You’re a trooper Pang, hahahaa
Do we have any updates on how Susan is doing a few months later?
Dawn will absolutely be the downfall of her daughter. I couldn’t imagine letting ANYONE, let alone my child (and I don’t even have one), sit in front of me and use hardcore drugs, particularly if their arms looked like that. She manipulated her daughter’s addiction to feed her need to attention because everyone else cut her off. I cried more in this episode than any other and I am rooting so damn hard for Susan to stay far the fuck away from her mother and father. I hope she finds the healing she needs from that royally dysfunctional family.
Does anyone know them in real life? This can’t be real.
Does anyone have a link to watch this episode? I tried to stream it on A&E but it seems its not available. Thank you!!
It’s available on Prime but you have to buy it
As of 2024, it’s on Netflix. All these years later and it’s still one of the most chaotic disturbing hours of television I’ve ever seen.
it’s on hulu now too
i can honestly see why they continued with the intervention, with that codependent toxic crazy situation with dawn and the kids i don’t think that dawn would have wanted any of the kids to go to rehab, even if they could pay for it. i have a feeling she would sabotage any of their chances of sobriety so she wouldn’t feel alone in her addiction, misery loves company. i think intervention got to give susan that extra push that i believe she desperately wanted.
any updates on Susan as of 2022? she seems like such a sweetheart and i was rooting for her so hard! i’d love to know how she’s doing now.
I searched Susan Kroegel on facebook and Susan Garrett came up. Her profile looks like it is pretty private, but she has several recent pictures of her with Jonah and it says she is now living in Tucson. Looks like she is doing well. Hope the best for her
I believe Susan is still sober, living in AZ, and in regular contact with her son. Her Dad, Chuck, filed for divorce from Dawn in 2022. The mom, Dawn, died in/around February 2023.
I just saw this episode & got curious so I looked them up. It looks like dad is divorcing mom as of April 2022.
The mom, Dawn, is on Facebook. Dawn Kroegel. She posted on July 4th something about narcisstic abuse 🙄 and her profile pic is her and Chuck. And she is fb friends with Susan 🙄 Can’t believe they all haven’t kicked her sorry butt to the curb yet.
Dawn died in/around February 2023
I don’t…what the hell is this episode? Does someone at A&E hate Ken? who did hurt?
I have to say I laughed probably more than anything else and it wasn’t out of amusement at the pain and dysfunction. Every scene was chaotic or Unintentionally funny. Mom talking to Susan about God, dolling out heroin over a Bible. Dad playing bad cop insane cop. The basement dwellers being waited on hand and foot by the most helpful, self aware, normal opioid addict I’ve ever seen, Mom taking up meth so she can bond with her addict daughter after her son and Susan’s ex boyfriend who was homeless and lived in a car with her, his complete apathy to everything going on around him, Dan telling his family to eff off so he can talk to “that guy” i.e. Ken. The whole who contacted the show in the first damn place was very “The call is coming from inside the house” . It had to have been Nathan or Dan my money is on the brother squatting in his dark dank basement dungeon. what the heck does he do all day outside of getting high and malingering under an oppressive LED blue light? the dysfunction of this episode is on Christy levels of bat guano crazy. Dawn is the obviously the ringleader of this Circus, and I don’t for one second believe that bs she was spewing about getting Susan off the street to have her arms treated. The right thing to do would be to take her to a doctor, not medicate her with more heroin while she smokes meth and pontificates unironically about God.
dear A&E I have no idea what you were trying to accomplish with this shit show, but I never want to see anything like this again. It’s a mockery and an insult to the audience’s intelligence. Susan please stay far away from your entire family, you will be sucked right back into their dysfunction and this time Dawn might dispense too much medication aka heroin and kill you. she seems to have Munchausens and she can get attention by allowing you to abuse drugs and letting your arms rot away from the elbow down.
How is it insulting to our intelligence? It was a sh*t show for sure but … ?
After a little digging on facebook, it seems Dawn died almost a month ago. Per her brother’s facebook feed: “To all my sister Dawn has passed on around February 19th at her home in Las Vegas, NV. She was sickly and reclusive Evlwin here brother. She didn’t want us to visit.”
Is there a link or proof of this at all?
I can confirm she passed. Susan is a close friend. The details of her passing are very tragic.
Oh no what happened?
Can you share any updates on Susan? Is she still sober? I hope she’s doing well.
I saw the post you mentioned from Dawn’s brothers FB site but I didn’t see any notice of obituary on his page. There’s two FB profiles in his name and the 2nd one is the one that mentions Dawn’s death.
Dawn has passed away
Link please.
do you have an obituary link? Please?
looking at the FB posts of the man who mentioned Dawn passing away, its seems the person is struggling with some sort of mental health issues. his posts are all verry erratic and manic sounding. Hope he gets help, but it is very clear this is not Dawns brother. Couldnt imagine the family being too pleased with this info being shared online either way
I mean he’d fit in with that family well lol so I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to be honest.
Well I guess my point is that no one has provided proof of any of these claims, any google or facebook searches for obituaries or other proof turn up nothing, and whenever someone tries to ask any further questions its met with silence. Seems pretty suspicious to me
How did you find his facebook?
Chuck filed for divorce in 2022.
https://unicourt.com/case/nv-clad-charles-kroegel-jr-plaintiff-vs-dawn-kroegel-defendant-1018558
Yup – I think it’s final from what I could tell, but not 100% sure.
Susan posted about her mother’s death on her ig a couple of weeks ago. She looks like she is doing well and I’m so happy for her. https://www.instagram.com/skroegel2000/
Ty for posting this link and update about Susan! She looks healthy and happy! Nice to see her reunited with her son! That episode was hard to watch! Her arm and all her suffering! Ugh I wasnt sure she would make it! By far the most dysfunctional family second was the Fentanyl family in CA! Dawn seemed to be a major catalyst of the issues within the family! It’s sad to see her passing has been confirmed by Susan herself on social media. Hopefully Dawn is at peace and Susan can continue to thrive and leave all that dysfunction behind her! Praying for your continued sobriety, Susan! 🩶
The mother has ADHD. Imagine how different her life would have been if she would have had proper treatment from childhood. Imagine if she would have had a better support system while she was raising those kids . Imagine if her husband was not an angry guy. It’s so sad. All that could have been avoided…
Dawn definitely had ADHD, but I think they knew that since she mentioned previously taking Dexedrine & adderall and comparing the high of smoking meth as being similar to the effects of the pills “when I first started taking them.” She had been diagnosed as borderline, etc, as well. So maybe they decided that was instead of the ADHD, I don’t know, it’s confusing.
House has sold: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8712-Castle-Hill-Ave-Las-Vegas-NV-89129/6925501_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Dawn died in 2023: https://www.instagram.com/p/CpS-ONwhZ3K/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Susan is still sober ❤️❤️❤️
Susan posted on a thread on Reddit that she’s been 3 years sober, but her mom was found dead in her home from an overdose. This episode was wild. I honestly didn’t think Dawn would change. I don’t think her family had very firm boundaries with her.
Boundaries? What do you mean boundaries?
How many siblings did Susan have? It seems like one is missing if there are six –
Longtime reader, first time poster. Susan is hands-down for me one of the nicest addict I remember seeing on this show. The addicts frequently stretch the limits of sympathy for me, but Susan just seemed so sweet and genuine throughout.
Susan if you read this, I’m rooting for you.
upon rewatching, i really think Susan should be in the “most likeable addicts” tag. she seemed so lovely and kind throughout, especially in terms of her crazy family.