Hagerstown Meets Hollywood
“Clean Hands” takes the tragic story of Kevin Simmers and Brooke’s House to the big screen
By Erin Jones
It was sometime in 2020 that Naomi Pike hit rock bottom, mired in addiction and helplessly trying to figure out what would come next.
“I had nothing, no one, nowhere else to turn to but God,” she recalls of that dark and desperate period.
She found Brooke’s House, then an upstart addiction treatment center and now known around the world for its success helping women overcome addiction.
Kevin Simmers with a picture of his daughter Brooke.
“God folded this path in front of me and led me to these beautiful people that opened their hearts to me,” she says. “They did not discriminate or look at me like I was a criminal or an addict.”
Pike is now more than five and a half years sober and is one of many success stories that have come out of well-known story of Brooke’s House. Narcotics police officer Kevin Simmers and his wife Dana lost their 19-year-old daughter, Brooke, to opioid addiction in 2015, and by 2018, fulfilling a request Brooke asked of her father before she died, opened a treatment facility to help women in her situation.
Three months after Brooke’s death, her parents took up the mantle their daughter left them and began to make Brooke’s House a reality. Kevin retired from the police force in 2017. In 2018 construction on Brooke’s House began, and Kevin became its full-time director.
In the years since, Brooke’s House has become a model for successful addiction facilities.
“Kevin’s motto is everyone that comes in this door is just like his daughter and he wants them to be treated accordingly. That’s how I was treated and welcomed,” says Pike, who now works for Brooke’s House as a certified peer support specialist.
Recently, she took on a second role as set decorator for the film “Clean Hands,” which looks at the opposing sides of addiction through the eye of the drug cop and the addict, who in this case are father and daughter.
The film, written and directed by Jake Allyn, is now in post-production, and projected to be released in 2026.
Kevin Simmers with writer and director Jake Allyn.
Word of Brooke’s House reached Allyn in 2020. He was doing research for another project and sought Simmer’s input. After numerous phone conversations, Simmers invited Allyn to Hagerstown to spend time at the facility.
“He came here and actually lived in one of our properties for a week and worked in our program,” Simmers says.
Allyn remembers being captivated by the story and says the need to tell it on film became clear to him. He approached the Simmers with the idea, and they agreed.
“He will do anything for those girls and for that house and anything to get the message out.” Allyn says. “I think a movie just became the next step.”
It took Allyn two years to write the screenplay.
“Kevin was incredibly involved but also incredibly trusting of me,” Allyn says. “He also very much gave me my space to do what I do.”
Simmers visited Allyn in Dallas where he is based, and Allyn took several trips to Hagerstown. He became close with the Simmers, as well as Pike, who he said was a huge help to him, both in the research phase and on the set.
“[Jake] really did his homework on trying to capture the essence and the character of Kevin and Dana, learning about Brooke, trying to capture that and portray that on film,” Pike says.
When the casting process began, finding the right person to play Brooke presented a daunting task, and one that held emotional complexity for the Simmers.
“I felt that nobody could be Brooke that would make me happy,” Kevin Simmers recalls. “And then we met Esther McGregor, absolutely one of the most beautiful people of our life. Not only during the filming was she identical to Brooke, but there’s a lot of unbelievable similarities that she had to Brooke’s personality. She’s very upbeat, very outgoing, very joking…She absolutely will win an Oscar before my lifetime is over.”
Naomi Pike, once a resident at Brooke’s House and now she works there, served as set director for “Clean Hands.”
Allyn says he initially expected to do a national search for the role, with upwards of 1,000 candidates. McGregor’s was the first tape to come in. “She just flat out blew everybody away,” Allyn says. “Just smashed her audition.”
McGregor, daughter of Scottish actor Ewan McGregor, became close with Kevin and Dana on set. Allyn particularly cherishes a comment Dana made to him that she felt like he gave her Brooke back for a few weeks during filming.
“All the hard work was worth it for a comment like that,” Allyn says. “I’ll certainly remember it as we release the film.”
Depicting Kevin Simmers also presented a tall order.
“When Kevin walks into a room, he just fills the whole thing up. To have that quality while at the same time have this burning silence that Kevin can have at times, that was a beautiful challenge and one that Zach Braff, who ended up playing Kevin, delivered in spades.”
Writer and director Jake Allyn on the set of “Clean Hands.”
Braff, most known for his character John “J.D.” Dorian on the ABC sitcom “Scrubs,” worked closely with Simmers, handling the role with care.
“He was extremely professional and compassionate about everything that he did,” Simmers says of Braff.
Allyn co-created the production company Margate House Films with his brother Conor, who is producing the film. Margate is named for the street of their childhood home where the pair began making movies as elementary schoolers.
“[Conor] is really the boss. He keeps the wheels running, and allows me to be the dreamer that I am. It’s nice to go stay at a halfway house and write an incredible true story, but that’s only possible if you have something foundational as a company. He’s really the person who gives me the ability to go work in that unique way.”
Allyn’s vision for this film did not stop with him immersing himself in Hagerstown but bringing the film to Hagerstown and Hagerstown to the film.
Local filming locations included the baseball stadium, downtown, and High Rock Mountain. But beyond that, Allyn brought on both Hagerstown police officers to act in the film, both in Hagerstown and in Atlanta, where some of the film was shot.
“Not only did we bring down some of the police officers who served with Kevin to be in the film, but then when we shot in Hagerstown, they really got to be the stars of that shoot. [We] got amazing access with the police department letting us into their world,” Allyn says.
A Place For Healing
The winding entry road to Brooke’s House is cushioned in green, a serene location for healing. One building houses the residents on their recovery journey. The other building, stately and stone-covered, is a restored 1780s-era home called “David’s Friendship,” now the location for the offices of Brooke’s House.
From his second-floor office, Kevin Simmers has a view like a captain at his helm. Not that he has much time to take in the view. His phone is buzzing, emails pinging, and underlying it all is the urgency of the mission.
Once fighting drugs as a narcotics detective on the streets of Hagerstown, Simmers now advocates for those in recovery. Even before catching the eye of film maker Jake Allyn, the story is one that captivated Washington County and spread around the world via stories in media outlets such as NPR, Fox News, BBC, and the “Today Show.”
Brooke Simmers was a student-athlete, full of life and promise. The warmth and sparkle in her smile still radiates through the photos featured on the webpage of the treatment facility that now bears her name. She was 17 years old when she opened up to her father about her addiction to Percocet. Her parents tried immediately to get her treatment and help, but within months her addiction had escalated to heroin. For the heartbreaking two years that followed, Kevin and Dana discovered the barriers to treatment and systemic limitations that exist while they tried to intervene.
Brooke was eventually arrested on drug-related charges. While incarcerated in early 2015, she confided in father about her vision to create a home for sober living, where she could help other women overcome addiction.
Her parents promised to build it for her if she could remain sober for a year. While her dream would become a reality, Brooke would not live to see it. She died from a heroin overdose on April 14, 2015, at the age of 19.
Now, Brooke’s House facilitates recovery and equips residents with skills and work experience for a sober life.
“I think all anybody really wants in life is a chance. That’s what we try to do here.
We just give people a chance…we try to give them job training, occupational skills, money, transportation, and clear up their criminal matters. If there’s any parole probation or charges pending, we want to take care of that,” Kevin Simmers says. “When you leave here at the end of six months, you should be set up for success. Whether you take it is up to you.”
The organization has several social enterprises like Brooke’s House Coffee Shop and Chocolate Store, which offers women in the program job training and experience. The organization also runs a thrift store and offers junk removal services. Of more than 30 employees, 90 percent are women in recovery.
Viewing every resident as their own daughter manifests in Kevin and Dana’s presence in the day-to-day operations of the business, whether in the chocolate shop, the group sessions, cooking dinner, or hosting cookouts.
“It’s not just a facility. It’s a family. I think that made a difference for me,” says Naomi Pike, a graduate who now works at Brooke’s House. “Kevin does everything for your best interest and to set you up for success. And this program will do just that.”
Many facets of the program are informed by the Simmer’s experiences in trying to get help for their daughter and the barriers and roadblocks they encountered. The urgency they felt in getting help for Brooke now translates to their commitment to the residents.
Pike recounts an incident in which Simmers was experiencing a heart attack. On the way to the hospital, he passed a woman who had recently left the program in a precarious situation on the street.
“He made Miss Dana pull over so he could stop and talk to this girl and help…in the middle of his heart attack,” says Pike, who is one of the many success stories that have come out of Brooke’s House.
“This program has changed my life,” she says. “Kevin and Miss Dana are the most wonderful people that I know, they’re my biggest cheerleaders, my biggest supporters.”
Brooke’s influence is not only in the heart that her parents feel for each of the residents but in the organization’s marks of excellence.
“She was very competitive. She wanted to be the best. I would say that aspect of her personality is in Brooke’s House,” Kevin says. “Now we want to be the absolute best rehab facility anywhere in the country. We want to have the nicest facility. We want to be able to treat people better than everybody else does. We want everybody to have chances for success.”
Brooke’s House graduates and staff also maintained an active presence in the process, some serving as extras and some consulting.
The movie set brought together two groups of people who often find themselves on opposing sides.
“Having police officers work with the people who are in recovery has helped tear down barriers,” Simmers says. “It’s on both sides because a lot of times girls in the house have a preconceived perception of what police officers are like and police officers have a preconceived understanding of people in recovery. When we were able to bring those two together, we tore down barriers and we’re able to get communication. Both sides of it have a better understanding.”
“Clean Hands” has not only brought together police officers with people in recovery but brought Hagerstown to Hollywood. Allyn hopes to begin selling the film in the fall. He plans to take it first to film festivals and then release it in 2026. Allyn says that much of the profits will benefit Brooke’s House.
Meanwhile, even in post-production, Kevin and Dana Simmers remain close with Allyn.
In his second-floor office, Kevin puts his phone on speaker and makes a call.
What has become an iconic picture of Brooke Simmers hangs on the wall of Brooke’s House.
Allyn answers: “What’s up boss?”
“What are you doing?” Kevin asks.
“I’m editing your movie.”
The roots of friendship run deep, though the pair is an unlikely team at first glance. Simmers had no exposure to the film industry and admits that before meeting Allyn he might have expected the Hollywood crowd to be arrogant, fake, or prima donnas. Instead, he found the opposite to be true.
“Jake could not be a more down-to-earth and respectful, honest, good human being. He is a good person, a very good person…he treats everybody with the utmost dignity and respect.” Simmers says. “It is really remarkable how we crossed paths, and then he chose to do a story on my life because I couldn’t ask for a better guy to write my story.”
As for Pike, her insights and attention to detail ensured authenticity in recreating some difficult settings like “trap houses” where illegal drugs are sold or rundown rehab facilities. Pike believes the story told in the film will be a powerful tool for change and help even more women change their lives.
“It’s going to help a lot of people, and let them know that they’re not alone, recovery is possible. There is hope.”