Sober Coaching FAQs

• Are you ready now? Most people know inside if it’s the right time.
• Ask yourself, if you’re regularly saying yes to alcohol or drugs, what are you saying no to?
• The beauty about Sober Coaching is it serves your needs, no matter where you’re at in your life or recovery process. 
  • Maybe you’re just starting to become concerned with your level of consumption and want to begin cutting back.
  • Perhaps you’ve successfully stopped drinking several times, but struggle to remain alcohol-free.
  • Even if you have a significant amount of recovery and sobriety under your belt, Recovery Coaching helps you stay engaged in your process of change.
• Sober Coaching serves as an excellent place to triage your needs. When you aren’t sure what level of treatment you need, your Recovery Coach will help you put together a plan that includes additional mental health support.
• Your Recovery Coach can also help decide if you are a good candidate for more formal recovery programs, such as detox facilities, inpatient treatment centres, and intensive outpatient programs.
• You may first be connected with a Recovery Coach while at an in-patient treatment centre. In this scenario, your Coach will help develop an aftercare plan during your transition to home life, or into a sober living residence.
• No matter where you’re currently at, there are many ways a Sober Coach can fit into your plan.

• Therapists work with you on your past, and help with deeper dives into underlying mental health concerns.
• Sober Coaches focus on your strengths and what can be done to support your recovery today – and into the future.
• A Sober Coach helps you evaluate and address challenges in all areas of your life including health, work, relationships, and finances.
• Recovery Coaches ask “what” and “how” questions to help you connect the dots and create goals and plans to produce the results you want to see.
• A Sober Coach is not a replacement for a therapist, but a valuable member of your professional team.
• The best Sober Coaches are willing and able to engage openly with therapists and other mental health professionals as-needed for a holistic approach to recovery.

• Sponsors are volunteers with lived addiction recovery experience who assist others within a 12 Step Recovery program.
• Sober Coaches are well-trained professionals who specialize in helping you improve your relationship to drugs or alcohol, no matter which program or pathway of recovery you choose to explore. 
• Sponsors use 12-Step philosophy, and tell the sponsee what to do in order to stay sober.
• Sober Coaches are experts in many pathways of recovery. A Sober Coach helps you figure out which pathways and support systems will work best for you.
• In this way, Sober Coaches honour your evolving preferences and needs throughout the recovery process.

• If you’re regularly saying yes to alcohol or drugs, what are you saying no to? What costs – both literal and figuratively – are you already incurring by saying yes?
• If you are exiting in-patient treatment or detox, a Recovery Coach could be a bit of an insurance policy on your investment. 
• Coaching sessions are always about more than drugs and alcohol. Often once you’re working with a Sober Coach and in a stable state of recovery, leaps previously thought to be impossible, like changing careers or going back to school, become realistic goals.
• With a Sober Coach, you dig deeper to find out what makes you tick. Together, you leverage that as motivation to help you stay sober while exploring your dreams, values, and what it looks like to live with greater meaning, intention, and joy. 
• Substance and alcohol misuse often impacts those around us, and Sober Coaches consider the entire family in their work. There are opportunities for your Sober Coach to speak with loved ones who have been impacted by your substance use to help facilitate understanding and healing.
• The peace that is restored when a Sober Coach enters the picture is quite profound for many individuals and their families. What price can you place on peace within yourself and your household?

• A plan is customized for your situation, so the specifics of how often we meet vary depending on your needs.
• Currently all of our work is virtual.
• Online Recovery Coaching is just as effective as in-person work, enabling you to develop the necessary rapport and trust with your Sober Coach in order to create dynamic outcomes.
• Doing the work digitally means we can connect with anyone in any location. We currently work with clients in Canada, the USA, Europe and SE Asia. However, we recognize you may need in-person contact.
• Frequency of sessions depends on your needs:
  • Some clients start with weekly 60-minute sessions for the first 4-6 weeks, and then taper frequency and duration to bi-weekly with 30-minute sessions.
  • For those who need more contact and structure we engage 30-minute sessions twice-weekly for the first month.
  • We are flexible to your needs, and will work to develop a plan that fits your schedule.
• Some clients use our services for 3 to 6 months, others 6 to 12 months, and some stay with us for two or more years.

• Sober Coaching is an emerging resource in Canada. It is imperative you are working with someone:
  • With integrity
  • A good reputation, and
  • Who has your best interest in mind
• We believe that the most effective Recovery Coaches (Sober Coaches) have lived experience. Everyone on our team has some kind of history of substance use and successful recovery, achieved through a variety of approaches.
• At a minimum, accredited and/or Certified Recovery Coach training from a recognized company is essential. Your Sober Coach should also have current professional liability insurance.
• Your Recovery Coach should have a broad understanding and be open-minded to the various pathways to change and recovery in order to provide an individualised approach.
• Recovery Coaches who have work experience in various mental health and addiction facilities are a great benefit. These Coaches bring knowledge on how to navigate the various treatment systems and can link clients to trusted medical and clinical professionals as needed. 
• Testimonials speak volumes about the work a Recovery Coach is doing.

All of our Recovery Coaches have lived experience with substance use and have achieved successful recovery through a variety of approaches. Each of our Coaches have unique backgrounds, skills, abilities and specialities. Each are Certified Recovery Coaches after taking appropriate gold-standard training. Some are credentialed further as a Canadian Certified Recovery Coach through the CACCF. 

When you choose to work with us, we will match you with the Recovery Coach best fits who you are, your situation and needs.

Meet Our Coaches

• Six hours is a good place to start exploring Recovery Coaching as part of your life and decide whether it is the right approach for you to create the change you're looking for. 
• We request that each client purchase a six hour block of time as a retainer which you can draw from through scheduled 30 or 60-minute sessions.
• Costs vary depending on the Recovery Coach you choose to work with and range from $500.00 to $900.00 per six hour block of time.
• For more information, please send us a message. We offer a no-charge video or phone consultation, and would be happy to discuss specifics – including pricing – while learning more about your needs.

Contact Us

• Recovery Coaching is not typically covered by extended healthcare plans.
• Some benefit providers have and do provide coverage for our clients. It depends on the Insurance Provider, the Benefits Advisor, and whether the advisor sees value in adding a Recovery Coach. I would be happy to discuss an approach that could work in getting your insurance provider to cover us.
• However, we are unable to directly bill insurers of any kind.
• Recovery Coaching in Canada is currently in the process of becoming more organized with credentialing, supervision, and an oversight body. We hope to see an increase in insurance plans that provide coverage for our profession as the process moves forward.

Absolutely, we are not bound by any restrictions at all to work with clients in any country or city in the world.

Absolutely! The work we do together is not our agenda as Recovery Coaches. We meet you where you are at, identify goals for change and create a baseline roadmap to achieve those goals at your pace.