Who Is Recovery Coaching For?
Get more out of life
Is Recovery Coaching Right for Me?
Wherever you find yourself in your relationship with drugs or alcohol, you will benefit with the support of a well-trained, experienced and compassionate Recovery Coach.
All you need is to want more out of your life.
Recovery coaching isn’t just about quitting a particular substance. It’s about creating a lifestyle that is free from dependency so that you can live a more authentic life.
A Recovery Coach is for anyone who is looking to change their relationship with substance use.
Does This Sound Familiar?
Individuals seeking support from a Recovery Coach often fall into one of these categories:
- “I’ve hit a wall.”
- “I’m getting worried about this.”
- “I want to cut back, take a break of try and moderate.”
- “I’m concerned about someone else.”
These categories are listed below, accompanied with the level of support you would generally receive from Recovery Coaching services.
“I’ve hit a wall.”
Alcohol or drugs have become so problematic that life around you is crumbling.
This may include:
- Denial
- Hiding the amount of consumption
- Relationship erosion and difficulties
- Body screaming for you to stop
- Problems at work
- Financial strains
- Moving money or stealing to support your consumption
If you’re there, it’s okay. Now you’re here. We’re going to get you out.
We’ll customize a change-plan to your concerns and needs. It is discreet and confidential. If you want to invite others to be a part of this process, we will create space with you to bring in those people. Some components of your plan may include:
- Weekly Recovery Coaching sessions
- Medical detox
- Inpatient residential or outpatient treatment placement
- Safe Passage transportation to inpatient treatment
- Post-treatment aftercare planning
- A Sober Companion
- Clinical counselling
- Psychological or Psychiatric assessment
- Developing a recovery network
- Managing the transition from inpatient residential treatment back to work and home
- Relapse-prevention strategies
- Text and/or telephone support in between sessions
“I’m getting worried about this.”
Whether it’s alcohol, hard drugs, or prescription medications, your use is becoming an obstacle and you’d like to do something about it.
- It may be limiting your ability to excel in your field of work
- Your colleagues may have been mentioning something about your alcohol use at work events
- You may notice you are not quite at the top of your game
- You’re willing to sit down, take a hard look at where you’re at, and set some goals for where you’d rather be
You might not be ready to completely stop – and that’s okay. Recovery Coaches work with you and the goals you choose.
Work with a Recovery Coach involves a lifestyle change rather than a clinical approach. Some clients do not need counselling but benefit from the one-on-one goal-oriented accountability framework Recovery Coaching offers.
A weekly 30-45 minute session will shift you off your current path and put you into a place of strength and positive choice. Text and telephone support in between sessions is also provided.
“I want to try cut back, take a break or possibly moderate.”
Moderation is a personal choice, and you may not be ready to stop immediately.
Ask yourself these three questions:
- How do you show up in the world as a consumer of alcohol or drugs?
- Are you happy with that person?
- Does that person affect others in a negative way?
Most participants of Recovery Coaching see that drinking or drug use impacts their lives, and often the lives of others, in a negative way, which leads to a genuine desire to stop altogether.
You must decide whether the benefits of drinking or drug use outweigh the benefits of not consuming those substances. More often than not, the benefits of sobriety outweigh the alternative.
It is a personal choice. Some clients are not ready to stop immediately, and that's ok.
1:1 Recovery Coaching will get you to identify trigger-points for your consumption of alcohol or drugs. You will complete daily logs for a month to track trends and identify the impact of your consumption.
Over a few months, by measuring various markers for growth, you will see what’s working and what's not.
“I’m concerned about someone else.”
You’re a family member, loved one, friend, colleague, business owner, or manager of someone who has a problem with alcohol or drugs.
You can’t change their behaviour, but with the right tools gain get a better understanding about why your loved one or staff member behaves the way they do.
Tools you will learn include:
- Positive communication
- Positive reinforcement
- Setting appropriate boundaries
- Problem-solving skills to better a relationship with a loved one
- How to navigate ideologically-tinged treatment systems
- Available treatment approaches, settings, and medications and support navigating barriers to access
- Effective self-care, shifting the focus from a caregiving role and moving forward with your own life
- Text and telephone support in between sessions is also provided
If necessary, an invitational intervention can be planned and conducted to get your loved one the help they need. If an intervention is not appropriate, engaging in Family Support using the CRAFT Model process is also an option.
Further reading
- My article How to Help a Loved One With Addiction has morre about helping someone you love who has a drinking or drug problem.
- I have a dedicated website directed at family members and loved ones who are experiencing alcohol or substance use: visit interventions.ca for more in-depth information on this topic.
- The informative and compassionate book Beyond Addiction by Jeffrey Foote et al. provides clinically proven insight and practical advice to help expand your knowledge and support skills.
Recovery Coaches Provide Accountability
As you work with your Sober Coach and your recovery journey unfolds, a partnership naturally fostering accountability unfolds from within its creases.
This accountability partnership is the space where you are held responsible and supported in your process-of-change.
Your Recovery Coach is:
- Available for support in between sessions
- Accessible via text or telephone
- One of the most effective tools in sustaining and maintaining long-term recovery
You’re about to recreate your life.
We often say the easy part is quitting drinking or using drugs. The hard part is learning how to recreate your life without alcohol or drugs.
It’s not always a simple process, and that’s why your Coach is there for you.
Sober Coaching FAQs
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What’s the difference between a Sober Coach and a therapist?
- 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.
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How are Sober Coaches different from a sponsor or mentor?
- 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.
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Are Sober Coaches worth the cost?
- 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?