5 Questions for Finding the Right Recovery Coach
The right recovery coach can help you or a loved one in several ways, such as navigating the various addiction treatment programs, motivating you to engage in a program, accompanying and supporting you on the path to recovery, and helping reduce relapses and the harm that comes from them.
In this post, we will learn how to find a recovery coach to meet your specific needs. To get started, ask yourself these five important questions.
1. Who Do You Want Your Recovery Coach to Be?
Peer or Professional?
The main differences between peer and professional recovery coaches are:
- Peer coaches base their approach on what’s worked for them, while professional coaches are trained to use various strategies.
- Peer coaches usually only do the work of accompaniment while professional coaches do all four of the above recovery coaching activities (e.g., navigation, engagement, accompaniment, and reduction of relapses).
- Peer coaches usually only work with individuals struggling with substance use, whereas professional coaches work with their loved ones too.
You need to decide if you want your coach to primarily relate to you from the perspective of their recovery, or if you want someone who has professional coach training in a variety of strategies that have been shown in scientific studies to be effective.
Keep in mind that you may be able to find someone with both lived and professional experience (someone in recovery who has received professional recovery coach training). Also, is the coach for a concerned significant other or a substance-involved individual? If it’s for the former, then a peer coach may not be as relevant to your needs as a professional coach who has learned how to help families navigate treatment programs and motivate their loved ones to seek help.
2. What Do You Want Your Recovery Coach to Help You With?
General Support or Strategic Activities?
There are many professional recovery coaches to be found on the internet who are there to offer support, encouragement, and stress reduction for families going through addiction with a loved one. While this is a critical part of taking care of yourself during such a stressful time, it is my opinion that also working with a recovery coach on strategic activities that have a good chance of getting your loved one into and productively engaged in evidence-based (e.g., scientifically-validated) addiction treatment will ultimately remove the stressors that are so negatively affecting you and your family members.
You need to decide what you want the coach for: support and temporary stress reduction, or all of that plus strategic activity planning that will help solve the root problem. If you are struggling with substance use and choosing a coach, ask yourself, “Do I want someone to generally support me through my recovery?” Or, “Do I want someone to help me figure out how to find and make the best use of evidence-based help?”
At the Center for Progressive Recovery, I train professional recovery coaches in these strategic activities and connect them with clients.
3. What Coaching Approach Do You Prefer?
12-Step or Evidence-Based?
You should know that there are generally two types of approaches to working with individuals struggling with substance use and their family members: 12-step and evidence-based approaches. The 12-step approach is based on Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, which are self-help groups that most treatment programs have adopted as their therapeutic method. The evidence-based approach uses a variety of psychotherapies (e.g., cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing) and medications (e.g., naltrexone) that scientific studies have shown to be effective.
While 12-step facilitation is individual psychotherapy that can be effective in treating alcohol and drug addiction, 12-step meetings and the type of 12-step work that is done in most treatment centers have not. It is clear, however, that 12-step meetings have helped countless people but many are turned off by the religious emphasis and its rigid focus on complete abstinence. Still, others want to know that what they are doing for their or their loved ones’ addiction has credible scientific evidence to support it, much like we have for the treatment of asthma, diabetes, and hypertension.
4. Where Do You Want to Work With Your Recovery Coach?
Local or Remote?
Most recovery coaches focus on accompanying clients to events or outings where substances may be present, helping to prevent their use in real time. In contrast, professional coaches—such as life, health, or wellness coaches—typically work remotely via email, phone, text, or video calls. Working remotely has the advantage of having your coach be available virtually at a moment’s notice.
5. Why Do I Want to Work With a Recovery Coach?
Motivation and Drive to Change
As someone who is also a motivation expert, I know that “Why?” is perhaps the most important question. Ask yourself:
- “Why do I want to work with a recovery coach at all?”
- “What do I want to get out of it?”
- “How will it benefit me and my loved ones?”
Not only will asking “Why?” help you sort out all of the above questions, it is a critical question to talk to your coach about. While some coaches may tell you that the why is simple—because you or your loved one has to stop using substances—all of my progressive recovery coaches are trained to help you develop, reinforce, and most importantly, remain mindful of the reasons why you want to engage in this work. Therein lie your motives, your motivation, and your drive to change.
This is one of the clearest benefits of working with a professional recovery coach who has training in evidence-based approaches. They learn about effective ways of getting at your whys, such as motivational interviewing and the community reinforcement approach plus family training, which happen to be the two best ways to motivate someone struggling with substance use to seek help, both of which can be done by concerned significant others with the help of a professional recovery coach.
Your Next Step
Finding a recovery coach can be an important step in your recovery journey. Recovery coaches offer accountability and guidance, but you may also benefit from a more formal treatment program and professional aftercare services to build a strong foundation for recovery. At American Addiction Centers (AAC), we offer a range of addiction treatment services—including medical detox, inpatient and outpatient programs, and aftercare—to support every stage of your recovery journey. If you’re ready to take the next step, contact us at to learn more about how we can help you or your loved one thrive in recovery.
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