Your Coach, Your Recovery, Your Option

Using a Life Coach for Addiction Recovery

A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and deadline behind it.

As I went through a major process to determine what I wanted to focus on for the rest of my life, the answer finally came to me:

Helping others.

Specifically, coaching them to success.

I really do appreciate the personal referrals I have received from "friends" on addiction and life coaching. Lives are changing as a result! Please know that I sponsor within my fellowship as a give back service, I coach people for a small living, non-addicted and some with addictions or addicted family members. Funny how it works, "paying" clients, WITH SOME EXCEPTIONS, do the work and improve more than those who I work with as a service.

I went through a very thorough educational process to become certified as a LIFE Coach. It was strongly suggested that I have a coaching niche. While I am currently coaching people in goal setting, life accomplishments, and general growth and development, my chosen niche is working with people impacted by addictions....not as a councillor or therapist, but as a coach. "Hope & Serenity" describes my niche practice.

I have a very unique background that made me gravitate to this area. Currently, I am involved with the 12 step program of AA and very active in service work. That being said, I have also hired and still use coaches in my journey today.

Coaching works. I have seen this to be true over and over again in my life.

Why? I thank my friend Patrick Meninga from the Spiritual River for his input to this blog.

A life coach can help you break free from the strong hold addiction has over you. No longer will you feel compelled to use drugs or alcohol to overcome issues in your life. Sometimes, especially in early recovery, we can become our own worst enemy. A life coach can help you learn how to hold yourself accountable, as well as to help motivate you to pursue goals that you otherwise might have thought unimportant to your recovery.

How is a Life Coach Different from a Sponsor?

The biggest difference is that a sponsor helps you from their perspective, based on their background, whereas a life coach helps you from your perspective and your background. The emphasis shifts from "how can I help the addict work the program" to "how can we customize this program to best fit the needs of this individual?" Thus, life coaching can potentially be a much more powerful and flexible approach to recovery.

Sometimes a sponsor in recovery tries to make a square peg go into a round hole, if you know what I mean. They try to mould their sponsee to fit the program. If the sponsee fails and ends up relapsing, they don't blame the program or the rigid style of sponsorship....instead they blame the individual! This crazy approach plays itself out over and over again in recovery programs throughout the world.

With a life coach, the situation is reversed. Instead of trying to fit the square sponsee into the round program, a good life coach will guide the recovering addict through a custom program that works for them; that is tailor made to their unique situation and personality. In other words, the life coach changes the shape of the hole, not the shape of the recovering addict!

For example, some recovering addicts excel in a group setting, and they thrive on AA meetings. But there are also some recovering addicts who are leery of sharing in front of groups, and prefer a one-on-one setting. A life coach can meet this need with grace and flexibility. The typical sponsor will just keep banging away though, trying to fit this poor square addict into the round hole of traditional recovery.

It is in this way that life coaching can go beyond traditional methods of sponsorship, unlocking the full potential of the individual through skilful coaching and program customization.

Beginning Your Addiction Recovery

A Life Coach can help you through the entire recovery process of your addiction. Once you decide you are ready to get help with your addiction, you can employ a Life Coach to help you stay motivated through your recovery. Trained life coaches will use the same principles of 12 step programs, and will have first hand experience with recovery. They will listen to you, and if you require, work with you in 100% privacy and confidentiality. Many people want to begin recovery in total privacy.

Physical dependence

In the beginning, your life coach can help you find treatment centers so you can get over the physical dependence you have on the substances. Not everyone needs a treatment center to get over an addiction but it is an effective way to receive the medical supervision while your body goes through withdrawal. Your coach can discuss treatment options.

Emotional dependence

Treatment centers will also provide support to you through your emotional dependence to these substances. Usually people use substances because situations in their life cause them to use substances to help them through problems. Once you are not physically dependent on the drugs and alcohol you can start attacking the other reasons for your cravings. Coaching will focus on you and finding and harnessing your strengths (not unlike coaching an athlete).

Hope & Serenity has associations with health care professionals and treatment facilities.

Life Coaching after Treatment

After you complete a treatment center or you have successfully withdrawn from the substances, your recovery is just beginning. You will need to continue to work towards not using substances in your life especially when life doesn't go the way you would like it to. This is when a life coach can help prevent you from relapsing. Relapse means you go back to using your drug of choice whether it is one time or more than once.

Your life coach will help you find ways to de-stress your life and maintain balance each day so you don't get overwhelmed to the point in which you feel you need to "use" to find relief. Your life coach will check in with you as often as you need through phone, e-mail or in person. This means that your life coach will be on top of how you are feeling and if you are experiencing any triggers for your substance use.

Many life coaches will allow you to call him or her any time of day or night just like a sponsor. You can call your life coach if you are craving. You can talk about how you are feeling and your life coach can work through it with you. Your life coach will keep you focused on your personal goals for your life.

Conclusion

The most important thing to keep in mind is that with a life coach you will not be alone in the process of recovery. You will have an experienced and trained coach on YOUR team. Family and friends can be excellent support systems for you but a life coach can give you an unbiased view. Your life coach will never judge you and will LISTEN TO what YOU are thinking and feeling with an open mind. Don't go through addiction recovery on your own, a life coach can help you get through this difficult time in your life.

Your Life Coach will help you to build a game plan for life through goal setting, hold you accountable, and harness your own strengths to succeed in life.