Recovery coaches can be important aides on anyone’s recovery journey. They may not offer primary treatment for addiction, do not diagnose, and are not associated with any particular recovery method. But they offer critical support and facilitate positive change—especially in early recovery.
With the help of CCAR, Harmony has been providing recovery coach training for some time now. Tabitha Miller, Harmony’s director of alumni and recovery support services, recently became a recovery coach professional through CCAR, and she is now an official recovery coach training facilitator.
The CCAR Recovery Coach Academy© is a 30 CEU four-day intensive training academy that provides individuals with the skills needed to guide, mentor, and support anyone who would like to enter into or sustain long-term recovery from an addiction to alcohol or other drugs. The CCAR Academy prepares participants by helping them to actively listen, ask really good questions, and discover and manage their own stuff.
According to addiction expert William White, recovery coaches provide emotional and informational support, assistance in task accomplishment, and companionship, that is, “helping people in early recovery feel connected and enjoy being with others, especially in recreational activities in alcohol- and drug-free environments.”
All valuable skills for anybody connected to the recovery community—not just official recovery coaches. “We’re offering this training to all our staff at Harmony as well,” says Miller. “We have people in admissions and nurses that have gone through the training. We have somebody in finance who’s interested. And all the proceeds minus the event hosting expenses go to our alumni programming.”
Many people can benefit from recovery coach training that offers interesting new perspectives on recovery. It may help them better understand the disease of addiction, even if they don’t intend to switch careers to make recovery coaching their full-time job.
“Really, anyone can take this course and benefit,” says Miller. “Alumni who want to strengthen their own recovery journey or learn more about how to work better with others; people who would like to educate their technical staff about recovery; or people who do not themselves identify as being in recovery but would like to help people with addiction as allies—that includes their family members and friends.”
Who can be a recovery coach?
- Credentialed addiction professionals
- Treatment center support staff, volunteers, and alumni
- Staff from behavioral health and government agencies
- Representatives from inpatient and outpatient centers and sober living homes
- Individuals, family members, and advocates of recovery
If you are interested in helping people sustain their recovery from addiction, the next CCAR training academy program is scheduled to begin at Harmony’s Recovery Center in Fort Collins, CO on April 13.