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Tag: Faces and Voices of Recovery

  • What do I need to be a recovery coach?

    I published the second edition my book Recovery Coaching – A Guide to Coaching People in Recovery from Addictions in 2019. Since the first edition was released (in 2013) there have been several changes in certification requirements for recovery coaches, and peer recovery specialists. The training of coaches has become one of the fastest growing aspects of the coaching field. So what kind of training do I need to be a recovery coach?

    Many of the organizations that offer addiction recovery coach training or peer recovery-support specialist training are listed on my web site . For many people interested in being a recovery coach, the training costs are an important factor. Deciding on the best training organization and the training necessary to fulfill the state certification requirements can be confusing. So I would like to attempt to clear up this confusion and will attempt to answer these questions in this post:

    What are the guidelines I must meet to apply for recovery coaching training?

    Applicants must meet the following guidelines to apply for a training course in order to be a recovery coach or a peer recovery support-specialist. These guidelines are shared by many training organizations and certification boards across the nation as a standard for what a potential recovery coach must have before applying for recovery coaching training:

    High school diploma, GED or higher

    Minimum of one year of direct knowledge of sponsorship and 12-step programs

    Minimum one year of sobriety from substance use or one year sobriety in co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (self-attestation)

    Have a minimum of one year experience working with a family member, loved one or significant other that is addicted, is attempting to recover or who has loss their life due to an addiction(self-attestation)

    What kind of training do I need to be a recovery coach?

    Certification boards require the coach to receive peer recovery specialist or recovery coach training from an organization that is authorized by the state to give this training. This ensures the training will fulfill the requirements mandated by your state’s certification board. In order to find out what authorized training organizations are, go to your state’s certification board.

    After your research, you will need to complete the following:

    • Each state and organization has different requirements. So first check with your state to ensure the courses you take will be accepted by the state credentialing board.
    • A certain amount of hours in coaching training (46-120 hours depending on the state) in topics such as addiction recovery theory, motivational interviewing, relapse prevention, cultural awareness, suicide prevention and HIV-AIDS education
    • 8-16 hours of coaching ethics.

    The places in which you receive this training are quite diverse. In the links section of this web site,  ( https://www.mkrecoverycoaching.com/recovery-coach-training-organizations/ ) I list over 250 organizations offering recovery coach training. The courses can be virtual, or in a classroom. The costs for this training is diverse as well, from free (in Ohio) up to $4,000 per course. The length of the course could be three days or four months.

    At no time does taking a recovery coaching course give you an immediate state certification board recovery-coaching credential. It gives you a document (called a certificate) that says you completed the training hours. There are many coaches who do not seek state board certification and use this document or certificate from a training organization as adequate proof they are knowledgeable in performing the duties of a recovery coach.

    There is a central international credentialing organization, the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium, commonly known as the IC & RC, which runs many state credentialing boards and has developed an exam for a Peer Recovery (PR) Certification. The IC & RC suggests applicants check with their state credentialing board for specific test-taking guidelines.

    What differentiates a Peer Recovery Coach from a Professional Coach?

    Why the “Professional Coach” title? The word “professional” will differentiate Peer Recovery Coaches with more coaching experience and more training from other peer coaches with credentials or certifications. Employers ( e.g., hospitals, providers, prisons) employ coaches, and for these employers  the term “Professional” signifies a higher level of competence and expertise.

    There are trainings offered that can give a coach more information that may not be on the state certification board list but are very helpful. The kinds of training I found helpful as a new recovery coach are conflict resolution and management, anger management, intervention training, co-occurring disorders, behavioral addictions, the pharmacology of addiction, as well as knowledge about coaching families in relationships with addicted persons. There are also trainings on how to be a recovery coach in a hospital Emergency Department, working with Narcan revived patients, or working with people in prisons or the homeless. There are also organizations that offer Professional Coach certification (CCAR- Conneticut Community of Addiction Recovery, (https://addictionrecoverytraining.org/ ) and the International Coaching Federation that offers three different levels of life coach training: associate, professional- and master-level coaching certificates https://coachingfederation.org/

    After you receive this initial Peer Recovery Coach training, additional trainings can open up to you. The more time you engage in being a recovery coach and the more educational credentials you receive; you move closer to the “Professional Coach” status.

    Are there any additional credentialing organizations for recovery coaching certification?

    NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, and the National Certification Commission for Addiction Professionals (NCC-AP) offer the Nationally Certified Peer Recovery Support-Specialist Certification. Similar to the state certification- however- the NAADAC certification is good to use in every state in the union. So a coach does not have to worry about reciprocity from one state to another. The requirements the  NAADAC recommends, in order to receive certification, mandates a coach read and sign a statement on the application affirming adherence to the Peer Recovery Support-Specialist Code of Ethics. The new coach will confirm they have taken the NAADAC six-hour ethics training course and have completed six hours of HIV/other pathogens education and training course (also available through NAADAC).Credentialing boards require supervisors of the coaches-in-training to sign a document verifying they have supervised the coach during the 200-hour period of the coach’s  practice training. Letters of recommendation are also items required by some credentialing boards. Other state boards require a recent photograph.

     NAPS, or National Association for Peer Support is an organization for peers focusing on mental health recovery peer support as well as addiction recovery support. They have education and credentialing standards that are listed at : https://www.peersupportworks.org/.

    As always, check with your state credentialing board for specific requirements for credentialing training. Many states only accept training from an organization that have had their trainings screened by the state and authorized to be used as a credentialing training source.

    What is the next step in the  process of being qualified, getting training, and then credentialed as a recovery coach or peer-recovery support specialist?

    After you have completed the research as to what type of credentialling you want (e.g. state certification board, IC & RC or NAADAC), then seek out the training you can afford. Go to http://www.mkrecoverycoaching.com/recovery-coach-training-organizations/ for a list of addiction recovery coach training organizations

    1. Verify that you meet the qualifications to apply for the course (e.g. be 18-years-old, have a GED or high school diploma, one year sobriety from any addiction)
    2. Take and pass the course, retain the coaching certificate for future purposes
    3. Research places like Recovery Community Organizations or treatment centers to work or volunteer as a recovery-coach-in-training to receive your practice hours.
    4. Complete the recovery-coach-in-training supervised practice hours that are required by the state board or the NAADAC
    5. Apply to your state certification board or the NAADAC for the time to take the recovery coach exam(a fee will apply)
    6. Send in your application with paperwork verifying the completion of practice hours to the state credentialing board with a certification fee (the additional fee varies for every state, from $100-$250)
    7. If you pass the exam and meet all the requirements listed on the application, you will receive your recovery coaching or peer-recovery support specialist certificate
    8. In the next 2 – 4 years take the required courses for renewing this certificate. Refer to your state board or the NAADAC for more information on courses and renewal time frames. A renewal fee will be required.

    So, whether you are working as a coach, looking to become one, if you are a family member, or an ally ready to learn about the recovery process, we can promise you the process to become a coach is a transformational experience.

    Good luck on your journey.

  • Recovery Rising – A memoir of William L White

    Recovery Rising is the memoir of foremost recovery researcher and advocate, William L White. It has just been released on Amazon. White, for over five decades has had different roles in the addiction treatment field, beginning in Chicago’s inner city as a street worker working with addicts and the homeless, an addiction counselor, clinical supervisor, treatment administrator, educator, clinical and organizational consultant, and research scientist to being honored as the addiction field’s preeminent historian, one of the fields most visionary voices and a most prolific author.

    In Recovery Rising, William White’s ideas, methods, and organizational studies emerge to give the reader an idea on how dynamic a leader White is in the modern addictions field. These stories, sometimes poignant, sometime humorous always are revealing and informative. Williams White’s life work has been affirmed by this memoir and (hopefully) a younger generation of addiction advocates and professionals will be inspired by his story  to continue his good work.

    This link to his book on Amazon is:

    https://www.amazon.com/Recovery-Rising-Retrospective-Addiction-Treatment-ebook/dp/B07526ZDVD/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1506351061&sr=1-1&keywords=recovery+rising

  • Is Recovery Coaching Effective?

    Is Recovery Coaching Effective?

    manhattan_bridgeTreatment professionals and researchers are calling for a change in the treatment model for substance use disorders (SUD). This change calls for shedding the acute care model (28 days of SUD treatment will fix you) to a continuum of care models, similar to how chronic diseases like diabetes or arthritis are treated. (Humphreys & Tucker, 2002; Institute of Medicine, 2005; McLellan et al., 2000; White, Boyle, Loveland, & Corrington, 2005).

    At the same time, the mental health and the substance abuse treatment fields have merged, creating the behavioral health field. With this merger, the recovery-oriented systems of care model (ROSC) has become the accepted approach to treatment for those with mental and substance use disorders. This holistic approach, rather than focusing on the addiction, considers the whole person and how they interact in real life. ROSC emphasizes that recovery depends on the connection of mind, body, and spirit, motivating addicts to choose to improve their mental health, their physical health, and to embrace a spiritual component of their recovery (SAMHSA, 2011). This multi-system approach has ROSC counselors encouraging visits to the general practitioner, the OBGyn and the dentist. They assess for co-occurring disorders and embrace one-on-one therapeutic treatment and group therapy. And ROSC practitioners embrace mutual support programs, such as AA, NA or even nontraditional mutual support groups like SOS, or Women for Sobriety. A spiritual program is also encouraged. Lastly, the newest introduction to the treatment field is the recovery coach.

    As mental health and addiction treatment services are adopting this recovery-oriented approach, the emphasis on incorporating various forms of recovery coaching or peer-based recovery support into treatment services is growing rapidly. Peer-based recovery support services are defined as

    “the process of giving and receiving nonprofessional, nonclinical assistance to achieve long-term recovery from mental health and substance use disorders” (Borkman, 1999)

    This support is provided by “peers,” “peer-recovery support specialists,” “recovery coaches,” “peer mentors,” or “peer support specialists” who have lived and experienced personal recovery (Borkman, 1999). The peers assist others in initiating, maintaining and embracing recovery from their mental health or substance use disorders.

    As recovery coaches and peers begin to infiltrate treatment centers and recovery support, community organizations, there is a needling question that arises: are recovery coaches effective in the recovery process?

    Studies have been completed on the effectiveness of recovery coaches aiding in individuals achieving long-term recovery since 2005. Many were small studies, some were not exactly scientific, nor could other studies stand up to researcher’s scrutiny. None of the studies had the critical mass to come to a clear conclusion. Ellen L. Bassuk, M.D., Justine Hanson, Ph.D., R. Neil Greene, M.A., Molly Richard, B.A., and Alexandre Laudet, PhD began examining the 1,221 studies that analyze the effectiveness of peer-delivered, recovery support services for individuals in recovery. They wrote a systematic review called Peer Delivered Recovery Support Services for Addictions in the United States: A Systematic Review.

    This compilation of all the current studies is to create an appraisal, and summarization of the success of peer-delivered, recovery support services, using strict scientific criteria. As part of their review process, the 1,221 studies were screened, but only nine studies were deemed to meet the strict review requirements.

    The nine studies examined the effectiveness of recovery support services that were delivered by a peer using a wide range of interventions and models. These studies also examined the variety of locations that offered peer support, including peer-run, drop-in centers (Ja et al., 2009), peer-run, recovery community organizations (Kamon & Turner, 2013), and Veteran’s Administration medical outpatient clinics (Bernstein et al., 2005).

    This review showed peer-delivered recovery support services accomplished the following successful outcomes:

    1. Decreased alcohol use
    2. Decreased drinking to intoxication by reducing the odds of drinking to intoxication by 2.9 percent (Smelson et al. 2013)
    3. Peer participation lowered re-hospitalization rates, meaning only 62 percent of participants from the peer based support group were re-hospitalized compared to 73 percent of those not receiving peer based support (Min et al. (2007)
    4. Increased post-discharge sobriety time was achieved by the individuals receiving the peer intervention (O’Connell et al. 2014)
    5. If peers led groups in life-skills training, those participants had 14.8 fewer days drinking
    6. Peer recovery support affected those discharged from inpatient treatment by maintaining a post-discharge sobriety rate of 43 percent to 48 percent as compared to 33 percent sobriety for those not receiving peer based support (Tracy et al. 2011)

    Overall, the review of these studies indicate that peers involved in recovery support interventions have beneficial effects on participants. While the reviewers can conclude that there is evidence supporting the effectiveness of peer-delivered, recovery support services, they acknowledge that additional research is necessary to determine the usefulness of peer support services. While this knowledge is encouraging, research in this area is just emerging, and there is a strong need to improve outcomes by completing future studies.

    References

    1. Humphreys, K., & Tucker, J. (2002). Toward more responsive and effective intervention systems for alcohol-related problems. Addiction, 97(2), 126–132.
    2. Institute of Medicine (2005). Improving the quality of health care for mental and substance use conditions. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
    3. McLellan, A. T., Lewis, D. C., O’Brien, C. P., & Kleber, H. D. (2000). Drug dependence, a chronic medical illness: Implications for treatment, insurance, and outcomes evaluation. JAMA, 284(13), 1689–1695.
    4. White, W., Boyle, M., Loveland, D., & Corrington, P. (2005). What is behavioral health recovery management? A brief primer. (Retrieved from www.addictionmanagement.org/recovery%20management.pdf).
    5. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (2011). SAMHSA’s Working Definition of Recovery. (Retrieved from http://www.samhsa.gov/recovery/).
    6. Borkman, T. (1999). Understanding self-help/mutual aid: Experiential learning in the commons. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press
    7. Borkman, T. (1999). Understanding self-help/mutual aid: Experiential learning in the commons. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press
    8. Ja, D. Y., Gee, M., Savolainen, J.,Wu, S., & Forghani, S. (2009). Peers Reaching Out Supporting Peers to Embrace Recovery (PROPSPER): A final evaluation report. San Francisco, CA: DYJ, Inc. for Walden House, Inc. and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Retrieved from http://www.dyja./com/sites/default/files/u24/PROSPER%20Final%20Evaluation%20Report.pdf).
    9. Kamon, J., & Turner,W. (2013). Recovery coaching in recovery centers: What the initial data suggest: A brief report from the Vermont Recovery Network. Montpelier, Vermont Evidence-Based Solutions (Retrieved form https://vtrecoverynetwork.org/PDF/VRN_RC_eval_report.pdf).
    10. Bernstein, E., Bernstein, J., Tassiopoulos, K., Heeren, T., Levenson, S., & Hingson, R. (2005). Brief motivational intervention at a clinic visit reduces cocaine and heroin use. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 77, 49–59
    11. Smelson, D. A., Kline, A., Kuhn, J., Rodrigues, S., O’Connor, K., Fisher, W. Kane, V. (2013). A wraparound treatment engagement intervention for homeless veterans with co-occurring disorders. Psychological Services, 10(2), 161–167.
    12. Min, S. Y., Whitecraft, E., Rothbard, A. B., & Salzer, M. S. (2007). Peer support for persons with co-occurring disorders and community tenure: A survival analysis. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 30(3), 207–213. http://dx.doi.org/10.2975/30.3.2007.207.213.
    13. O’Connell, M. J., Flanagan, E., Delphin, M., & Davidson, L. (2014). Enhancing outcomes for persons with co-occurring disorders through skills training and peer recovery supports. Unpublished manuscript.
    14. Tracy, K., Burton, M., Nich, C., & Rounsaville, B. (2011). Utilizing peer mentorship to engage high recidivism substance-abusing patients in treatment. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 37(6), 525–531

  • On the Role of Peers in Recovery

    This article was published in thefix.com on June 10,2015. Click here for the article:

    http://www.thefix.com/tags/professional-voices

     Do peers have a unique way of connecting with clients?

    As the treatment of addiction moves inexorably toward inclusion in the larger healthcare system, with its standards of evidence-based care, there is also a movement towards the use of peer counselors with “lived experience” with addiction. Are peer counselors able to connect with and help persons struggling with addiction in a unique way? Do the outcomes achieved in employing peers suggest that they should be more widely used, and supported by public funding? Melissa Killeen opens the conversation and highlights a case in which peer counseling played an integral role…Richard Juman

    A peer recovery support specialist has many job titles across the United States and around the world. They may be called certified recovery support practitioners, recovery advocates, peer mentors or recovery coaches. They tend to be employed at recovery community support centers, at hospitals, behavioral health agencies or addiction treatment centers. The peer recovery support specialist may be working with substance misusers, traumatic brain injury clients, behavioral health clients or clients that identify with all of these diagnoses. Certified peer recovery support specialists are generally employed by the facilities at an hourly rate for their services; for the client, peer recovery support services are typically free. In this article, I will focus on the peer recovery support specialists working in the addiction field.

    Recovery community support centers, financed with state and federal funding, some with funding from churches or individuals, are slowly taking hold and becoming more prevalent. The recovery advocacy organization Faces & Voices of Recovery, developed the Association of Recovery Community Organizations that unites and supports a growing membership of over 100 recovery community support organizations, although there are many organizations which have not yet become members of ARCO. For example, in my neck of the woods, there are currently 12 recovery community support organizations in Pennsylvania and 10 in New Jersey. Recovery community support centers can provide computer training, job interviewing skills training, resume writing, legal assistance, parenting skills training, social services linkages, 12-step meetings and even haircuts! It is important to highlight that these are non-clinical settings. Treatment is not provided—these are healthy places where people with current or past histories of addiction can go as an alternative to hanging out at a bar or on a street corner. Recent research completed by Chyrell Bellamy, MSW, PhD and Michael Rowe, PhD, both assistant professors at Yale University, concluded that working with peers in a recovery community environment may reduce alcohol use, drug use, and criminal justice charges for at-risk populations.

    In my view, the most important service that a recovery community support center offers is the assignment of a peer recovery support specialist or recovery coach to work with each client that comes to the center. At the outset, the peer recovery support specialist meets the client and sets up a schedule upon which the client and peer will meet. The format and structure varies widely, with some relationships based on daily phone calls and others on weekly face-to-face visits. The actual length of a coaching engagement will also vary. The McShin Foundation suggests that, as at the community recovery support centers run by the Virginia-based foundation, a 90-day limit is placed on the coaching assignment. However, other organizations, like the Hartford-based Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery, does not place an arbitrary limit on the length of coaching time. Instead, it recommends that standards of goal achievement, like drafting a recovery plan, a relapse prevention plan and/or attaining sobriety goals, be used to determine the length of engagement.

    What do peer recovery support specialists actually do for their clients? Here is one example:

    In 2013, I helped create the first community recovery center in southern New Jersey, one of only a handful of recovery centers in New Jersey at the time. Heather Ogden-Busch was one of the first people we hired at the Living Proof Recovery Support Center in Voorhees, NJ. At the time, because she had many years of sobriety and experience in sponsorship, she naturally fell into the role of a peer recovery support specialist, or recovery coach. On Heather’s first day at the recovery support center she received a call from a member of her 12-step group. This member relayed the story about another member from the meeting, Beth (not her real name), who had relapsed on heroin. Beth was living in a trailer with her boyfriend, who was also addicted to heroin, and she was not doing well. Beth wanted to stop using. Heather called her immediately.

    At the time, Heather was aware that there was some really powerful heroin circulating in the Philadelphia/Camden region. Several young people had overdosed recently, including one of Heather’s sponsees. She relayed this information to Beth, and asked Beth what she wanted to do. Beth said she wanted to get out of her boyfriend’s trailer and go into rehab. She had no job, no money and no connection with her parents, with no possibility of financing a rehab stay. Heather and her colleagues at the Living Proof Recovery Center jumped on the phones to find a detox and a treatment center that would have an opening for Beth.

    Within one day, Heather had scheduled an intake appointment for Beth at a detox hospital in New Jersey. Beth would also have a bed reserved for her at a Christian-based treatment center in Brooklyn, NY, if she successfully completed detox. Luckily, Heather knew of another treatment center, also faith-based, in Chicago, with the financing available for the treatment as well as funding for the airplane flight.

    Beth was not particularly religious, but knew she needed treatment and agreed to go to detox then to treatment in Brooklyn. Over the weekend, Heather and Beth met together at the recovery center, called the detox hospital and went through the intake process. The same procedure was necessary for the Brooklyn treatment center. Heather and Beth made those calls together. By Monday of the next week, two days after Beth consented to go to detox, Heather had arranged for a sober friend to drive Beth to the northern New Jersey detox hospital. She also had arranged for the same person to drive Beth from the detox to Brooklyn when Beth was discharged.

    One week passed, and Beth was being discharged from detox. Unfortunately, the Brooklyn treatment center did not have an immediately available bed, but Beth was next in line for a bed as soon as it was available, in a few days. Beth had to return to her boyfriend’s trailer to wait for the call from the treatment center. Beth did not have a phone, so it was Heather that would field the call from the treatment center. Beth had at least three days to wait and hopefully, remain clean. Heather pulled in all of the support she could muster. Beth had escorts to every NA and AA meeting in the area. Members of the 12-step community drove Beth to Suboxone maintenance appointments. Every night, Heather and Beth talked. Every morning Heather called the treatment center to find out if the bed was available. By Wednesday morning, Beth and Heather were driving up the NJ Turnpike to Brooklyn, and Beth was still clean.

    The story doesn’t end there, because the job of a peer recovery support specialist is as important after the client comes out of treatment. Beth was in Brooklyn for 28 days. While Beth was working on her sobriety, Heather was lining up a room at an Oxford House, miles away from the trailer and the addicted boyfriend. Within one day after being discharged from the Brooklyn treatment center, Beth was in an Oxford House, had a temporary sponsor and was enrolled in an intensive outpatient program. Her parents were so proud of Beth’s achievements they had paid for the first two month’s rent at the Oxford House.

    Heather remained Beth’s peer recovery support specialist and required Beth to come to the recovery center every day to volunteer. Beth answered the phone, made copies, attended 12-step meetings, and learned about co-occurring disorders. She participated in a resume-writing workshop and a financial planning workshop. Beth got a job as a waitress at a local family-style restaurant that did not serve alcohol and for the first time she opened her own checking account. By her third month at Oxford House, she was able to pay her own rent.

    Heather guided Beth to enroll in a co-occurring program associated with her outpatient program. Beth now sees a therapist every week, and a psychiatrist monthly for her psychiatric disorders; because of her low income these services and her Suboxone treatment are free. She came to understand that her drug and alcohol usage was a form of self-medicating her mental illness. Nine months later, Beth remains an active participant in a local recovery support center and she is sober. Every month, her Suboxone dosage is reduced and she will celebrate one year clean from heroin in 60 days. Her goal is to be free from Suboxone and after one year of total sobriety, she can begin the 156-hour training to be a certified recovery support practitioner (CRSP), which is the peer recovery support specialist certification in the state of NJ (www.certboard.org).

    Melissa Killeen is a recovery coach, author of the first book on Recovery Coaching: Recovery Coaching a Guide to Coaching People in Recovery from Addictions and the recipient of the 2015 Vernon Johnson Award from the Faces & Voices of Recovery.

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  • How does a Recovery Coach work with a Treatment Team?

    How does a Recovery Coach work with a Treatment Team?

    manhattan_bridge_post_versionRecovery coaching services are starting to be more widely used, more often within the finest treatment centers. Yet, there are still addicts in crisis, or families with loved ones in inpatient substance-abuse treatment that are unaware that such services exist. Many therapists, re-unification specialists’ psychiatrists and LCSWs specializing in addiction treatment have not worked with a recovery coach, even though the recovery coaching profession has existed for over a decade. So it is important for more clinicians, outpatient coordinators, aftercare coordinators and other treatment professionals to understand how a recovery coach can benefit the client’s recovery and how the entire treatment team can work together.

    75% Will Relapse!

    Leaving an inpatient treatment facility, a client is very vulnerable to relapse during the initial days and weeks following their discharge. In fact, within a ninety-day period after discharge, seventy-five percent will have experienced one or more relapses (Godley, Dennis, Funk, & Passetti, 2002). Hiring a recovery coach can keep a client sober, and it is important to link a client to a continuing care program as early as possible. Both of these aftercare tools can be coordinated prior to discharge so the client can extend their sober life style after discharge.

    Research has shown, that coordinating this continuing care program does not guarantee a client will see a therapist, embrace a 12-step program or attend intensive outpatient treatment after discharge. This is where a recovery coach comes in. A recovery coach is called in to meet with the client either at the treatment center and then escort them home, or meet with the client at their home to take them to their first 12-step meeting, the continuing care program, or even therapist appointments. And always, the coach begins working with the client on their recovery plan.

    Who is the Treatment Team?

    Post discharge, or during outpatient treatment the Treatment Team consists of a variety of people, dependent on the client’s case. Key participants on the team can include the recovery coach, frontline clinicians and doctors from the treatment organization; the client’s primary care physician, psychiatrist or therapist; a staff member/social worker from a recovery-based agency or a representative from a community organization such as public housing; child protective services or any religious-based recovery program. The legal system may be involved so a lawyer, a probation officer, or a social worker assigned from the courts, the state’s drunk driving agency or child protective services can also be included. Many times the family is involved as well, whether it is a spouse, or in the case of an adolescent client, the parents or caregivers will participate on the team. (In all aspects of coordinating within the treatment team, a HIPAA disclosure form must be signed by the client allowing the coach and the team to discuss the client’s case).

    In early recovery, I cannot overstate the value of a recovery coach who is a hands-on partner and support person to help a newly sober addict learn all of the life skills that addiction robs from its victims. After 30-60 days in treatment, even a 45-year-old college-educated person has forgotten how to prepare and abide by a basic family budget; how to write a resume; how to do healthy things such as yoga; how to shop in a store and avoid the liquor aisle; have the confidence to walk into a 12-step meeting; or ask the right questions of a 12-step sponsor. These skills are not found in the “manual of the newly recovered” (a manual which does not actually exist). And even when such structure does appear in aftercare plans, sending an addict with 30 or 60 days of new found recovery out into the world to go forth and execute on such a plan is a big challenge, in many cases, one doomed to failure.

    The recovery coach will primarily be responsible for the provision of general treatment and recovery maintenance support in collaboration with the treatment team. The recovery coach responsibilities will include program support, connecting clients to recovery activities in the community, transportation of participants, helping clients get their basic needs met, assistance with navigation of the substance abuse, social services and mental health service systems, facilitation of attendance at support groups, or 12-step meetings and taking toxicology screens. The recovery coach can have daily contact with the client through telephone support and often meets weekly with the client in face-to-face sessions.

    David Loveland, PhD. and Michael Boyle, MA, wrote in the 2005 Manual for Recovery Coaching and Personal Recovery Plan Development an outline specifying that a recovery coach should also provide guidance to create a personal recovery. This personal recovery plan development is the first assignment a client completes when working with a coach.

    In order to work in the same manner that a clinician or a treatment center team member would expect, a recovery coach adopts the same system of notes, documentation and paperwork a clinician uses. The coach will provide the treatment facility and/or the client with documentation on billable services. The coach will complete thorough documentation or progress notes on the client’s recovery process, written in the guidelines required by the facility or that is acceptable to the clinician, such as DAP notes (data, assessment and plan). The coach will communicate frequently with the lead clinician and in the event of a crisis, more frequently with the team.

    Working through Potential Conflicts

    The role of a recovery coach is described in the Recovery Management and the Assertive Continuing Care models. These models may be new to most service providers and front line clinicians. It is important to address potential misconceptions and resistance that can be encountered by a recovery coach and the team. Here are some examples of potential conflicts between a recovery coach and the people they work with:

    • Establishment of clear guidelines of communications.
    • Who speaks to who — The recovery coach speaks to the client and the primary clinician
    • Everything a recovery coach discloses to the primary clinician is to be discussed with the team and the client
    • In the case of a relapse communication guidelines are to be established as to who in the team receives this information
    • Conflict between the treatment goals of the addiction treatment program and recovery coach can happen. It is best if treatment goals are discussed with the coach. The coach will defer to the clinician, most generally.
    • The team will establish guidelines or a contract with the client in the event there is the possibility a client will leave treatment against medical advice/orders (AMO) or be administratively discharged.
    • Sometimes there are ideological conflicts between the professional-based primary addiction treatment model and the strengths-based model, the Assertive Continuing Care or the Recovery Management model used by recovery coaches. These conflicts should be discussed with the team.
    • Rules within treatment facilities may conflict with recovery coach services, such as signing a HIPAA agreement, leaving a therapeutic group to work with a coach, working on other issues before completing specific phases of treatment or treatment programs that discourage working with other people during treatment. The coach is encouraged to work through these differences as best they can.
    • Changes in peoples’ treatment needs as a result of receiving recovery coaching services during a waiting period (e.g., no longer needing residential treatment after achieving some success with a recovery coach and the client can move to a PHP or IOP program).

    As a recovery coach, I enjoy working with a treatment team, and doing so allows me to work with a “net” while bouncing ideas or concerns off of an actively involved person with great interest in the client’s well being. When I am introduced to a clinician and team, it is often the first time the clinicians have worked with a recovery coach. If I am able to speak to the lead clinician prior to beginning a contract, I attempt to do so. Often, I attend the therapeutic sessions, after the client has their sixty-minute session, I will enter the room and spend a half hour or so discussing things with the client and the clinician. At other times, there are separate meetings with the treatment team that do not include the client. Frequently, there are daily and sometimes hourly conversations, text messages or emails with the lead clinician. Every assignment varies.

    The availability of recovery coaches is increasing. Clients can find recovery coaches for free or can pay anywhere up to $250 per hour for a coach. Many coaches have a website and can be found by using a search engine such as Google’s. There is an organization of Recovery Support Centers (http://www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/who/arco ) that offer free recovery coaches to clients. Often a treatment center has a recovery coach suggestion.

    In the end, the clinician, lawyer and client will benefit from the collaboration of the recovery coach with the treatment team, and often the coaching relationship with the client continues.