A personal story

Two years into my own recovery, I decided to pursue my dream of becoming a coach. I had worked in large corporations as an organizational and leadership development specialist for more than two decades. My career had begun to feel flat and I was ready for a change. Upon enrolling at The Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara, one of the country's premier coach training organizations, I was delighted to be immersed in the learning process once again. I found that being around other people who were excited about the same thing I was—human potential—fed my soul.

To be in an intensive coaching training program is to do some serious self-evaluation. I was able to ponder my past in a way that I never had before. I looked at everything I had been through, including 25 years of hard work to become a successful career woman while, at the same time, drinking myself into full-blown alcoholism. It was during my coaching training program that I became acutely aware of how misaligned my life had been and how, if I was going to stay sober and do something valuable, I had to get into much better alignment—personally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Living a dual life was no longer an option.

Part of the process of becoming a certified coach is to engage a coach and experience the process firsthand. During weekly sessions over several months, my coach held me accountable and kept me focused on achieving my new goals, which included leaving the corporate world, designing and launching my coaching practice, and moving to Colorado to support my effort to work with individuals in recovery in a serene setting. As a result of my own coaching, I am now doing the work I love and—I hope—making a difference in the lives of others.

I'm sharing much of my story because what I experienced while training to become a coach is exactly the process I and many other coaches bring to clients in recovery. The Hudson Institute training program emphasizes adult development, values, purpose, and how to become more aligned to create a better future. To my mind, that is exactly what people in early stages of recovery need.

What coaching is and isn't

Let's first address what coaching isn't. It is not:

Now let's look at what coaching is and how it is useful in the recovery process. High-quality coaching is:

• Focused on the future. While an understanding of the client's past is important, the recovery coaching process is intended to help the client envision and go about creating a positive future. For some clients this means crafting a comprehensive “life plan.” For others, coaching is focused on specific themes, gaps in personal development, or how to navigate effectively the re-entry into work and life following treatment.

• A robust, intentional process and relationship. A well-trained coach stays intently focused on what the client wants and helps the client identify his/her own agenda and stick to it. Coaching should never be about what the coach thinks is best for the client. While the coach may educate and offer ideas, giving direct advice is discouraged.

• Based on action and accountability. The coach supports the client in envisioning a positive future and then quickly getting into action to create that future. The coach's job is also to hold the client accountable for follow-through without blaming or shaming the client when not every goal is achieved. It is not uncommon for the coach to continue to hold and honor a client's vision when the client has temporarily lost sight of it. For someone in recovery this is of tremendous importance, because the years of self-doubt and shame can at times prevent the person from feeling confident, competent, and whole.

• Best used for a defined period of time. Unlike a 12-Step program that an individual might participate in for a lifetime, or clinical therapy that might need to continue for several years to be effective, the action-oriented nature of coaching means that it rarely continues for more than a year and often is needed only for a few sessions or a few months.

• Effective only when an individual is “ready.” Like treatment for addiction in all its forms, coaching is useful only when a client is truly ready. This means that the client is on a solid path toward a solid recovery, has dealt with his/her most significant “past” issues, and has the time and energy to devote to mapping out a new life. The client must be in the position to put energy toward creating a positive future while also maintaining a focus on recovery. Some coaches, myself included, use assessments and questionnaires to assess an individual's readiness to engage in coaching.

Recovery coaching's future

According to the organization Recovery Coaches International, there are currently 35 certified recovery coaches in the United States. These individuals have undergone additional training and provide coaching services for people in recovery from alcoholism, drug addiction, smoking, and sex addiction. Some recovery coaches also specialize in working with family members of those in recovery.

Coaching is effective with individuals in recovery because it creates an intimate space for them to show up and be purposeful and accountable. One of the noted differences between coaching and other forms of treatment for people in recovery is that coaching is focused on the “well” person, not the “sick” one. I attended AA and had therapy once a week during the first years of my new life, but it wasn't until I engaged my own coach that I was able to focus on making my spirit flourish—instead of on the splintered addictive aspects of my old life.