As coaching continues to gain traction and prove helpful in mental health and substance use spaces, many people assume all coaching models are the same. They aren’t. And understanding the difference can save a lot of time and money for our clients and help them get the help they need.
At Active Recovery Network, we’ve spent nearly 15 years in San Diego providing therapeutic coaching and case management for individuals and families navigating mental health challenges, substance use, and major life transitions. Recovery coaching is part of what we do, but it is only one component of a broader, more integrated model of care.
Many recovery coaching models are peer-based and tend to default to a twelve-step, abstinence-only framework. For some people, that approach works well. For many others, it leaves critical gaps in care, especially when there are underlying mental health concerns, difficult family dynamics, or lack of clarity in terms of the client’s view and substance use recovery preferences and trajectory.
Therapeutic Coaching is psychologically informed and education based. Our coaches are highly trained to work with co-occurring disorders, family systems, and complex life situations. We meet clients where they are (literally, in their homes and community) and help them move forward in realistic, individualized ways. That may include abstinence, but it may also include stabilization, harm reduction, psychiatric coordination, or addressing untreated mental health conditions that are driving substance use in the first place.
We don’t simply provide encouragement or accountability. We intervene when needed. We collaborate closely with therapists, psychiatrists, treatment programs, schools, and families. And when a higher level of care is necessary, we help make that transition happen.
One thing we hear almost without fail, unfortunately, is that people don’t fully understand what we do until they experience it. This is true for clients, families, and even treatment providers. Once we begin working together, there is almost without fail an immediate aha moment, often followed by “I wish we would have known about you earlier.”
If you’d like to connect with us to find out more about our work or have us to speak with your team or connect by phone or Zoom in the New Year, we’d love to. Having Active Recovery Network on dial before a situation escalates can be a game changer for your clients and your program. All-to-often, there is not a direct coordination of care, and we begin working with clients and families after a relapse, DUI, another hospitalization or treatment stay. Let’s work together to get them the care they need, sooner rather than later.
We look forward to connecting with you again soon. Always happy to help.
Warmly,
The Active Recovery Network Team