Recovery Coaching Without Rehab

Although some people undoubtedly need residential or hospital care, in reality most people don’t and there are many advantages to addressing your addiction problems within your normal everyday environment. When ever possible, I prefer to work within the real world with all the stresses and strains and ups and downs of everyday life, because this is ultimately where you’ll have to survive clean and sober.

All coaching is one to one and as your personal recovery coach we’re in this together and we’ll work together every step of the way. You’ll have my mobile phone number and you can call me whenever you want to and I’ll also text you every so often to see how you are doing. We’ll keep in regular contact in between your coaching sessions and I can help you to apply the techniques that you are learning to the real life situations as they happen.

I can’t stop the dealer ringing you or prevent the massive row with your partner, but I can help you to deal with what it brings up in you. If you’re struggling you can ring me and I can hold you in a mindful place, remind you of what you’ve been learning and keep you ‘still’ until the feeling passes. It’s amazing how different it all seems when the feeling has gone, and once you’ve done this a few times it becomes second nature and an automatic response to whatever life throws at you. Life in many ways becomes your teacher, if it knocks you down I’ll pick you up, and with each new mistake and every new challenge you’ll learn and grow. We’ll do this together and with patience and practice you’ll become a master of yourself and will have a real alternative to running with your addictions.

What is recovery coaching?

Coaching is totally different to counselling, I‘m not interested in your “problems and issues” I’m not really interested in my own. No digging up your past, no embarrassing group work and no navel gazing either, and I promise that we won’t go into your relationship with your mother.

Coaching is a collaboration. I can’t fix you or make you better, if you’re waiting for a magic pill or someone to cure you then you have a very long wait. Your recovery is your responsibility. My role is to work along side you, not to take over. I can teach you Mindful techniques, offer the benefit of my experience and support you step by step through your recovery, but ultimately only you have the power to get you better.

I have a very personal style of working and many of my friends are ex-clients. Yes it is my job, but I really do care too. I may not have been where you are, but I’ve been to some pretty dark places myself. I’ve lost loved ones through drink and drugs and I completely screwed things up in a big way with my own addictions I can assure you. This connects us on a deeply human level way beyond the professional relationship and that for me is an important part of the healing process. I’ve been to my rock bottom with nowhere left to run and I’ve have found a way out of the madness, and having made this discovery I know that this suffering is unnecessary and it’s become my purpose to guide as many of you as I can, out of this darkness.

Do I need to go away to rehab?

Maybe; and rehab has it’s place, but it’s also pushed on people unnecessarily for the commercial advantage of some pretty unscrupulous private health care companies and it’s very common for rehabs to pay “back handers” in return for referrals. So beware!

If your behaviour has become completely chaotic then a period of confinement can help you to get stable again and give you a chance, but as anyone who’s been to rehab will tell you the real work starts when you come out. In some extremes cases of physical dependency your doctor may decide that you need the kind of intensive clinical care that can only be provided in hospital and it would be stupid to ignore this, but in reality most detox’s take place in the community and even if you require 24 hour nursing care this can be done at home. I work closely with a couple of private companies who can provide all the medical care you need to complete your detox at home or any other predetermined location.

What are the advantages to recovering at home?

Even if you can afford the very considerable expense of a residential rehab, are you really able to drop everything and take 6-8 weeks off work? Apart from the time, there’s the stigma, do you want people knowing that you are in treatment for a “mental health” condition? This can be last thing you need when you are trying get your life back on track.

Staying clean and sober for a few weeks within the confines of a treatment centre is one thing, but living the real world clean and sober is something else. Whilst it’s helpful to stay away from triggers when ever possible, many triggers can’t be avoided. Some of the most powerful triggers are everyday things like the smell of a pub, crisp bank notes, or the weekend, triggers are often negative mood states - boredom, loneliness, frustration and anxiety. You might be able to avoid cash machines, but you can’t avoid the weekend and you can’t say you will never be bored or frustrated again, recovery is ultimately about managing yourself differently in these situations and the best way to learn this is while it’s happening for real.

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