Do I hire a Life Coach or Sober Coach?
The Benefits of having a Life Coach and Sober Coach in One Service
Coaching in all forms is beneficial, no doubt, and this especially applies to life coaching and sober coaching. Often in the recovery process, both may be necessary, offering clients some guidance and stability in places where traditional therapy may not be able to reach.
However, what’s often overlooked is the vital missing pieces in pursuing both: efficiency and interconnectivity. We’ll be exploring the differences between both life coaching and sober coaching, why they differ from therapy, and the benefits of having them both offered by a single entity or service.
Life Coaching vs Sober Coaching
To those who may be unfamiliar with the field, sober coaching and life coaching may sound similar or downright synonymous, but they’re meant for distinctly different purposes. Life coaching can aid just about anyone, helping guide them in life with goals and direction. It helps to think of life coaches relative to therapy. As we’ll touch on soon, coaching and therapy are not interchangeable. Both have their most noticeable and powerful impacts when working in tandem with the other.
A therapist may help someone overcome past traumas holding them back, addressing long-term issues that need addressing, and can best be described as “past-focused”. Meanwhile, a life coach focuses on the present and what one can do at the moment. They can help you set a schedule, eliminate bad habits, get a fresh new perspective on life with experience handling challenges you may face, and address negative patterns. On the other hand, there’s sober coaching.
A sober coach, for those who may not know, can be defined as a person in long-term recovery that is “certified, bonded, and insured and is able to help other people find that path to not using drugs and alcohol. Most sober coaches will work hourly, and some will provide live-in residential services. Sober coaches use a strengths-based system of recovery rooted in creating an action plan and creating a fulfilling life”
In other words, a sober coach is like a life coach just catered to those in recovery. While their methods differ from organization to organization, their duties may or may not include addressing family and relationship issues that may have risen from the addiction itself, stress and anxiety, triggers and coping mechanisms, criminal issues, and things like that.
So, of course, this leaves only one question; If they’re so similar, why would they be used in tandem?
Life and Sober Coaching
Well, to put it simply; they both fill in some gaps that the other may leave. Sober coaching may focus on addiction and its impact on the individual, but it may not focus on other aspects such as a lack of motivation to go out and talk to people. These issues, while falling under differing umbrellas, can be directly related and complicate matters. This isn’t to say that either is only a half-fulfilling experience, far from it, it’s instead an acknowledgment of the fact that not everyone needs both. They both fit different roles, and if you don’t need one or the other filled, just the one is fine.
However, even with that being the case, using both is certainly not a bad idea. The big issue lies in how one goes about doing so. If you were to try to get life coaching from one place and sober coaching from another, complications may arise. It depends on what type of business they’re running if it’s a whole team or just a single person behind the service, fluent communication, and updating both parties on development.
No matter the business, it’s nearly inevitable that if two different parties are involved in the coaching process as a sober coach and a life coach, there may be miscommunication and some failure. This can only lead to hurting the client themselves, and that’s the last thing they need in the middle of the recovery process. So, is that a big reason to stray away from the possible perfect opportunity? Nope! There are places you can reach out to that offer both with offer absolutely no room for mix-ups and mishaps.
One of the best examples would be “The Addiction Coach”. The name comes from Dr. Cali Estes, the titular Addiction Coach who just so happens to be one of the most well-informed people about addiction worldwide. Her service offers addiction and life coaching, all individualized and with heavy prioritization on the recovery and well-being of the client. She works with celebrities, executives, and people of all statures with resounding success in some alternative methods. Whether it be a life coach, sober coach, or both, The Addictions Coach provides them without a pesky middleman or a chance of miscommunication. It’s all under the same umbrella, everyone has the same directives, and it’s all focused on one individual.
With Cali herself being a trained life and sober coach, she knows a thing or two about both worlds, and that sort of resource is scarce in the scene. Imagine having a coach who can provide both services! They not only would know you on all fronts, able to address each and every issue, but they can provide a consistent service that most importantly works for you. No conflicting dates or lessons – it all just meshes perfectly.
Another big issue with employing a sober coach and life coach from completely different places is the unpredictable nature of their planning. Everyone has their own approaches to solving an issue, and there’s always a chance that that solution may clash with someone else’s. If your sober coach says that you shouldn’t go to a party because it’s got your triggers in it, but your life coach insists that it’s downright necessary, that’s a result of two different business models clashing. It’s a tough spot to be in! You never want to pick and choose which person you’d rather listen to, especially when they’ve got your health in their hands.
The choice in whether or not you want a sober coach and life coach all in one service is a matter of whether or not you’d prefer a reliable, streamlined process. You can certainly go the other route and there’s no saying you’re forbidden from doing so, but if you’d prefer a close-knit circle that knows everything they need to know, I’d say to check out The Addictions Coach.
