Mentoring and Coaching

We cannot say how important it is to for there to be a specific After Care Plan for those who have gone through an Addiction Intervention, gone to Intensive or In-Patient Treatment, and are now ready to be released from the treatment center. Without proper After Care, there is a good chance that the individual will relapse. Why? For a number of reasons:

• Many times they go back to spouses (significant others) who have an addiction, old friends, the work place where there is alcohol, drugs, their old hangouts, etc.
• They were in a 'safe place' where there was much less stress than real life.
• There drug of choice was not at treatment but easily accessible when they get out of treatment.
• The treatment may not have been long enough for the addict to renew their mind (change the way they think).
• They still don't know how to live a sober life.

A good Addiction Interventionist is going to make sure that there is an After Care Plan in place to help prevent relapse from occurring. They will either offer mentoring/coaching with their service or get the now ex-addict actively involved in a mentor/sponsor relationship. This may be through AA/NA/GA/OA, a church, a counselor, an existing good friend, whatever is going to work best for the ex-addict.

Accountability is critical for the ex-addict. Many family members are not the best option. That is why it is good to get the ex-addict connected with other individuals. It is critical that the mentoring/sponsoring be done with the same sex unless the mentoring is with a married couple. Another big trigger for relapse for ex-addicts is the opposite sex (or same sex if the addict was a homosexual).

Richard and Carmi make a commitment to be available for mentoring after someone goes into treatment. In fact, it is their passion to help individuals to grow in all aspects of their life, especially in regards to the spiritual side. They strongly believe that the more a person grows spiritually, the less likely they are going to relapse.

For some individuals they need to be mentored for several years because of an individual living in the midst of their addiction for decades. Mentoring can be short phone calls several times a week or maybe one-on-one sessions on a weekly basis. What matters is the ongoing interaction between the mentor and the ex-addict.