“Almost all mistakes
I ever made in my life
were under the influence of alcohol.”
What is a sobriety coach?
Sobriety coaching, also known as recovery coaching, is a form of strengths-based, personalized support for people who have a history of struggling with addiction. Specializing in alcoholism and drug-related addictions, our coaches work with clients who are presently sober, and ready to either begin or expand their journey of healing and recovery. Blending sobriety with a life coaching approach, sobriety coaches assist in designing a recovery plan to fit the goals and position of each individual client, specifically catered to their unique lifestyle. While focused on post-sobriety, coaches can also help clients find and utilize resources for any stage of the recovery process, including resources for detox, treatment, harm reduction, education, and support groups. Coaches aid clients in moving forward beyond their addictions, working together to create a healthy, fulfilling life through the lens of sobriety
What are the goals of a sobriety coach?
In sobriety coaching, the goals of the coach are centered around guiding a client through their recovery, working together to create a future that is clean, healthy, and fulfilling. Examples of these goals include:
- Assisting and supporting the client in maintaining their sobriety
- Promoting healing
- Establishing a strong mindset focused on growth, not perfection
- Celebrating successes big and small
- Encouraging the formation of healthy friendships and partnerships
- Avoiding isolation
- Fitting the client’s sobriety needs within the activities of their daily life
- Helping clients through stressful, triggering events (i.e. weddings, set, tour, meetings, etc.)
- Getting the client involved in the community
Reach out if you struggle on your journey with sobriety. We provide services on a case-by-case basis, creating a set of goals and coping skills catered to the unique needs of each client. By using an individualized approach, we aim to ensure that our clients remain strong and confident in their recovery, fostering successful reintegration to a lifestyle that sets them up for success.
Own your addiction, and move forward through recovery and life beyond without fears of relapse.
Services:
SOBRIETY OR RECOVERY COACHING
Sobriety coaching, also known as recovery coaching, is a form of strengths-based, individualized support for people who have a history of struggling with addiction. Coaches work with clients who are presently sober; by blending sobriety with a life coaching approach, they assist in designing a recovery plan to fit the goals of each client, specifically catered to their personal lifestyle as they move beyond their addictions.
Sobriety coaches focus on the recovery process from the point of sobriety onwards. Unlike other forms of therapy, coaches do not address clients’ past lives, trauma, or emotional turmoil. While sobriety coaches can assist in finding resources for any stage of recovery, they themselves do not diagnose addiction or any other mental health issues; they do not offer primary treatment, nor are they associated with any particular method or means of recovery.
Rather than harboring on the past, sobriety coaching focuses on the present and future lives of people recovering from addiction. Coaches aid clients in creating a plan for success in their recovery and beyond, including helping them avoid relapse, build a healthy community network, and use the lens of sobriety to nourish other areas of life such as work, education, and relationships. An action-oriented, positive-minded approach, sobriety coaching places an emphasis on improving one’s current life and strengthening their mindset, setting them up to maintain the future they desire.
This coaching process can endure as long as the client deems necessary so that they can achieve their goals. Some sobriety coach roles can evolve into a long-term sobriety coach position, lasting for several weeks, months, or longer. In addition to helping improve a clients’ present life and create future goals, long-term sobriety coaches progress alongside them, assisting in carrying out their plans moving forward.
SOBER COMPANION
A sober companion is a guide to sobriety who works with the client on a more face-to-face, full-time basis. A physical escort to assist in situations that may trigger addictions, the companionship is catered to the client’s specific needs, and can range from accompaniment at events to workdays, evenings, weekends, and extended periods of constant care.
While sober companionships may develop at any point throughout the recovery process, many begin with one’s initial discharge from treatment for addiction. Upon gaining sobriety and leaving treatment, a client trades a secure, drug and alcohol-free environment for one that they know has been the source of past problems. A sober companion aims to provide the functional and symbolic safety of a treatment center. Working to literally guide them past previously triggering events, a sober companion supports the client in developing their recovery plan once out in the world, and assists them directly in putting it into practice. By actively helping implement lifestyle changes over those first crucial days post treatment, sober companions help initiate and sustain a better quality life for clients in the days, weeks, and months to come post discharge.
Coaching Process:
In order to best serve our clients, we model our coaching services after the guidelines provided by the International Coaching Federation (ICF). The leading global organization for coaches, the ICF defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential,” (ICF, 2021). The ICF created eleven Core Competencies to promote enhanced understanding about the methods and skills utilized in coaching today. These Core Competencies include:
- Meeting Ethical Guidelines and Professional Standards
- Establishing the Coaching Agreement
- Establishing Trust and Intimacy with the Client
- Coaching Presence
- Active Listening
- Powerful Questioning
- Direct Communication
- Creating Awareness
- Designing Actions
- Planning and Goal Setting
- Managing Progress and Accountability
By using these Core Competencies as a standard, we aim to ensure that our clients receive quality sobriety and life coaching, elevating the caliber of the support available to them for their recovery.
Due to the personalized nature of sobriety coaching, the fees and procedures for our services are dependent on each individual scenario.
Our fees are on a sliding scale, typically beginning with an hourly charge at a ten hour minimum commitment that can be structured or extended due to the needs and circumstances at hand. After providing a complimentary telephone consultation, we are dedicated to work with each client to determine the best methods to support and facilitate their successful sobriety, be it video conferencing, in person meetings, or long term visitations.
While we unfortunately do not accept insurance at this time, we are willing to arrange personalized payment plans to suit the needs of our clients.
Team:
Jörg Schuster NCRC
With a background in the arts, I spent the past several years designing and developing eyewear for the fashion industry, as well as providing creative product direction for a variety of established brands. Like the rest of the world, 2020 prompted me to reevaluate my path and future direction. I decided to dedicate my life to helping others create one that they are fulfilled by, and became a Nationally Certified Recovery Coach (NCRC) last year. I am also a California Registered Drug and Alcohol Technician, with additional certifications in CPR, AED, and First-Aid.
Throughout the course of my life, I have also struggled with addictions to various substances, with almost all of the true mistakes I’ve made in life having occurred under the influence of alcohol. While I first recognized my problem in my early twenties, I refused to admit or take charge of it until 2009, just before my wedding day. Recognizing the problem is only the beginning of the journey towards healing; the elimination of alcohol didn’t resolve all the issues in my life, but rather illuminated them. Parts of myself didn’t endure the shift, and while even my marriage didn’t survive the process of recovery and transformation, my sobriety did. It took me over ten years to develop and study every aspect of recovery; it is now my mission to save my clients the struggle by sharing my methods to shorten and simplify the process.
I am currently in my early forties, raising three children and celebrating twelve years of sobriety from my addictions. With a background in creative and design work, project management, and leadership, I have developed a hard working, empathetic mindset, genuinely dedicated to serving my clients.
The collective art brand unfollowclub has always placed focus on being a source of inspiration in an ever-changing world. In nature, when a pack of wolves expands naturally, the strong wolf will eventually stop following the others and create a new pack, or club. The name unfollowclub was derived from this metaphor. Using the strong wolf as inspiration, the name represents our community and the mindset we share; dedicated to collectively integrating art with a positive outlook, self care, and support for one another.
Jason Smith
It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. ~Joseph Campbell
I am a husband, son, brother, and uncle. A substance abuse counselor, program director, life coach, and sponsor. I am a singer, songwriter, poet, and artist. A compassionate, empathetic, caring, and kind person.I understand because I have been there. Clean and sober since January 5, 2014. The most important day of my life. Without this day I would be none of these things. Since then I have dedicated my life to helping those that can not help themselves and to loving those who need to learn to love themselves. My unique experiences and perspective give me an advantage in helping a population that is largely misunderstood. Those that dwell in the realm of addiction. Through my work in this field I hope to reshape policies and procedures, dispel old ideas, and help to create an enlightened approach to substance abuse treatment that will empower the people I encounter down this road of recovery.
