Less Counseling, More Coaching

The Coaching Approach for Helping People with 

Addiction Encourages Self-Respect Without a Label

by David H. Kerr                        

The subject of “coaching” is so important to me that I have focused this additional blog on it.  My experience in the field since 1965, especially with hard-core criminal addicts, suggests that the "coaching" approach as opposed to the more traditional “counseling” approach, may be more effective and for good reason.  I have found that the traditional "we-they” counseling model of help does not work so well for people with addiction who already have low self-esteem.  Just the grueling "assessment" process is often inadvertently felt by many as a "put-down."  On the other hand, the "coaching" model is designed for people with addiction and low self-esteem since its' focus is on encouragement and finding positive attributes in people who will then learn to value their own abilities.  This is critical for them to be able to help themselves and turn their lives around.  

The people with addiction whom I have met include a range of folks from the suburbs to the urban areas, all suffering severely from the problem.  Some have had to turn to crime for their drug money and others have drained their savings.

Hard core prison or jail inmates often benefit from coaching even including video face-to-face contacts beginning long before they leave prison and up to five years after release.  The coaching initiated in prison must continue on the outside through drug treatment, and for 5 years thereafter.  

“Lifestyle criminal addicts,” urban or suburban, benefit from this simple one to one relationship with someone caring and knowledgeable.  This is true especially if the coach is a long-term clean and sober recovering person.   

The coach can be a former user but long-term clean and sober, or a person with academic credentials and face-to-face experience.  Here’s a piece from the coaching federation that may be helpful describing the role of the coach:

See article by Kristine Kelly below and at https://www.coachfederation.org/

‘“We changed on an individual level that [allowed us] to change rules they said couldn’t be broken.” Talib Mustafa Shakir is one of many inmates who are experiencing the power of coaching behind prison walls. Talib continued, “We are brothers working for the greater good of ourselves and others. Coaching is the catalyst for [this] change…how else could you explain eight seasoned convicts shedding tears together? That doesn’t happen normally.” With coaching as their catalyst, a group of men at Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) McKean in Pennsylvania have broken free of stereotypical divisions to form a community that offers hope and support to inmates. The goal? To instill intentional living and reduce recidivism.’

“Coaching wasn’t always a part of FCI McKean culture. Talib stumbled upon it while taking correspondence courses in psychology. While studying positive psychology, he experienced what he refers to as his “Aha moment” when he realized that coaching was based around “the idea of not looking at what is wrong with a person but what is right and moving from there forward.” See complete article by Kristine Kelly below and at https://www.coachfederation.org/

I have found that the traditional "we-they” counseling model of help of does not work so well for people with addiction who already have low self-esteem.  Just the grueling "assessment" process is often inadvertently felt as a "put-down."  On the other hand, the "coaching" model is designed for people with addiction since its' focus is on encouragement and finding positive attributes in people who will then learn to value their abilities so they can help themselves.  Teaching and practicing independence and self-responsibility are critical goals of the coaching process.

The counseling model often looks for the problem(s) in people and in their lives and then labels them - "socially maladjusted," or “emotionally disturbed, or “co-occurring,” etc.  This is the exact wrong approach for people with addiction who desperately need encouragement as well as guidance and coaching in order to gain life-sustaining self-respect.  They need help; they need guidance towards that help, but they don’t need the “client” or other labels.  Most people with addiction whom I have met are not “sick!”  I suggest giving them the label called “people;” people who have taken the wrong path in life but with coaching, support and mentoring, can get back on track.

Let’s encourage the State Certification Board to recognize the experience and expertise of those who coach people as well as those who counsel them.  I was a founding member of the NJ Certification Board in 1980.  I encourage us all to continue to modify and update systems of staff recognition and certification to include “coaching” as a viable and valuable approach to helping people.  I’ve used it for over 40 decades and it’s an approach that I have found to be more effective than the more traditional “counseling model” where we are encouraged to label people with addiction, calling them “clients” rather than people.

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Here is the Integrity House site: https://integrityhouse.org/