Your Guide to Recovery Coaching in Illinois: Everything You Need to Know

Recovery coaches, also known as peer recovery coaches or specialists, are nonclinical professionals who have personal experience with substance use and have successfully maintained long-term sobriety. Through specialized training, recovery coaches support clients struggling with addiction and help them achieve sobriety just as they have.

Unlike therapists or counselors, recovery coaches don’t provide clinical treatment or diagnose conditions. They also don’t use a particular method or means of recovery, nor do they address the past or work to heal trauma. They act more as guides for others facing similar challenges, sharing their personal experiences and offering insights into what strategies helped them.

If you’re looking for recovery coaching in Illinois, Illinois Recovery Center can help. Our peer recovery specialists know what it’s like to walk the path of recovery because they’ve been through it themselves.

Read on to learn more about recovery coaching and how it may benefit you. This article also provides information on how to become a certified recovery coach in Illinois.

What Does a Recovery Coach Do?

A recovery coach takes on a wide range of responsibilities focused on supporting individuals in overcoming substance use disorder (SUD). Among these include:

Creating a Recovery Plan

A recovery coach helps clients identify what they want to work on the most and formulate a practical, step-by-step plan to help achieve that goal. The coach may help you find new hobbies, secure work, build a new social life, or test new well-being practices. They may also help you find ways to relate to your friends and family, and cover techniques of harm reduction.

Most importantly, a recovery coach can help you find ways to be yourself.

Maybe you’ve been hiding a part of yourself because you’re afraid of how others might perceive you, or you have a general idea of what you want to be but are unsure of how to express it.

Your recovery coach can explore these feelings and teach you how to build the confidence to live more authentically. Their goal is to help you recognize that the life you desire is within reach, or at the very least, achievable with the right support.

Providing Emotional Support

A key quality of a recovery coach is that they’ve lived through similar experiences as their clients and know the challenges they’re likely to face along the way. They’ve “been there, done that,” having achieved long-term recovery themselves and undergone specialized training with the sole purpose of guiding others.

A recovery coach’s lived experience enables them to deeply connect with their clients. They can validate feelings of fear, frustration, and self-doubt, and offer reassurance during moments of vulnerability.

Recovery coaches provide emotional support by sharing their own experiences of overcoming substance abuse disorder, demonstrating that sustained recovery is possible. They offer clients hope, showing them that if they can achieve sobriety, so can they.

Connecting You to the Right Resources

A recovery coach isn’t a clinical professional; they don’t provide mental health therapy, diagnose conditions, or prescribe treatment. But what they can do is connect their clients to the right resources.

They have a good understanding of the local and national treatment services and can match people with programs that align with their specific needs, goals, and values. That way, they take the stress that can come from trying to figure everything out alone.

They can also explain what to expect from each service because they’ve likely used them before.

Providing Accountability

A recovery coach ensures their clients take responsibility for their recovery. They regularly check in, remind clients of their goals, and help them stay on track.

For example, if you discussed wanting to rebuild trust with your family in the last session, the coach will follow up, ask how it went, and help you figure out the next step if you get stuck. 

When setbacks occur, the couch will help you reflect on what happened without judgment but calls attention to those behaviors and pushes you to take responsibility.

They may also revisit and adjust the plan, increase structure, or set firmer boundaries for your existing recovery plan. They make it clear that recovery requires consistent effort and without that effort, addiction recovery can be an uphill battle.

Advocating For You

Some people struggle to open up to therapists or counselors because they don’t like the feeling of being judged. These professionals may understand how SUD looks from a psychological standpoint, but they won’t truly grasp how it feels because they’ve never experienced it.

That’s where recovery coaching excels. Recovery coaches understand what you’ve been through and advocate for you and your needs. They fight for you, support you, and walk alongside you as you put your life in order. Until you’re able to stand on your own two feet, the recovery coach will be your personal advocate for your journey.

Offering Friendship and Companionship

Due to the professional nature of a therapist and client, clients rarely consider their therapists friends. But that isn’t quite the same with recovery coaches.

While it’s true that there’s a certain professionalism in their approach, a recovery coach can be considered a friend. They listen to you, support you, and guide you. They believe in you and your ability to recover just as they had, and hold you to high standards because they know you deserve it.

Many become coaches and get certified because they genuinely want to offer the same support they didn’t have when they were going through it. They know firsthand how difficult recovery is, and they’re committed to making it as smooth as possible for others.

Addiction can be extremely damaging, and those affected often have fractured relationships with people around them. The recovery coach is there to remind you that you’re worthy of love and affection, that you deserve friendship and connection.

And that might be the push you need to reach out to others. They can give you the confidence to take those first steps, whether it’s walking into a support group, calling a family member, or just starting a conversation with someone new. With their help, you’ll come to acknowledge that recovery isn’t something that you have to do alone.

How Do I Become a Certified Recovery Coach In Illinois?

The first step to becoming a certified recovery coach in Illinois is having a high school diploma or GED. Once this requirement is met, the certification process begins. Typically, this involves at least 100 hours of education, 300 hours of supervised internship, and 2,000 hours of paid or volunteer work in advocacy, mentoring, and recovery support.

The state offers two main certifications: Certified Recovery Support Specialist (CRSS) and Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS). Both certifications are administered by the Illinois Certification Board (ICB), also known as the Illinois Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Professional Certification Association.

Many colleges and organizations throughout Illinois offer accredited training programs for both specializations, some of which are supported by grants like the CCRS Success Program that cover tuition and other expenses.

Notable examples include Governors State University in University Park and College of DuPage, both offering the Peer Recovery Support Specialist Training Program funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS).

After completing the required training and internship, participants must pass a certification exam administered by the ICB. They’ll also need to verify their own recovery experience, as personal lived experience is a requirement.

Once certified, participants can work in treatment centers, hospitals, and community organizations.

What Is the Difference Between a Certified Recovery Support Specialist (CRSS) and a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS)?

A Certified Recovery Support Specialist (CRSS) and a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) are fundamentally the same. Both roles offer peer-based support, guidance, and accountability during recovery, so many states use the terminology interchangeably.

The main difference between the two is that CRSSs have a broader focus on the clinical approach to recovery, whereas CPRSs are specifically recognized for their peer-based, experiential expertise.

The Illinois Department of Human Services has created a detailed comparison on its official website. The fees are the same, as well as the number of hours needed for training and education. However, the domains differ: CRSS covers professional responsibility, whereas CPRS covers ethical responsibility.

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