10 Truths About Recovery Every Coach and Client Should Know
Coaching someone in recovery—or doing the work yourself?
These 10 truths go far beyond ICF certification checklists. They speak to the real terrain of addiction, healing, and identity.
If you’re a life coach, leadership coach, wellness practitioner, or trauma survivor learning to coach yourself back to wholeness—this is essential.
Understand how harm reduction saves lives, why relapse isn’t failure, and how trauma, systemic oppression, and identity shifts shape the recovery process.
Whether you’re holding space for someone else or reclaiming your own—this is the groundwork for coaching with clarity, care, and courage.
10 Things to Know About Recovery
Recovery ≠ abstinence. Sometimes the goal is just staying alive, not quitting cold turkey. Harm reduction is valid. Respect it.
Trauma is the baseline. Assume every client has it, even if they don’t name it. Don’t coach over pain—hold space for it.
Relapse ≠ failure. Recovery is spiral-shaped, not linear. Shame feeds addiction. Curiosity feeds growth.
Addiction is adaptive. It helped them survive what felt unbearable. You’re not “fixing” them. You’re walking them home.
Racism, classism, & transphobia shape recovery. Marginalized clients are often criminalized - not supported. And access is different.
Identity crisis is part of recovery. Sobriety brings clarity—and that can mean questioning gender, faith, and purpose. Stay steady. They need it.
Safety plans are just as important as vision boards. Where is support on the daily? You’re not just future-focused. You’re present-prepared.
Connection is the opposite of addiction. Clients need community, not just self-actualization. Healing happens in safe relationships.
Staying stable counts. Not everyone wants to “level up.” Sometimes just surviving another week is the win.
Your lived experience matters. You don’t have to share everything—but lived experience makes you human, not biased. Be real, not performative.