Some peer specialist training is dedicated to substance abuse treatment through therapy. You may also find recovery coach certification that advocates the use of medication solutions. Extreme addiction issues may require the use of medication, though peer support mental health experts agree that a personal touch is usually more effective than something found in a pill bottle. Recovery coaching can help people interested in offering substance abuse counseling and addiction recovery. Offering either of these services sounds great to most people that have suffered with addiction themselves. Once a person is able to finally put down their vice, they may be driven to help other people. However, substance abuse training reveals that the stressful nature of working with and affect is often too much for a recovering addict themselves.
Working through a certified rehabilitation center or program means staying completely sober. As a recovering addict, you may struggle to do so if you are hearing daily stories about addiction from the people you are trying to help. This is why addiction courses repeatedly coach future addiction therapists on the need for emotional separation. Emotional separation means you do not tie your own feelings to how a fellow addict is recovering, or failing to recover. Going through addiction courses will help you learn important statistics and details about the physiology of addiction. Most addiction courses can also help you learn to keep your emotional distance before you get to work helping fellow addicts kick the habit.
