A businesslike addiction cure
Addiction recovery clinic founder David Collins tells that when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change, addicts make the decision to change
What is recovery coaching, how does it work and how does it fit in with the rehabilitation process?
Recovery coaching is a strengthsbased service adjacent to existing treatments. The idea is that the skills offered to high-functioning executives should be passed on to people wishing to recover from addiction. Recovery coaching uses strengths-based interventions as opposed to a pathologic diagnosis.
If an executive uses a business coach in a nonjudgmental, professional environment with clear outcomes and business benefits, why shouldn’t someone battling an illness be given the same opportunity to give them some clarity around their recovery process?
You are a former addict — is this a requirement for recovery coaching?
My addiction lives with me daily; it’s part of me, but there is a whole lot more to me than my addiction. Everybody needs some sort of recovery, and addiction is a systemic illness that means the illness affects everyone. So everyone can benefit from recovery coaching, and what’s important is the ability of the recovery coach to build a rapport with their clients. So, in short, no, it is not a requirement.
Describe your typical working day.
If you make your life your hobby, you never have to work again. I have been doing this work full time since 2007 and, while I do what I love, I hate the bureaucratic process behind getting paid for the services we offer.
There are countless stories about addicts falling off the wagon. What separates success from failure?
Recovery is a process, and using drugs again shouldn’t be seen as a failure or success. It’s an ongoing process that should rather be measured by functioning. For example, the family who are coached on how to get on with their lives when their father goes on a bender is in much better shape than the one that gets lost in the chaos of an alcoholic relapse.
This is where recovery coaching can really make an impact. Addicts know how to look after themselves; it’s the narcissistic nature and survival skill of the individual that has manifested in an addictive behaviour pattern to avoid pain.
When the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change, then they will change.
The fear and pain a mother feels at the thought of losing her child can result in “the mother becoming addicted to her child”, whom we can label as co-dependent . . . I would rather view it as Mother Nature’s way of protecting the offspring. The challenge is when the child is a grown man of 35 and is still living at home smoking dope all day and refusing to grow up.
However, if the guy moves out of home, gets a job, raises his children and respects his mother, and still smokes dope, is that not a success?
We should rather look at things on a continuum — from addiction, to harm reduction, to complete abstinence — as opposed to a binary approach: clean versus using.
Having spent 20 years working in corporate banking and running the foundation clinic on the side as a publicbenefit organisation, I noticed all the addictive, dysfunctional family patterns showing up in the workplace.
What qualities do you need to do your job?
Naivety and the humility to learn. Also, don’t do it for the money and only do business with the people you want to have lunch with.
Collins is the founder of the Foundation Clinic — Sharp Addiction Recovery Solutions