PROMOTING RECOVERY
Recovery Coach Foundations
Training for Certification in Canada and the U.S.
Turn your lived experience into a certified career helping others heal.
FIVE-DAY WORKSHOP
COST for local courses: $2,195 plus GST
Courses requiring our travel: $2,395 plus GST
Upcoming Trainings
Aug. 25-29, Whitehorse, YK (Private)
Sept. 15-19, 2025, White Rock
Sept. 29 - Oct. 3, 2025, Yellowknife NT (Private)
Nov. 24-28, 2025, White Rock
Courses outside the Lower Mainland are $2,395 plus GST to cover travel costs
Payments made a month or more before training are eligible for $100 savings.
Deadlines for entry is two weeks before class.
We have taken the best of the training available through the Recovery Coach Academy in Hartford, Connecticut, and added 10 hours of additional training. The extra hours allow us to sharpen crucial skills including motivational interviewing, design thinking, mindful communication, and trauma-informed recovery coaching. Our five-day, 40-hour in-person training program is recognized by many as the best available in this country.
This program is an intensive training developing helpful, effective attitudes, knowledge, and skills to guide, mentor, and support people along their chosen pathways of recovery from addiction. Based on the internationally recognized model curriculum of the CCAR Recovery Coach Academy©, the Still Here program prepares participants to actively listen, ask effective questions, and discover and manage their own internal influences.
Certification
This course is the best, first step to these accreditations:
Accredited Recovery Coach of Canada (ARCC), through Recovery Coaches Canada
Recovery Coach Professional (RCP), through CCAR.
Canadian Certified Recovery Coach (CCRC), through the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation (CACCF).
Participants will:
Describe the Recovery Coach role and functions
Compare and contrast the roles of coaches to those of counsellors or sponsors
List the components, stages and many pathways of recovery
Develop and practice the skills of active listening and motivational interviewing
Discuss the purposes and risks of self-disclosure
Explore the influence and effects of culture, power and privilege
Address ethical boundary issues
Practice recovery wellness planning
Develop the knowledge to become a local resource broker
Describe and model design thinking
Practice mindful listening and implement it in recovery coaching
Complete the application using the “Apply Now” button below, indicating your preferred date and location. Then, return it to us, and we’ll notify you if your application has been accepted.
There is no cost or commitment to the application.
Praise for the Course
“This is an excellent program, professionally delivered and favourably priced. I attended the program in fall of 2021 and have nothing but praise for the Still Here team. This is undoubtedly the way to build national credibility for the recovery coaching network. A must for anyone looking to build a career in front-line addiction support realm.'“
—Stephen Wells MA, CCAC, CBI, PPCC - Principal, Sober Elite, Toronto, Canada
One Course:
4 Certifications
Graduates of this course will take the first step toward two major accreditations:
1. Accredited Recovery Coach of Canada
2. Canadian Certified Recovery Coach
3. Recovery Coach Professional
4. SHE RECOVERS Coach Designation
Grads will also receive 40 CEUs from the Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation and 30 CEUs from the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery.
In addition, Still Here’s Recovery Coach Training and Recovery Coach Mastery have been granted extra CEUs toward a Recovery Coach Professional designation.
Your future in recovery coaching is within reach. The choices have never been so clear.
Our Curriculum is NAADAC Approved
This course content is approved by the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors #195293
Interested in More?
Recovery Coach Training Supplemental
10 HOURS | ONLINE | COST: $495 (CDN) plus GST
The RCT-S provides crucial training for graduates of the CCAR recovery coach training.
We provide this 10 hours online, for which you will receive 10 CEUs toward your Recovery Coach Professional designation (now required for facilitators).
In the two-day training, you will build on some key areas of your training.
Practice recovery wellness planning
Develop the knowledge to become a local resource broker
Describe and model design thinking
Prevention of Reoccurrence
Practice mindful listening and implement it in recovery coaching
Demonstrate knowledge and application of business development in recovery coaching
If you are interested, or need more information, please contact us.
Individual Supervision
5 HOURS | ONLINE | COST: $600 plus GST
You’ve taken the Recovery Coach Training and the follow-up Recovery Coach Mastery — now it’s time to put those practices to work.
You are now working with clients, and work with us every week to identify your own strengths and opportunities for growth.
We use our own core competencies, helping you bring your skills up to a Master Coach level.
This will raise your skills to the point where you will be a Qualified Recovery Coach, and have the skills necessary for your own top-tier recovery coach business, or make you a natural hire for companies looking for the best talent.
Prerequisite
The prerequisite for enrolment in this program is completion of Still Here Recovery Coach Training & Mastery programs, or equivalent, at our discretion.
Recognized Supervision
The Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification offers one CEU per hour of supervision. As a recognized supervision, it is a viable path to certification.
Contact us about your supervision placement.
FAQ
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A recovery coach is a trusted support—someone who walks beside you as you move through the hard, hopeful work of recovery.
They’re not here to fix or judge. They’re here to listen, guide, and help you build a life that feels worth staying for.
Recovery coaches are trained paraprofessionals, often with lived experience. They understand the winding, messy road of recovery because they’ve walked parts of it themselves—and they meet you wherever you are on that path.
Whether you’re trying to get into detox, just out of treatment, or rebuilding your life months or years into sobriety, a recovery coach can help you:
Set and pursue meaningful goals — whatever recovery looks like for you
Navigate resources — from detox and rehab to therapy, housing, or support groups
Stay accountable — through regular, honest check-ins
Build everyday skills — emotional regulation, boundaries, routines, and coping tools
Recovery coaches also play a critical role after treatment, when overdose risk is high due to lowered tolerance. They help people stay connected to their goals and supports—especially in moments of vulnerability.
For families: A recovery coach can provide peace of mind. While they don’t offer therapy or medical treatment, they do offer structure, connection, and consistent follow-through. They're often one of the few people your loved one will allow in.
Recovery coaching isn’t clinical. It’s relational. It’s practical. And it works best when there’s trust, honesty, and a shared commitment to change—even if it’s one small step at a time.
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A recovery coach and a sponsor are vastly different in several ways.
A sponsor guides people through the 12-step programs such as AA, NA, GA, etc.
A recovery coach works within several pathways, which may or may not include the 12-step groups.
A recovery coach helps people build recovery capital, those critical underpinnings of good recovery foundation.
Many recovery coaches are sponsors within 12-step groups, but do not perform sponsorship duties while coaching.
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Therapists look into your past to determine the causes of your struggles and associated behaviours.
Done well, this is an important part of establishing a stronger sense of wellbeing.
Conversely, a recovery coach helps you focus on the present and the vast potential of your future.
A good coach helps you identify your goals and any barriers that might be in the way.
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People who work with recovery coaches tend to enter recovery sooner and stay longer. Recovery may mean complete abstinence or cutting down so intake reduces to a subclinical level.
A well-trained and accredited recovery coach meets you where you are, helping you reach the goals that have meaning for you.
Importantly, a recovery coach helps illuminate the barriers to those goals, which often includes substance use or behavioural addictions.
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Not at all.
You don’t have to be sober to work with a recovery coach. You just have to want support.
Whether you’re exploring sobriety, cutting back, or starting over, or even just taking a break—your coach is here to walk with you, not push you.
Working With a Coach
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Every session is a conversation—but not the kind where someone talks at you.
It’s a space that’s honest, supportive, and focused on what matters to you. Some days you’ll set goals or make a plan. Other days, you might unpack what’s getting in the way—or just talk things out and be heard. That’s all part of the process.
Here’s what might happen in a typical session:
You talk about what’s working—and what’s not.
You explore what you want, what’s next, or what’s possible.
You get support in building routines, boundaries, or a plan that fits your life.
You vent, laugh, cry, reflect—or stay quiet for a while. That’s okay too.
Your coach is there to listen, reflect, and walk with you. You set the pace. You choose the direction.
There’s no pressure to perform or “do it right.” Just a safe space to be real—and move forward, one step at a time.
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It depends on your needs.
Some people start with weekly sessions, others check in more often early on. Your coach will work with you to find a rhythm that feels right. -
Yes.
You don’t need to have it all figured out.
A coach will never shame or pressure you—they’ll simply support you in getting clear on what you want and how to get there, one step at a time. -
Absolutely.
Relapse is part of many people’s journey, and your coach will still be there.
There’s no “failing” in recovery coaching—just learning, adjusting, and trying again. -
Definitely.
Many people find recovery coaching most helpful after treatment, when structure fades and life feels overwhelming again.
Others work with a coach years into recovery, as they grow and evolve.
For Those Who are Just Starting out
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Yes.
You don’t need to be “ready.” You just need to be curious.
We’ll meet you wherever you are—even if all you have are questions. -
Absolutely.
You don’t have to commit to anything big.
A coach can help you explore your relationship with substances and make changes at your own pace. -
Yes.
That’s actually one of the most important things a coach does—sit with you in the “I don’t know” and help you build a path forward.
You don’t need a plan. You just need a first step. We’ll help you find it.
