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When Cassie (Pseudonym) Called Me About Becoming A Coach, She Was A Treatment Center Marketer, Helping Get People Into Treatment. She Was Doing Well And Wasn’t Looking To Leave Her Position, But Wanted To Expand Her Areas Of Expertise.
One Of Her Frustrations Was That The Biggest Obstacle To Getting A Person To Start Treatment Was Often The Family. It Made No Sense. The Family Called Her, Asking For Her Help, Yet Often Stood In The Way.
For Instance, One Family Connected Her With Their Struggling Loved One But Was Unwilling To Follow Through When She Asked Them To Stop Funding His Use. Another Refused To Set A Boundary Of A Drug-Free Home. A Third, Couldn’t Have Honest Conversations With Their Loved One And Refused To Stop Believing Their Loved Ones Lies.
And Then, Once Loved Ones Were In Treatment, If They Hit A Rough Patch, The Struggling Families Allowed Them To Come Home Against Medical Advice Saying Things Like, “Well, They’re An Adult After All.”
On the other hand, she also noticed that when a family was on board, and was willing to be open and honest with their loved one, to stop funding the addiction and stop providing a haven for the substance use, it became more likely that the loved one would comply, especially when the family followed her advice to be both loving and firm in delivering their message that it was time to consider a new way of life.
In her position, she did all she could to turn families around, but so much more was needed…
One time, she was working with a BALM coach helping a family get their loved one into treatment. The coach and family had been working together for a few months and the family was ready and able to help, not hurt, the process.
Cassie soon saw that the coach’s training as a BALM coach gave her a powerful family recovery skillset that made all the difference. Her BALM client families got coaching AND BALM Family Recovery Education, too, so they could be helpers in all aspects of their loved one’s recovery journey.
By the time Cassie called BALM to find out about our professional training program, she already knew she wanted to be a coach and teacher of the BALM. She enrolled and began her studies. Six months later, she was a coach and facilitator and almost immediately, she was using her coaching skills to help families struggling to get their loved ones into treatment!
Later that year, she began teaching BALM at the treatment center and working as a BALM coach for the center and on her own so families had the skills they needed before, during, and after treatment. She could see how her BALM skillset could help at work and help her build her own business upon retirement.
If you would like to learn more about how to build a powerful coaching career OR how to bring the BALM to your center or organization, click here to learn more about our programs or here to speak with Bev Buncher, founder and program director.