Sober companion
A sober companion is a human services-related career path with the goal of helping the client maintain total abstinence or harm reduction from any addiction, and to establish healthy routines at home or after checking out of a residential treatment facility. Although regulations do not exist for the specific sober companion position, ethical existing peoples and businesses abide by the U.S. standards of mental health treatment. A sober companion may be a part of a whole medical and/or a clinical team of professional, may be formally licensed as a mental health professional, or have well-respected experiential experience in the field and/or may work independently on their own.
Service
Protocols for a sober companion when working with a client, their family, and/or friends are established immediately. These may include a psychotherapeutic approach, 12-step or non-12 step plan, other outside support groups, help establishing nutrition and fitness daily, medication therapy, or holistic practices.The primary duty of a sober coach is to ensure the recovering individual does not relapse. They may be hired to provide round the clock care, be on-call, or to accompany the recovering addict during certain activities.
A companion acts as an advocate for the newly recovering person and provides new ways for the client to act in their own living environment. A sober companion either completely removes the addict from their own environment of hidden stashes, or may search for hidden drugs in that environment, in an effort to prevent a relapse.
An engagement with a sober companion usually lasts 30 days or longer. The time required to effect a meaningful change varies depending upon the client, co-occurring disorders, and life at home. Ethically, a companion's presence in the client's life will titrate down as the client's ability to connect to newly defined healthy behaviors with family, work, and legal issues without relapse is proven. Some recovery coaches stay with their clients for many months, and some offer only transportation services. The sober companion's duties vary from case to case, from simply ensuring the client remains abstinent, to establishing and ushering a specific plan of recovered resources and relationships into their home and community.
Many sober companions are ex-addicts themselves and are sometimes hired in cases where a celebrity, actor or musician will not attend residential treatment, but must remain abstinent to complete a film or recording project. They are also depicted by some media outlets as "adult babysitters". Doctors may also refer to sober companions as "advocates" for actors, musicians, and other celebrities.