Recovery coaches must overcome personal substance abuse or mental health disorders before offering recovery services to others.
Peer recovery coaches utilize their experiences to assist patients with managing and treating their issues.
Still, they must also be certified by the State of New Hampshire to begin a career in the industry.
Recovery coaches engage in numerous daily activities with their patients, providing excellent service to the community.
Keep reading to learn more about becoming a professional recovery coach in New Hampshire!
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Steps to Become a Professional Recovery Coach in New Hampshire
Becoming a professional recovery coach in New Hampshire requires a series of steps, including the following:
One: Complete Your High School Diploma
The first step is to complete your high school diploma.
All training programs require this minimum educational requirement before accepting applicants.
Two: Enroll in a Training Program
Once step one is fulfilled, candidates can enter a training program that requires 46 hours of classroom work consisting of four recovery domains of support:
advocacy, education and mentoring, ethics, and wellness support and recovery.
In addition to the high school diploma requirement, applicants must be at least 18 years old and have a lived experience with substance abuse or mental health disorder.
The training teaches students key competencies and skills that apply to real-world situations, including managing confidential information, supporting, and mentoring patients with HIV/AIDS, and suicide prevention.
The training also helps foster personal development skills necessary for the career.
Three: Apply for Certification
Once the training program is complete, the state requires certification to begin working in the field.
Certification requirements include:
- Forty-six hours of recovery training.
- Five hundred hours of volunteer or paid work experience in the field.
- Of the 500 hours, 25 must be supervised by a certified recovery coach.
- Complete the IC&RC Peer Recovery exam.
It’s important to note that the following factors disqualify specific candidates from certification:
- A felony conviction.
- Current substance abuse or mental health disorders.
- Disciplinary action against a substance or mental health use license.
- Failure to maintain client confidentiality.
- Sexual abuse, relations, or solicitation of a current or previous patient.
- Those convicted of fraud.
Schools in New Hampshire
For such a small state, New Hampshire has multiple Board of Licensing for Alcohol and Other Drug Use Professionals-approved training programs, including the following:
- NAADAC – The Association for Addiction Professionals
- New England Institute of Addiction Studies
- New Hampshire Center of Excellence
- New Hampshire Training Institute on Addictive Disorders
- NHADACA – New Hampshire Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counselors Association
- NHRCA – New Hampshire Recovery Coach Academy
The program cost depends on your specific training, and the IC&RC Peer Recovery Exam requires a $110 payment each time you take the test.
Salary
The U.S. recovery coach’s annual compensation ranges from $30,800 to $38,400, with a median base salary of $34,300.
New Hampshire’s median yearly income is $34,800, with pay ranging from $31,200 to $38,900.
Annual Salary Range:Average Salary of Professional Recovery Coachs in New Hampshire
| City Name | Salary |
|---|---|
| Manchester | $35,230 |
| Nashua | $37,221 |
| Concord | $35,237 |
| Derry | $36,185 |
| Rochester | $35,257 |
| Salem | $36,672 |
| Dover | $35,401 |
| Merrimack | $37,221 |
| Londonderry | $37,221 |
| Portsmouth | $35,401 |
Regional Salary in New Hampshire
| Region | Employed | Avg. Annual Salary | Avg. Hourly Pay | Top 10% Annual Salary | Bottom 10% Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dover-Durham, NH-ME | 80 | $68,930 | - NA - | $111,170 | $28,700 |
| Manchester, NH | 180 | $42,430 | - NA - | $63,040 | $19,990 |
| Portsmouth, NH-ME | 130 | $43,560 | - NA - | $62,940 | $24,810 |
* Employment conditions in your area may vary.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can friends or family members of those with a disorder become New Hampshire recovery coaches?
The State allows friends and family members to become certified recovery coaches, but they still must meet specific requirements, such as going through the recovery process for substance abuse or mental health disorders.
This is to provide first-hand experience and motivation to recovering patients.
Those that do not have a lived disorder experience can apply to become an ICAADA Certified Addiction Recovery Coach, which also has a specific set of requirements.
What are the Recovery Coach certification options for New Hampshire?
The New Hampshire Board of Licensing for Alcohol and Other Drug Use Professionals provides the certification of new recovery coaching applicants.
To work in this field, candidates must become Certified Recovery Support Workers (CRSWs) by completing a New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services-approved training course.
Also, recertification is required every two years.
To become recertified, recovery coaches must complete 12 hours of continuing education, two of those hours under supervision.
Continuing education aims to ensure coaches are updated on the latest techniques and recovery methods to improve the process for patients.
Other requirements include signing the Code of Ethics and paying the renewal fee.
What personal skills are needed to become a New Hampshire recovery coach?
Coaches interact with their patients daily at various recovery stages, so the following personal skills are required:
- Communication is paramount in any patient-facing role to ensure they are clear with the next steps. This trait ties in heavily with being a strong listener.
- Confident – being confident in their coaching skills and techniques exudes authoritativeness, which shows the client they are experts in the field and can help them overcome these obstacles.
- Ethics – an ethical mindset ensures the patient is protected since they are vulnerable during recovery. Ethics is an important personal skill that is a crucial focus in all recovery coach training programs.
- Motivational – coaches must be upbeat and enthusiastic toward their patient’s treatment and recovery process to project that this is the best path forward and achievable.
- Strong listening skills – one of the most important jobs of a recovery coach is to listen to their clients and ensure the patient knows that they are actively engaged and listening throughout the recovery process.
Where can recovery coaches work in New Hampshire?
New Hampshire employment locations include:
- Criminal justice programs
- Employee assistance programs
- Hospitals and emergency rooms
- Mental health facilities
- Recovery centers
- Recovery community organizations
- Recovery housing
- Rehabilitation centers
- Religious communities
- Social services
- Transitional living
- Treatment programs and substance abuse counseling
