Volunteer Recovery Coach Dorset - EDP Drug & Alcohol Services

Volunteer Recovery Coach

Overview:

Reach is a Drug and Alcohol Community Support Service. We cover the whole of Dorset, minus Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. We have a large team that includes Community Development, Recovery Workers, Nurses, Prescribers, Volunteer Roles and much more. We offer support for those have issues with their drug and/or alcohol use from point of referral to achieving their own goals. We have several pathways within our service that include structured group work, psychosocial interventions, prescribing, needle exchange, detox and outdoor peer activities.

The Recovery Coach role is a vital part of the support Reach offers. Even when someone has met their treatment goals and are in a position where they are ready to leave the support of our service, it can be really daunting to leave. The Recovery Coach role is part of our core pathway and offers the people we support 10 weeks of support from a Recovery Coach to support the transition from Reach to the rest of their lives.

Key Skills:

With your own recovery, you are an ‘expert by experience’, in this role you will offer support to others and help them to see that recovery is not only possible, it is likely. As a recovery coach you will be actively and authentically engaged with your own recovery and the wider recovery community around you. The role will involve you being partnered with specific individuals who are at an earlier stage of their recovery and by using your own experience and knowledge of recovery, you will support these individuals to progress with their own journeys. This doesn’t mean that what worked for you, will work for them directly, but it does mean that with your skills and understanding of what’s available in your recovery community, you are able to explore all recovery options that are open to your coachee. The main focus of the Recovery Coach is to support ‘coachees’ in identifying and building their recovery capital. Recovery capital might be defined as anything that we have to be grateful for and falls within three main categories:

Local Team:

Dorset

Base Location:

Weymouth, Gillingham, Wimborne

Reports To:

Local Community Development Lead

Ideal Hours:

Minimum of 4 hours per week, Maximum of 16 hours

Key Activities

Be a role model to others, leading by example.
Promote visible Recovery within Together recovery services and after care.
Work alongside coachees to help them identify and set their recovery goals
Guide the person into the recovery community by sharing information about, and signposting to, community resources and assets and accompanying coachees at first if required
Provide feedback in a non-judgmental and supportive way
Facilitate access to mutual aid: Support understanding, accessing and attending mutual aid meetings.
Text or call service users to assist in attendance of appointments or recovery focused activities & groups.
Attend regular group and one to one support/supervision sessions and actively contribute and invest in your own self development and reflective process.
Support training, to represent that it feels like to be part of the service
Attend meetings such as ‘Service Development’ and ‘Working Better Together’ to represent the voice of the people we support in organisational planning and decision making.
Support with on boarding staff such as, Interview Panels and Staff Inductions

Experience

Be actively and authentically engaged with your own recovery for at least one year
Willingness to share from own experiences
Able to describe the benefits and challenges of recovery
Willingness to learn about different recovery pathways, including attending meetings to develop your knowledge and understanding.

Knowledge

Awareness of the importance of boundaries
Able to recognise own limits
Sound understanding of addiction, treatment options and recovery
Belief in anyone to recover and always maintain hope
Competent in the use of IT
Good level of reading and writing skills as Coaches will be expected to maintain case records and communicate in a variety of ways
Ability to be ‘yourself’ and work to your assets and strengths

Skills & Abilities

Ability to offer information and advice in non-judgmental manner
Able to inspire and motivate others
Active listening, paraphrasing skills
Demonstrate patience and persistence
Ability to build good relationships
Ability to be ‘yourself’ and work to your assets and strengths
Self-acceptance and ability to care for own recovery

Before Applying:

If you have any questions, many answers can be found here. However, if you have any other questions that you would like to talk through please contact us using the below details:

Contact details:

dorsetcommunity@reach-dorset.org

Please note that we require you to be 18 years of age or older to be considered for this volunteering role. This post is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check at an enhanced level.

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