How to become a Mental Health Coach
Addictions Coach, Sober on Demand, and other similar services often wear the badge of honor that is their acclaimed coaching services. However, with the exploration of various coaching opportunities provided by these companies, there’s often a consistent underlying thread: Addiction! Heck, it’s in the name. However, addiction isn’t the only thing that can be covered or provided by services like these. Behold! Mental health coaching.
Mental health coaching covers the broad span of mental health issues like depression, anxiety, ADHD, or yes, even addiction. To quell any confusion, often mental health coach training, while helpful, is used in tandem with other courses to further deepen one’s knowledge of all things mental health.
How does depression interact with a certain addiction? How do certain mental illnesses affect a client’s mood and tolerance? These are some very important factors that separate good addiction coaches and sober companions from great ones. It’s one thing to know about these subjects, but to understand them completely is a whole other beast! The goal should be that when your next prospective client searches “Sober Coach NYC” or “Sober Companion NYC”, you be their top pick!
This isn’t to say you can’t just be a mental health coach. It’s a whole profession in and of itself! It shouldn’t be confused with something like counseling or therapy, as it’s seen as the alternative to those two! More information on the differences can be found on The Addiction Academy website.
How to Become A Mental Health Coach
Becoming a mental health coach has absolutely no prerequisites! All one would need to do is take the Addiction Academy certification course on Mental Health Coaching for a certified seal and title, then use that information to either solidify their addiction coaching game or become a mental health coach!
The course is hosted by Tricia Prido, a certified life coach and master addiction specialist, and covers a plethora of topics under the mental health coaching umbrella. Basic mental health diagnosis, training and coaching skills, differences between counseling, coaching, and therapy (as was mentioned previously), the most common mental health issues, eating disorders, Asperger’s vs autism, the SMART system and so much more!
It’s all covered in an online course with two variations, one that’s a self-study that lasts about 26 hours in total, and another that’s a “virtual classroom” if you prefer a more traditional learning style! They include the course itself, an ethics course, and ten weeks of call-in / online coaching mentorship with a master coach!
Watch Video HERE
Why You Should Be a Mental Health Coach
Earning mental health coach certification is a matter of solidifying your talents, experience, and (most importantly) the comfort of the client. If you want to be prepared to tackle any upcoming challenge or obstacle, it’s best to know about every challenge you may face. Not only that, but as a sober coach or companion it increases your client base, adds another layer of credibility to your character, and is another title to add on to boot!
Outside of the sober coaching frame, there’s the occupation itself. If you wanted to help those that may feel uncomfortable with traditional therapy or counseling, you may be able to act as the safety net they’d need! Often clients who haven’t found luck in those spheres are suffering from feelings of rejection and neglect and having someone to help them out may be what they need!
How much does a Mental Health Coach make?
Being that a mental health coach may be referred to as different things, income is dependent on location, and it’s relative to experience and accolades, the numbers are a bit here or there. The average income for a sober coach is around $70,000 a year (or $33 an hour), with higher estimates being closer to nearly $150,000 a year! This is – again – dependent on various factors, however.
