How to Become a Professional Recovery Coach in Idaho

What is a Recovery Coach?

A certified recovery coach (CRC) provides guidance and mentorship to individuals moving away from substance addiction with adverse health and socioeconomic effects. This person-to-person supportive role entails helping an addict who may also have a mental disorder complete treatment and overcome various personal and environmental hurdles.

Where Does a Recovery Coach Work?

Many recovery coaches begin as volunteers in the community to gather some work experience before formal training and certification. Peer resource centers, hospitals and rehabilitation centers are some of the employers with paid and unpaid opportunities for these behavioral health specialists. They can also work in various criminal justice settings, including drug courts.

Requirements to Become a Board-Certified Recovery Coach in Idaho

Pursuing peer recovery coach certification is a good idea if you’re eyeing higher-income opportunities and faster career progression in the sector. Requirements to get your certificate always includes professional training and no criminal history. Potential employers will entrust an essential part of their vulnerable clients’ future to you, which is why you must pass your background checks.

Other details can vary depending on the trainer and certifying body, such as:

● The Idaho Board of Alcohol/Drug Counselor Certification (IBADCC)

IBADCC provides state-wide recovery coach credentials to individuals that meet specific academic and ethical standards. It only approves training that satisfies the credentialing requirements of the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC).

To become an IBADCC-certified recovery coach, you must pass a criminal background check and provide three reference letters. You must have 500 hours of work experience in this behavioral health specialty. Some of your work experience hours can be done as a volunteer. Another 25 hours of supervised work in the field are mandatory to make the cut for certification.

Professional training before credentialing must include key domains like peer advocacy, mentoring and recovery support (10 hours of training in each domain are required). Adding that to 16 hours of ethical responsibility education brings the minimum requirement to 46 hours. Applicants can then attempt to take the IC&RC exam, which they must pass to earn their CRC status in Idaho.

These requirements also apply to certified peer recovery coaches (CPRC) in the state. However, CPRCs must meet an additional condition–self-identifying as individuals recovering from addiction to alcohol or illicit substances for the past 12 months or longer. They must also demonstrate continuous abstinence from substances within the recovery period.

Recertification every two years is compulsory for IBADCC-certified recovery coaches in Idaho. To qualify, the specialists must complete 20 hours of continuing education (CE) in an IBADCC-approved program. The board strongly emphasizes adherence to ethical standards of care and requires 6 hours of CE in the topic to recertify recovery coaches. Applicants must also accumulate 96 hours of supervised coaching to update their certification.

● BPA Health

BPA Health provides peer recovery coach certification to individuals who have completed at least 40 hours of a state-recognized course in this field. It has partnered with several organizations that offer training in these two behavioral/mental health specialties in Idaho:

Certified Peer Support Specialist (CPSS): This certification is available to people recovering from a mental disorder with or without an addiction-related problem.
Certified Family Support Partner (CFSP): Apply for this credential if you’re a parent or guardian who has raised a child with a mental illness with or without a substance use disorder.

After completing your training, you’re eligible for CPSS or CFSP certification from BPA Health, which is only valid for six months. You must accomplish the following during this period to earn your full-year peer recovery coach certification:

Accumulate 100 hours of paid or volunteer work if you have a human services bachelor’s degree or higher (or 200 hours if you only have a high school diploma or a non-human services degree)
Complete 20 hours of supervised work experience

BPA Health-certified peer support professionals must accrue 10 hours or more of CE yearly to renew their credentials. At least one hour of education must be in ethics to fulfill this requirement.

Recovery Coach Certification and Training Programs in Idaho

Recovery Idaho

Based in Meridian, Recovery Idaho is a community organization that provides recovery support services to individuals with addiction and mental problems throughout the state. It also runs peer advocacy and recovery awareness programs. The non-profit funds its activities through various sources, including individual donations and aid from federal, state and local government agencies.

Recovery Idaho occasionally offers recovery coach training in locations such as Lewiston. Its five-day course costs about $75 and follows the IBADCC curriculum guidelines and IC&RC peer examination requirements. Trainees cover 30 hours of core peer support concepts and 16 hours of ethics before they can take the state-wide certification test.

You must be in recovery, abstaining from substance use for at least one year before applying to the program.

Idaho Peer Support (Path to Prime)

Path to Prime aligns its peer support specialist training with BPA Health certification requirements. The program is worth considering if you prefer to train and get certified before gathering any relevant work experience, including as a volunteer. A 40-minute phone interview is part of the 40-hour, five-day course application process.

Training costs $495 and is available live via Zoom, meaning that you can apply and study from anywhere in Idaho. Program prerequisites include:

Proof of high school graduation or higher education
At least 18 years of age
12 consecutive months in recovery
Two letters of reference attesting to your mental illness/addiction and recovery journey
Passing criminal background screening
Scoring 80% or higher on the final exam

Family Support Partners and Training

Family Support Partners and Training is a private organization with a peer recovery coaching program that leads to BPA Health certification. It trains parents or guardians that have lived experience raising a minor with behavioral, mental or substance abuse problems, including illnesses. Participants learn to support other parents and caregivers who are taking care of a child with similar complications.

The five-day online (Zoom) course costs $475 and provides the 40 hours of training you need to get your family support partner certification from BPA Health. Participation requirements include:

Be at least 18 years old
Successful navigation of the Idaho systems of care for minors with mental/addiction concerns
Two letters of reference
High school diploma or GED

Peer Support Idaho

If you’ve maintained sobriety and haven’t received community-based mental health support for the past year, check out the CPRC training at Peer Support Idaho. As with similar BPA Health certification programs, the course is 40 hours long and only accepts candidates willing to self-disclose their mental illness or addiction diagnosis and recovery process. Applicants must satisfy other BPA requirements, including references directly involved in their inspiring journey to sobriety.

The course is a hybrid of live Zoom and in-person sessions in Boise and costs $399. You must attend all the classes, which are held on five consecutive Fridays, to apply for certification.

CSI Workforce Development and Training

This in-person program is suitable for individuals pursuing a career as an IBADCC-certified recovery coach or peer recovery coach in Idaho. For $150, CSI offers the five-day CRC and CPRC course in locations such as Twin Falls. Training runs Monday through Friday and qualifies trainees to take a board-endorsed certification test.

You must satisfy all IBADCC certification prerequisites to take the CRC exam, including accruing 500 hours of relevant work experience in a recovery support setting. If you’re going for the CPRC credential, make sure you’ve lived a substance/addiction-free life for at least the past year.

Career Expectations for Recovery Coaches in Idaho

The demand for peer recovery coaches is steadily increasing across the nation. Their mission-critical role in promoting treatment outcomes for addiction and mental illness keeps gaining stakeholder recognition. Employment opportunities for them in clinical settings are ever soaring, with the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) increasingly promoting active participation in recovery support.

The involvement of peer recovery coaches in reducing the rates of addiction suffering (morbidity) and deaths (mortality) in the community brings them abundant joy and financial reward. According to Path to Prime, in Idaho, expect to earn from $13 to $23 an hour working full-time or part-time as a certified recovery coach or peer support specialist. If you work for a Medicaid-funded mental health agency, your overall earnings will mostly depend on how much face-to-face time you spend with recovering clients.