Addiction Recovery

Coaching individuals on how to absolutely love their lives!

~Life Coaching~

Welcome to my website, I am Cheryl Frei and I am a recovered addict/alcoholic. I have over 15 years of clean time from my addictions to a variety of drugs and alcohol. Although AA was my pathway into sobriety, I recognize that it is not everyone's path to their recovery.

I have been trained as a Professional Life Coach, and I specialize in working with the individuals I most understand and love...those who are in recovery, and the family members who have experienced the suffering and devastation the addict can bring to the home.

Life coaching is a powerful support system, that establishes a relationship where the coach brings in new perspectives, and beliefs to the client, which frees them from old beliefs that keep them circling round and around in their own private "hamster wheel" of repeat and repeat behavior and thoughts. Most of us have a very narrow tunnel vision sort of outlook on life; I work with each client to open this narrow vision up so they can begin the process of moving out of the small space into a much much larger view of not only themselves but of the world. Creating an internal sense of opportunity for my clients to step into a new place of freedom apart from that small, narrow place they once felt stuck in.

Let me share some wise words from Osho, from his book, "Emotional Wellness." "Repression is to live a life that you were not meant to live. Repression is to do things that you never wanted to do. Repression is to be the person that you are not; repression is a way to destroy yourself. Repression is suicide--very slow, of course, but a very certain, slow poisoning. Expression is life; repression is suicide." Life Coaching takes a person from repression towards expression of their true nature, life!

Working with an Addiction Recovery Life Coach is perfect at any stage in your recovery, whether you are a newbie or an old timer. Transitioning out of treatment, and at any stage of your sobriety, working with a Life Coach can help you feel more calm, loving, and accepting of yourself and others, in other words - to be peaceful. For the family members who have been through the emotional holocaust of addiction, coaching will help your regain a sense of wholeness and balance as well. Moving your focus from the addict, back to you, where you have an opportunity to find your own sense of peace and calm regardless of what is happening around you. "We can not bring peace to a situation until we are at peace within ourselves."

Recovery Life Coaching is a process which is relatively short term, in fact 12 weeks is considered average for one to realize and internalize concepts which can be utilized for a lifetime of long lasting inner change! Addiction Recovery Coaching compliments all of the most popular addiction recovery programs such as the 12 step program, rational recovery, and smart recovery, because I support you the individual and believe that your path is unique to you!

As an Addiction Recovery Life Coach, what training and experience do I bring to you?

15 years of my own personal recovery from drugs and alcohol.
Non-violent Communication Marshall Rosenberg
Radical Forgiveness Colin Tipping
Extreme Freedom The Demartini Method aka the quantum collapse method, allows for a dramatic shift in the heart through authentic mental clarifications.
Fearless Living Rhonda Britten
Addiction Recovery Coach Training Crossroads; Alida Schuyler
Coach Training Graduate School of CoachVille
Core Dynamics Thomas J. Leonard Schools of Coaching
Group Leading and Design CoachVille Graduate School of Coaching
Environmental Design CoachVille Graduate School of Coaching
The Games of our Lives CoachVille Graduate School of Coaching

How will you benefit from working with an addiction recovery life coach?

The client-coach partnership is unique, in many ways;

1) Support for you. Coaching can help you get past the little things that can become obstacles to your recovery. With the right Motivation, Success is inevitable.
2) Consistently asks you to look deeper. I will help you develop coping skills, learn to apply these skills to create solutions to any situation. You will learn how to deescalate or completely eliminate your triggers.
3) Is 100% client focused. Coaching is based on YOUR success in life! Coaching is not about keeping me clean and sober, it is about you living the most fabulous life you can possibly live!
4) Holds you accountable to your own dreams-Willpower only carries you so far, with a recovery life coach, you have that supportive partnership in place to remind you of your goals and dreams, and to keep working to create the energy that excites you and motivates you to continue to keep moving forward!
5) Creates safe space for you to explore and discover your authentic self again.
6) Challenges your beliefs and assumptions.. Working with you to uncover, discover and discard old beliefs that are keeping you from achieving a vibrant life in recovery.
7) Challenges your way of thinking...if it isn't working, then lets change it!
8) A partner who- is available daily to help you in all areas of your sober life challenges.
9) A non-judgmental partner who believes that you are whole, creative and resourceful- How else have you survived this long?

Differences between an Addiction Recovery Life Coach, Sponsor, Therapist/Counselor?

Recovery Life Coach- can take the addictive person beyond the 12th step, into a future place of gratifying productiveness; the reality of achieved goals and successes which might ordinarily remain unmet. Unachieved goals and unrealized potential are a threat to the addictive client's sober future. They keep him or her locked into an endless cycle of running no 'destination laps on the need-to-stay-sober treadmill. Life Coaching can break this unproductive cycle and spin the client off into a place of realized dreams, where the focus is on the wonderful possible future, instead of the destructive past.
Sponsor-The main purpose of a sponsor is to teach to sponsee how to work the 12 Steps. After that, the sponsor acts as a source of continual support for the sponsee as he or she initially works through the Steps. The sponsor also acts as a guide and interpreter of the Steps as the sponsee continues to apply them throughout his or her life.
Therapist-or counseling often deals with the past, aims to fix problems, or at least make them less debilitating. The relationship is often based on the therapist being the expert. The therapist works with and diagnoses mental illness, a life coach does non of this.
We all work very well together. Since we each have our own specific areas we work in, it is not unusual for my coaching client to have a sponsor and a therapist all at the same time.