VIDEO: Meet our peer recovery coaches
Published by
Stephanie Tyburski
on
A peer recovery coach is a guide and a support for someone who is interested in recovery. Evidence shows that people working with a peer recovery coach are less likely to relapse and more likely to feel good about their recovery process.
AllWays Health Partners is proud to be one of the first health plans in the country to have peer recovery coaches on staff. Our two coaches, Barry and Chris, tell us more in their own words.
How do you explain what a peer recovery coach is?
Chris: A recovery coach is a person with lived experience who can support someone on their journey of recovery. I reach out to members who may be suffering from a substance use disorder. I start with a phone call to the members to see if I can get in touch with them, and then I pretty much go from there.
Chris: A recovery coach is a person with lived experience who can support someone on their journey of recovery. I reach out to members who may be suffering from a substance use disorder. I start with a phone call to the members to see if I can get in touch with them, and then I pretty much go from there.
Barry: Basically, I sit down with people and ask them questions. I travel a lot to see people in their homes or in public places. And I ask things like: What is it that I can do to help? What do you think you need in order to make the changes that need to be made for you? And then we work from there. And sometimes people don’t know what they want, and so then the conversation becomes about figuring that out.
What are your thoughts on being one of the first health plans to employ recovery coaches?
Barry: It’s a very innovative company, and it shows in this initiative because there is nobody else who’s doing it. So I’m really proud to be a part of this. I think it’s really necessary. Recovery services are moving away from just sending people to treatment, and the focus is more on long-term management of addiction. It’s great to be a part of an organization that recognizes that this is important, that it needs to happen.
Barry: It’s a very innovative company, and it shows in this initiative because there is nobody else who’s doing it. So I’m really proud to be a part of this. I think it’s really necessary. Recovery services are moving away from just sending people to treatment, and the focus is more on long-term management of addiction. It’s great to be a part of an organization that recognizes that this is important, that it needs to happen.
Chris: AllWays Health Partners really cares about people. Also, removing the stigma is huge. The fact that an insurance company is setting precedent, making it seem like there shouldn’t be a stigma attached to mental health and addiction as a whole. When you talk about a company that really cares about their members, this is the epitome of “people first.” We’re showing our members who are struggling that there is someone there to help you. There are people who care and believe it or not they work for an insurance company.
Hear more from Barry and Chris in the video.