Bridging the Gap between Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Living in Recovery.
For recovering alcoholics and addicts fresh out of rehab: How do you stay sober long enough to shoot that movie and fulfill your celebrity commitments? A live-in Certified Personal Recovery Assistant is exactly what you need. And now, this Hollywood “must have” is a certified profession available to everyone.
Bringing awareness of drug and alcohol addiction issues to the forefront with programs like Dr. Drew Pinsky’s Celebrity Rehab, A & E Television Network’s shows Intervention and The Cleaner, there have recently been several articles and a great deal of media attention on high profile celebrities struggling with the consequences of drugs, alcohol, gambling, eating disorders and various other addictions. Many of these celebrities who are recovering alcoholics and addicts are photographed and profiled hanging out with a “sober buddy,” “sober companion” or so-called “minder.” This awareness is sparking a lot of curiosity of, “who is this ‘stranger’ lurking in the shadows on the set, in a business meeting or hanging out at family functions?” These “strangers” are often being referred to as an associate, assistant, friend or family member but, before we give up the secret of what this person does, it is important to know why this person is there. To quote one client, “this person is here to help be a barrier between me and the dragon of my disease: addiction.”
The concept of peer-mentoring for recovering alcoholics and addicts has been around for a long time with Alcoholics Anonymous’ sponsors; a recovering addict that volunteers to help fellow addicts get through tough times. The worldwide exposure and evolution of this concept has brought a lot of attention to “the stranger,” developing the need to create a professional supervised support service that is not sponsorship nor in-home therapy. Hired Power Transitional Recovery Services, a professional service located in both California and New York, identified that regardless of which mode of treatment is utilized to treat the addict, there is a transition period that takes place when addicts return home or on the road and attempt to maintain a sober lifestyle. It is a known fact that during the transition, addicts are most vulnerable to relapse and are relapsing at an alarming rate. There is a significant need to “bridge the gap,” extending treatment by means of intensive support into the homes and lives of addicts.
For Hired Power Transitional Recovery Services, “the stranger” is a Certified Personal Recovery Assistant whose role is to guide, support and mentor recovering alcoholics and addicts on utilizing newly learned skills to become self-sustaining in their own recovery process. Hired Power realized the potential criticism and discomfort associated with providing a Certified Personal Recovery Assistant. Criticism such as: “Why should someone pay for a mentor? How can we trust a stranger? Living with someone and maintaining a professional therapeutic relationship is not possible.” Hired Power Transitional Recovery Services answers these issues by providing a professional, supervised team approach for recovering alcoholics and addicts. This team brings more than just a professional in the home, it creates a foundation of recovery in the daily living environment and in the individual’s community. “Creating a certification process requiring addiction recovery experience, education, extensive background checks, and daily supervision, staff must be carefully screened and prepared,” states Nanette Zumwalt president and CEO of Hired Power Transitional Recovery Services. Hired Power is the only professional service provider to establish this certification, creating the highest standards during the most vulnerable times in the lives of the recovering alcoholics and addicts’ recovery process.
With all the media attention and gossip-style headlines, this service can appear costly, lucrative and glamorous. Maintaining the highest degree of professionalism, confidentiality and reliability, Hired Power Transitional Recovery Services makes every effort to provide services not only to the high-profile and executive leadership teams but to all individuals transitioning into the early phases of recovery. Zumwalt says, “The majority of people with substance abuse issues are not celebrities. Most of our clients are businessmen and women or their family members, young adults, and occasionally adolescents who have developed chronic substance-abuse and addiction problems.”
Hired Power Certified Personal Recovery Assistants recognize the severity of the disease of alcoholism, drug addiction and eating disorders, and help recovering alcoholics and addicts by bringing a daily awareness that lives are at stake.