Can Coaching Help During the Holidays?

The holiday season generally has a merry and joyous connotation. It’s a time for family and friends to reunite after days, months and in some cases even years. Traditions are carried through and memories are made. But for many, rather than being a time of merriment, the holidays pose rather as a time of immense anxiety. And an adolescent struggling to recover from mental health diagnosis’s and substance abuse disorders tend to be high risk for downfall.

A recovering addict’s first holiday clean and sober can be one of the most turbulent periods of their first year. Family traditions, new and familiar faces, different personalities, loads of alcohol and now the pandemic all serve as different stressors. All of these factors can contribute to one’s demise if not properly prepared. This is where a coach can step in and make a huge difference.

Having the escape of a healthy, non-bias party can be a newcomer’s saving grace. Through sharing experience, strength and hope a coach has the unique ability to relate to the adolescent in a way nobody else can, a way family and friends simply cannot. This extra layer of support would allow a young adolescent to feel more at ease in the hectic holiday shenanigans. With the heart-racing, hand-trembling, anxious feelings arising these teens have an immediate speed-dial in their back pocket.

With the extra threat of Covid-19 still not being at the finish line, traditions are continuing to be bent in order for a safer holiday season. This comes with smaller gatherings, zoom reunions, or even complete holiday season abstinence. These modifications pose as the perfect breeding ground for one to isolate and disconnect with their surroundings. Being stuck in the mind that manifests the disease is clearly not a healing ritual. Meeting with a coach that knows how to get out of oneself, maybe be of service to others, and introduce healthy coping mechanisms would act as a huge asset to a teen’s recovery.

Being a teenager is hard enough. Now add recovery and the natural chaos that comes with the holiday season coupled with Covid-19 and the difficulty only catapults. But with the right support system and aid, the holidays do not need to serve as a time of distress. They can instead be a period of healing, growth and connectivity with the help of a recovery coach.