PERSONAL WRITING
What Does It Cost to Become a Recovery Coach in Canada?
What training, accreditation and starting a practice cost, and what the work asks of you.
What the training gave me
I did not come to this training as a beginner in helping. I have held a certificate in counselling skills since 1997, and it has been a cornerstone of much of my career and of my personal philosophy about helping others. The recovery coach training built on that foundation. One-to-one practice sessions helped me hear myself working as a coach. I learned from more experienced coaches and became more comfortable communicating over Zoom. I could begin to imagine myself in the role.
The training also helped me recognize the value of my own experience of addiction and recovery. That experience gives me something to draw on. It doesn’t tell me what another person needs or how their recovery should look.
What I still needed to learn was how to start a business, write a website and help people find it. Search engine optimization became part of my working life. These were skills I had to develop alongside coaching. In July 2025, I also completed 16 hours of Ethical Considerations training with Still Here. My learning continued after the initial course.
Training and accreditation
A certificate of course completion and a coaching credential are different things. It helps to understand which one a course offers, and what further work and fees lie ahead. For this example, I’ve used training through Still Here followed by accreditation through Recovery Coaches Canada, or RCC. RCC’s designation is Accredited Recovery Coach of Canada, or ARCC.
The requirements I found were at least 30 hours of foundational recovery-coach training, 20 hours of advanced training and 10 hours of recovery-coach ethics. Applicants also submit a 20-to-30-minute recorded coaching session for assessment. Paying the fees does not guarantee accreditation.
This is one pathway, and not the only one. The Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation offers a separate designation, Canadian Certified Recovery Coach. As published, it asks for 20 or more hours of education, 125 hours of coaching experience (75 of them paid) and 25 hours of supervision. It requires recertification every year through 20 hours of approved continuing education. Still Here is among the trainers it approves.
Recovery Coach Academy Canada also offers provincially funded training for eligible residents of Alberta and Saskatchewan. That changes the cost picture considerably for those who qualify. Requirements and fees change. I would investigate the training and the credential separately, look at each organization’s current information, and consider how each fits the work you want to do
An example of the cost
The following is an advertised training pathway. All figures are in Canadian
dollars.
What the training gave me
I did not come to this training as a beginner in helping. I have held a certificate in counselling skills since 1997, and it has been a cornerstone of much of my career and of my personal philosophy about helping others. The recovery coach training built on that foundation. One-to-one practice sessions helped me hear myself working as a coach. I learned from more experienced coaches and became more comfortable communicating over Zoom. I could begin to imagine myself in the role.
The training also helped me recognize the value of my own experience of addiction and recovery. That experience gives me something to draw on. It doesn’t tell me what another person needs or how their recovery should look.
What I still needed to learn was how to start a business, write a website and help people find it. Search engine optimization became part of my working life. These were skills I had to develop alongside coaching. In July 2025, I also completed 16 hours of Ethical Considerations training with Still Here. My learning continued after the initial course.
Training and accreditation
A certificate of course completion and a coaching credential are different things. It helps to understand which one a course offers, and what further work and fees lie ahead. For this example, I’ve used training through Still Here followed by accreditation through Recovery Coaches Canada, or RCC. RCC’s designation is Accredited Recovery Coach of Canada, or ARCC.
The requirements I found were at least 30 hours of foundational recovery-coach training, 20 hours of advanced training and 10 hours of recovery-coach ethics. Applicants also submit a 20-to-30-minute recorded coaching session for assessment. Paying the fees does not guarantee accreditation.
This is one pathway, and not the only one. The Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation offers a separate designation, Canadian Certified Recovery Coach. As published, it asks for 20 or more hours of education, 125 hours of coaching experience (75 of them paid) and 25 hours of supervision. It requires recertification every year through 20 hours of approved continuing education. Still Here is among the trainers it approves.
Recovery Coach Academy Canada also offers provincially funded training for eligible residents of Alberta and Saskatchewan. That changes the cost picture considerably for those who qualify. Requirements and fees change. I would investigate the training and the credential separately, look at each organization’s current information, and consider how each fits the work you want to do
An example of the cost
The following is an advertised training pathway. All figures are in Canadian
dollars.
Item
Estimated cost
$3,825.00
Estimated 5% GST on training
$191.25
RCC membership, first year
$249.00
ARCC accreditation application
$150.00
Estimated initial total
$4,415.25
The published continuing costs I found were $249 annually for RCC membership and $75 for accreditation renewal every two years. Renewal also requires 20 additional continuing-education credits. The cost of obtaining those credits would need to be investigated.
Insurance, a website, travel, accommodation and further education sit outside the initial estimate. I would budget for these separately. Costs checked: 5 October 2026. Sources: Still Here Gold package, RCC membership and accreditation, RCC accreditation requirements, CACCF recovery coach certification and Recovery Coach Academy Canada funding and eligibility.
Finding clients takes its own time.
Building my website took about ten months. Once people began finding me, paid coaching work followed. I have worked with clients in different ways — some intensively, some through regular weekly sessions, and some who have continued to check in long after our formal work together ended.
That is my experience, rather than a timetable I can offer someone else. Completing training and building a sustainable practice are separate commitments.
At an illustrative rate of $100 for a one-hour session, it would take 45 paid sessions to cover the estimated $4,415.25 initial investment. That is gross revenue, before business expenses and income tax. An example, not a forecast.
Insurance, a website, travel, accommodation and further education sit outside the initial estimate. I would budget for these separately. Costs checked: 5 October 2026. Sources: Still Here Gold package, RCC membership and accreditation, RCC accreditation requirements, CACCF recovery coach certification and Recovery Coach Academy Canada funding and eligibility.
Finding clients takes its own time.
Building my website took about ten months. Once people began finding me, paid coaching work followed. I have worked with clients in different ways — some intensively, some through regular weekly sessions, and some who have continued to check in long after our formal work together ended.
That is my experience, rather than a timetable I can offer someone else. Completing training and building a sustainable practice are separate commitments.
At an illustrative rate of $100 for a one-hour session, it would take 45 paid sessions to cover the estimated $4,415.25 initial investment. That is gross revenue, before business expenses and income tax. An example, not a forecast.
Paid sessions each week
Paid sessions
each week
Approximate time to reach 45 sessions
One
10½ months
Two
Five months
Three
3½ months
Five
Nine weeks
These are arithmetic examples, not forecasts. They assume bookings begin immediately and continue consistently. They also leave out the unpaid work of establishing and running a practice.
The emotional side of the work
We are taught to stay within our role. I have found that harder when someone is living through real damage and I feel the urge to do more.
With my own history of addiction and recovery, I sometimes recognize warning signs that a client does not see, or is not ready to acknowledge. The urge to step in can be strong. I have sometimes had to pause and ask whether I’m helping within my role or taking on something that belongs to the client.
The relationship can become very close. Caring about someone while respecting their choices can be emotionally draining. Recognizing that pull in myself is part of the work.
Today, I check in with other coaches and limit the number of clients I take on. I continue reading Miller and Rollnick’s Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change and Grow (fourth edition).
I also write and meditate on the role. I return to what helped me when I was searching for support with my own addiction, and what did not. I try to understand what that experience allows me to bring, and where it leaves me needing to listen and learn.
Knowing the boundaries of the role
In my practice, I do not prescribe a program, impose labels or provide treatment. I work with the person’s own goals and understanding of their life.
Listening is active work. It asks me to pay attention, ask useful questions and resist assuming that my experience gives me the answer for someone else.
Before entering this work, I would want to understand where coaching fits alongside either support, and where its limits are. Training, reflection and conversations with other coaches remain part of how I examine my own role.
What I would investigate first
I would look more closely at the actual skills being taught. Over time, I came to understand how much of my training drew on motivational interviewing. I would have read Miller and Rollnick before enrolling. I would also investigate where independent recovery coaching fits. Looking online, I encountered the term across businesses, centres, agencies and clinical settings. It could be difficult to see where a private independent coach belonged among them.
I would ask more questions about accreditation, the ongoing commitments attached to a credential, and how credentialing might develop. I would want to understand the work I was preparing for as clearly as the course I was buying. The confidence I gained through training mattered. So did the learning that came afterwards. I am still examining how to bring my experience to this work with care.
Some people arrive at this page because they’re considering becoming a coach; others are trying to understand the person they might ask for support. You can read more on My Approach, or reach me through Contact if you’d like to start a conversation.
These are arithmetic examples, not forecasts. They assume bookings begin immediately and continue consistently. They also leave out the unpaid work of establishing and running a practice.
The emotional side of the work
We are taught to stay within our role. I have found that harder when someone is living through real damage and I feel the urge to do more.
With my own history of addiction and recovery, I sometimes recognize warning signs that a client does not see, or is not ready to acknowledge. The urge to step in can be strong. I have sometimes had to pause and ask whether I’m helping within my role or taking on something that belongs to the client.
The relationship can become very close. Caring about someone while respecting their choices can be emotionally draining. Recognizing that pull in myself is part of the work.
Today, I check in with other coaches and limit the number of clients I take on. I continue reading Miller and Rollnick’s Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change and Grow (fourth edition).
I also write and meditate on the role. I return to what helped me when I was searching for support with my own addiction, and what did not. I try to understand what that experience allows me to bring, and where it leaves me needing to listen and learn.
Knowing the boundaries of the role
In my practice, I do not prescribe a program, impose labels or provide treatment. I work with the person’s own goals and understanding of their life.
Listening is active work. It asks me to pay attention, ask useful questions and resist assuming that my experience gives me the answer for someone else.
Before entering this work, I would want to understand where coaching fits alongside either support, and where its limits are. Training, reflection and conversations with other coaches remain part of how I examine my own role.
What I would investigate first
I would look more closely at the actual skills being taught. Over time, I came to understand how much of my training drew on motivational interviewing. I would have read Miller and Rollnick before enrolling. I would also investigate where independent recovery coaching fits. Looking online, I encountered the term across businesses, centres, agencies and clinical settings. It could be difficult to see where a private independent coach belonged among them.
I would ask more questions about accreditation, the ongoing commitments attached to a credential, and how credentialing might develop. I would want to understand the work I was preparing for as clearly as the course I was buying. The confidence I gained through training mattered. So did the learning that came afterwards. I am still examining how to bring my experience to this work with care.
Some people arrive at this page because they’re considering becoming a coach; others are trying to understand the person they might ask for support. You can read more on My Approach, or reach me through Contact if you’d like to start a conversation.