CCAR stands for the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery, a nonprofit organization that trains recovery coaches and provides support services for people recovering from alcohol and drug addiction. Founded in 1998, CCAR pioneered one of the most widely adopted recovery coaching models in the United States, and its training programs have shaped how peer support works across the addiction recovery field.
How CCAR Got Started
CCAR was founded in 1998 by Bob Savage, a long-time Connecticut state employee who wanted to answer two questions: Where are the people in recovery when policy decisions are made? And can the recovery community be organized? In its early years, the organization focused entirely on advocacy, pushing for recovery-friendly policies at the state level. As its influence grew, CCAR expanded into direct recovery support services, building the training programs and peer support models it’s now known for.
What a Recovery Coach Does
The core of CCAR’s work is training recovery coaches: people who guide, mentor, and support others trying to start or sustain long-term recovery. A recovery coach is not a therapist or clinical counselor. They don’t diagnose conditions, create treatment plans, or deliver evidence-based therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy. Instead, they build a trusting relationship with the person they’re supporting and serve as a living example that recovery is possible.
In practical terms, a recovery coach might help someone find housing, get to counseling appointments, navigate the healthcare system, or advocate for their needs with a treatment provider. They offer encouragement and help people identify the resources available to them. Many recovery coaches are themselves in recovery, which gives them firsthand understanding of what their clients face.
Clinical addiction counselors, by contrast, typically need at least a bachelor’s degree and sometimes a master’s degree. They implement structured therapeutic approaches and may be licensed to diagnose co-occurring mental health conditions like anxiety or depression. Recovery coaches generally need a high school diploma and complete CCAR’s specialized training. The two roles complement each other: coaches handle the day-to-day support and relationship building, while counselors provide the clinical treatment.
The Recovery Coach Academy
CCAR’s flagship training is the Recovery Coach Academy, a structured program that covers the skills and knowledge someone needs to work as a peer recovery coach. The curriculum runs over five days and moves from foundational concepts to hands-on practice.
The first day establishes what recovery means, what a recovery coach does, and how that role differs from a counselor or a 12-step sponsor. Day two focuses on communication skills, including active listening, navigating differences in values, handling conflict, and learning when and how to share your own story. Day three introduces motivational interviewing techniques, the stages of change model, and the idea that recovery can follow multiple pathways. Day four covers cultural competence, power and privilege, how to make referrals, and how to help someone build “recovery capital,” the network of relationships, skills, and resources that support long-term recovery. The final day addresses boundary issues, self-care, and includes role-play practice sessions where participants apply everything they’ve learned.
Core competencies taught across the program include understanding ethical boundaries, recognizing the stages of recovery, developing recovery wellness plans, and building awareness of how culture and privilege affect the recovery process.
Certification Requirements
To earn the Recovery Coach Professional (RCP) designation through CCAR, a candidate needs 60 hours of training that includes both the Recovery Coach Academy and a separate ethics course called Ethical Considerations for Recovery Coaches. After completing the training hours, the candidate sits through a 45-minute interview with a panel of existing RCPs who assess their readiness for the role.
One notable feature of CCAR’s approach: there are no prerequisites. You don’t need to be in recovery yourself, and there’s no required length of time in recovery if you are. The RCP designation is open to people in recovery, their family members, friends, and allies. This is a deliberate design choice that broadens the pool of people who can serve in the role.
Ethics and Boundaries
CCAR’s ethics training is built on guidelines originally developed by addiction recovery researcher William White and the organization PRO-ACT in 2007. The course focuses on translating ethical principles into real-world decisions. Participants learn how to navigate the vulnerabilities of the people they work with, maintain healthy personal boundaries, recognize ethical warning signs, and understand how confidentiality and legal requirements intersect with their role.
This matters because recovery coaching involves emotionally complex situations. Coaches often share personal experiences as part of their work, which creates a different dynamic than a traditional clinical relationship. Learning where to draw lines around self-disclosure, dual relationships, and professional conduct is a central part of the training.
Programs CCAR Operates
Beyond training, CCAR runs several direct support programs in Connecticut. One is Telephone Recovery Support, where trained volunteers (many of them in recovery) make weekly check-in calls to people working on their recovery. These calls provide consistent encouragement, a sense of connection, and information about available resources. The simplicity of the model is part of its value: a regular, reliable touchpoint during a process that can feel isolating.
CCAR also operates recovery coaches inside hospital emergency departments across Connecticut. This program started as a pilot in March 2017, when the state’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services partnered with CCAR to place on-call coaches in four eastern Connecticut hospitals. Coaches worked with patients admitted for opioid overdoses and other drug or alcohol-related emergencies, connecting them to treatment and community-based recovery resources right from the hospital bed. The pilot was successful enough that it expanded in 2018 with federal grant support. By 2024, every hospital emergency department in Connecticut had recovery coaches working on site.
The emergency department model works because it catches people at a critical moment. Someone who has just survived an overdose or alcohol-related crisis is often more open to considering recovery, and having a trained coach physically present in the ER removes the barrier of having to seek help later on their own. The coaches also support family members and hospital staff, providing guidance during what is often a chaotic and emotional situation.