Zach Dorfman Peer Recovery Coach and Mental Health Companion

Personalized Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Support

Zach Dorfman’s journey to becoming a mental health professional and a certified professional recovery coach was not an easy one. It was his personal struggles with mental health and addiction that inspired him to seek a career in serving others facing the same issues. Experiencing a mental health diagnosis and going through addiction recovery has allowed Zach to support his clients in ways that others cannot. Individual clients and mental health centers seek his help with recovery coaching services, life coaching for mental health recovery, and recovery planning.

California Life Coaching for Mental Health Recovery

After nearly nine years of sobriety, his mission in life is to help others follow in his footsteps and not be afraid to seek mental healthcare or addiction recovery resources. His recovery coaching services and work as a certified trauma recovery coach has helped countless individuals live their best lives.

Zach assists clients in recovery planning and as a mental health and sober companion. As a Los Angeles certified professional recovery coach, he helps people suffering from both substance abuse and mental health issues integrate back into mainstream society.

A Personal History of Mental Health and Addiction Recovery

During his college years, Zach never aspired to get a recovery coaching certification or help southern California recovery clients. Before his first day of sobriety in June of 2011, Zach turned to prescription drugs and alcohol to fix his problems and numb his pain. Eventually, he made an unsuccessful attempt at taking his own life. He couldn’t stop the voices in his head that told him to kill himself. In desperation, he reached out to a friend who helped him seek the mental health care that he needed. During this time, a realization popped into his head; he needed to get sober. He started this chapter of his life a mere two weeks after his suicide attempt. This would eventually lead him to leave a successful career in sales for one offering recovery coaching services and mental health consulting.

What Zach didn’t know in the first three and a half years of his sobriety is that he had bipolar 1 disorder, also known as manic-depressive disorder. As a part of his treatment for bipolar disorder, Zach ended up in a Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP). By this time, he had decided not to return to his successful sales career, but he wasn’t sure what was next for him.

Staff members in the program asked him many times what his plans were once he completed the program. One day, the thought of helping other people through their struggles came to mind just as getting sober did in 2011. He desired a career providing life coaching for mental health recovery and recovery coaching services. Zach decided to explore earning a recovery coaching certification and becoming a life coach.

Pursuing a Recovery Coaching Certification and a Career in Life Coaching for Mental Health Recovery

Seven months after completing the PHP, he packed up his belongings and moved to Jerusalem. It was there that Zach enrolled in a program to pursue his recovery coaching certification became an International Licensed Drug and Alcohol Counselor. During his time there, he also provided life coaching for mental health recovery and served as a dorm counselor. His duties included accompanying patients to NA and AA meetings and helping them express their problems and feelings in group and individual sessions. As a counselor at the Retorno Jewish Center for Additions, Zach guided patients through the 12 steps of NA and assisted them in developing a foundation for independent problem-solving.

After two years in Jerusalem earning his recovery coaching certification, Zach returned to the United States intending to help people on a larger scale. Zach worked for five different facilities before branching out on his own and founding A Life After Recovery. His current roles include certified professional recovery coach, certified trauma recovery coach, sober companion, and mental health coaching and consulting.

At A Life After Recovery, Zach uses his recovery coaching certification and offers LA recovery coaching services and life coaching for mental health recovery.

Clients and Services

Zach helps both male and female clients, and he welcomes adolescents, teens, and adults. His California recovery coaching services include ensuring individuals get appropriate treatment for their addictions and mental health issues. He also helps them integrate back into life. Other services include:

• Consulting services to facilities such as facilitating groups, documentation on the groups, and assistance with proper discharge placement
• Life coaching for mental health recovery
• Aftercare
• Alumni programming

In his role as a certified trauma recovery coach, not only does Zach work with individual clients, but also with their families to help alter the family dynamic.

Making a Difference in the Community as a Peer Recovery Coach and Mental Health Companion

Zach takes his passion for mental health and recovery addition, as well as his experience as a Los Angeles certified professional recovery coach into the community. He seeks to help create a seamless integration back to life for individuals who benefit from his services and even those that do not.

Ending the hate, stigma, and anger surrounding these issues is a personal goal for Zach. He speaks to community and religious leaders about addiction and mental health.  Universities, colleges, and hospitals benefit from his real-life experiences and professional expertise in recovery coaching services.

Education and Certifications

In 2011, Zach graduated from the California State University- Northridge with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He is a Certified Alcohol Drug Counselor II (CADC-II) credentialed by the California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals.  He also obtained the credential of an Internationally Certified Alcohol & Drug Counselor (ICADC) through the International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium.

Zach’s education and certification, along with his personal experiences, allow him to fill many roles such as a:

• Peer recovery coach
• Mental health companion
• Life coach
• Sober coach
• Sober companion
• Certified professional recovery coach
• Trauma recovery life coach

Zach’s personal and professional experiences, including his work as a certified trauma recovery coach, have shown him that addiction can be a painful combination of illness, disease, and trauma. As a peer recovery coach and mental health companion, he knows that most people experiencing mental health or addiction issues did not choose how their childhood unfolded or the traumatic events they endured. These factors are all difficult to process and overcome.

However, those with addiction disorders make a conscious decision to use substances, whether it be alcohol or drugs, to help them cope and avoid painful feelings. As a sober coach working in southern California recovery, Zach believes that success is measured by an individual’s efforts and actions, which led to their accomplishments. Success is not just being handed everything.

Are You Looking for the Best Life Coach and Mental Health Companion?

Zach enjoys golfing in his spare time, as it is an action-based form of mindfulness. His favorite food is sushi, and his go-to musical artist is Mumford and Sons. His passion is helping other people, and he expresses that there is no greater reward or feeling in life than to know he has helped someone.

Whether you are looking for a certified professional recovery coach, mental health companion, certified trauma recovery coach, professional with a recovery coaching certification, or life coaching for mental health recovery, Zach Dorfman is honored to help you. If you are looking for the best life coach, look no further.

Zach helps people suffering from both substance abuse and mental health issues integrate back into mainstream society. Not only does he work with the individuals, but with their families as well in order to help change the family dynamic. Zach also wanted to work with communities and their institutions. He works with High Schools, Colleges & Universities, and Hospitals to help educate the communities in order to make the integration more seamless for the individuals with whom he works.

Zach holds a CADC-II and ICADC through CCAPP and IC&RC.

If you have questions about recovery coaching, mental health companion, or life coaching services from Zach Dorman, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help.