Insight does not become routine.
Information, emotion and practical tasks accumulate between sessions.
The treatment is expert.
The experience is fragmented.
A professional companion stays close between appointments and after discharge—so care is easier to understand, practise and carry into everyday life.
TREATMENTTRANSITIONHOME
One continuous relationship
across changing people, places and demands.
01 · THE CONCEPT
Human continuity between treatment and everyday life.
Not another treatment. A trained person who helps the treatment land.
The companion can walk, listen, share a meal, sit quietly, use simple grounding, prepare questions, organise agreed recommendations and notice when the client needs to return to a qualified professional.
PsychiatryMedicinePsychologyNutritionMovementBodyworkCLINIC
TEAM
TEAM
ONE CONTINUITY LEADMatch the right person
to the right phase.→
to the right phase.→
CLIENT’S
REAL LIFEMealsWalksHomeTravelWorkQuiet time
REAL LIFEMealsWalksHomeTravelWorkQuiet time
A multidisciplinary clinic team is connected through one continuity lead and a vetted professional roster to the client’s meals, walks, home, travel, work and quiet time.
02 · THE PAIN POINT
Many specialists.
No owner for the space between.
A client can leave an excellent appointment and still face the hardest hour alone.
Each professional owns a discipline. The clinic owns the programme. But ordinary moments—dinner, travel, silence, overwhelm, remembering, practising—often have no named owner.
Clinical staff absorb non-clinical needs.
Small requests, orientation and reassurance compete with clinical time.
Care becomes informal and unclear.
Relatives may be unavailable, over-involved or unsure what responsibility is theirs.
The support level drops too quickly.
A controlled setting gives way to old environments, obligations and patterns.
03 · PROOF THAT THE ROLE HAS NEIGHBOURS
The market already pays for continuity.
The proposed category is new. Its building blocks are not.
DACH clinics and international recovery services already use live-in therapists, home-going mentors, nearby caregivers, sober companions and recurring in-home visits.
ZÜRICH · RECOVERY.COM
Kusnacht Practice
Continuing care may include regular face-to-face meetings and a mentor returning home with the client to support re-entry into family, work, school and social life.
Closest direct precedent LAKE LUCERNE · NEOVIVASober companionship at home
NEOVIVA explicitly offers access to a recovery counsellor around the clock and sober companionship for travel and at home within its continuing-care programme.
The category already exists in Switzerland ZÜRICH · RECOVERY.COMParacelsus Recovery
A live-in therapist is available around the clock. Aftercare may include the therapist travelling home, staying with the client and maintaining team contact.
Live-in + journey home AUSTRIA · RECOVERY.COMPrugg Castle
The profile describes a one-to-one residential model, an all-female team available 24/7 and a caregiver nearby for added comfort and support.
Nearby human support VIENNA · RECOVERY.COMParachute
A staff therapist meets the client at the airport and accompanies them to the facility—continuity begins before the first formal appointment.
Accompanied arrival EUROPE · 12 STEP CENTRESSober coach or companion
Coaches visit clients at home. A sober companion may live in the client’s residence and support routines, meetings, family and reintegration.
Existing companion category US · RECOVERY.COMAware Recovery Care
An operational in-home model: frequent visits from care-team members, recurring coordination and treatment delivered in the client’s real environment.
Roster-based home visitsADJACENT MODEL · IMPORTANT DISTINCTION
Surrogate partner therapy shows how a relational role can be professionalised.
Its model uses a three-person team: client, licensed therapist and surrogate partner. It combines structured and unstructured experiences, regular team communication, shared goals and a planned ending.
Relevant lesson: genuine human contact can still have supervision, scope and accountability. Not transferable: this companion concept is not sex therapy and does not include sexual contact.
Read the model04 · THE HEALTH RATIONALE
Connection affects health. Continuity may affect follow-through.
The problem is supported. The exact service still needs to be tested.
Population evidence links social disconnection with poorer health and higher mortality. Social baseline research offers a plausible reason why a trusted person may reduce perceived effort. Neither proves that a professional companion improves clinical outcomes.
Relative mortality risk index
Reference population = 100.
Reference
risk indexLoneliness
+14% all-cause mortalitySocial isolation
+32% all-cause mortalityIsolation + CVD
+34% CVD mortalityReference 100. Loneliness 114. Social isolation 132. Social isolation among people with cardiovascular disease 134.
Wang et al., 2023. Associations do not prove causation or prove that this service improves health.
Social connection matters for health.
Large studies consistently associate loneliness and isolation with poorer outcomes.
A steady person can make action easier.
Less perceived threat and effort may create more capacity to choose and participate.
The roster improves treatment success.
A pilot must measure continuity, implementation, staff time, client experience, incidents and willingness to pay.
05 · THE SERVICE
A vetted roster for different moments of care.
One category. Several specialist profiles.
The service matches the client to a trained companion based on phase, risk, language, culture, personality and practical need. A named continuity lead holds the frame.
Presence Companion
Calm company between appointments: walks, meals, quiet time, orientation and simple grounding.
Best for: overload, isolation, unfamiliar settingsRecovery Companion
Addiction-informed support for routines, meetings, triggers, accountability and sober daily life.
Best for: early recovery and relapse-risk transitionsIntegration Companion
Helps turn recommendations and intensive experiences into realistic choices, questions and routines.
Best for: multidisciplinary clinics and retreatsJourney Home Companion
Prepares departure, accompanies the transition and helps identify friction in the real environment.
Best for: discharge, relocation and return to workIn-home Care Liaison
Visits regularly, helps coordinate agreed tasks and routes observations back to the authorised team.
Best for: complex plans with multiple providersVetted. Supervised. Accountable.
References, background checks, safeguarding, first aid, role-specific training, insurance, supervision and documented escalation.
No vague “paid friendship” marketplace.06 · FOR CLINICS AND PRIVATE CARE NETWORKS
Add a continuity layer around the team you already trust.
The companion does not replace clinical care. The roster extends its reach into lived experience.
The intended result is better orientation, stronger implementation and a more continuous client experience. Any improvement in health or treatment success must be demonstrated through a measured pilot.
01Screen
→Fit, risk and consent
02Match
→Right companion profile
03Accompany
→Between sessions
04Transition
→Clinic to home
05Review
Measure and hand back
- One reliable human point of contact
- Less fragmentation and practical overload
- Support applying agreed recommendations
- Continuity across clinic, travel and home
- A differentiated premium service
- Fewer non-clinical demands on clinical staff
- A practical aftercare and journey-home offer
- Structured observations within consent
- A vetted person on the ground
- Clear accountability and confidentiality
- Less coordination burden
- A defined escalation and reporting route
FIRST COMMERCIAL TEST
One clinic. One roster. Eight to twelve weeks.
5–10 screened clients1 named clinical lead3–5 vetted companion profiles6 practical outcome measures
07 · THE PROFESSIONAL FRAME
Warm contact. Clear limits.
The boundary is part of the product.
No diagnosis, psychotherapy, medication management, crisis care, sexual or romantic contact, or promise of health outcomes. Touch or bodywork requires a separate scope, consent process, qualification and insurance.
Activities, communication, touch and information-sharing stay specific and revocable.
Frequency and endings are planned. The goal is a wider life, not attachment to the service.
Clinical and safety concerns return to the qualified team through an agreed route.
Only necessary information is documented and shared within explicit consent and legal requirements.
08 · RESEARCH LIBRARY
Every market claim links to its source.
The evidence supports the problem, the adjacent market and the pilot logic—not a guaranteed clinical outcome.
01
WHO Commission on Social ConnectionWhy social connection is a health issue, not a lifestyle extra.
02Wang et al., Nature Human Behaviour90 prospective cohorts; 2,205,199 participants; mortality associations.
03Social Baseline TheoryHow trusted social presence may change perceived risk and effort.
04Kusnacht Practice on Recovery.comRegular meetings and a mentor who may return home with the client.
05NEOVIVA Continuing Care24/7 recovery counsellor access and sober companionship for travel or home.
06NEOVIVA on Recovery.comSeven months of support, aftercare coaching and access to a counsellor.
07Paracelsus Recovery on Recovery.comLive-in therapist, team contact and home-based aftercare.
08Prugg Castle on Recovery.comA 24/7 team and a caregiver nearby in an Austrian residential model.
09Parachute Vienna on Recovery.comA staff therapist meets and accompanies the client from arrival.
1012 Step Sober CoachingEuropean sober coaches visit at home; companions may live with clients.
11Aware Recovery Care on Recovery.comAn in-home model with frequent visits from members of a care team.
12Surrogate Partner TherapyAn adjacent model for a structured, supervised and time-limited relational role.
13Recovery.com — AftercareWhy support, structure and accountability continue after discharge.