Financial professionals are trained to help clients manage many unforeseen costs, from death and divorce to medical issues and natural disasters. Yet, there is often no training on a serious issue that affects nearly every person in one way or another — addiction.

The cost of addiction can quickly get out of hand and very easily wreck a family’s finances. There is the cost of the addiction itself. For example, a prescription drug addiction can cost over $29,000 a year. Then there are the incidentals that go along with addiction, such as increased medical costs, missed work or unemployment, car accidents or increased child care needs.

Finally, treatment for addiction can be very expensive. Consider that in-patient rehabilitation can cost $6,000 or more for a one-month stay or over $60,000 for a three-month stay. Plus, many traditional insurance plans only cover one stay when research shows that multiple rounds of treatment are often necessary, forcing people to pay out of pocket for additional stays. Those on medication-assisted treatment may also have to deal with high prescription drug costs and limited insurance coverage.

Even if a client is not dealing with an addiction, they could be financially supporting a family member who is. For example, many parents give money or a place to stay to an adult child who is living with an addiction. Or they may be raising a grandchild whose parent is unable to care for them.

It is easy to see how these costs can pile up and seriously harm a person’s financial future. Even the most financially secure person is at risk of draining their savings or tapping into a retirement fund to cover these costs. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Recovery Within Reach is an example of an organization working to educate financial professionals on the costs of addiction and how to help clients manage them. Its new continuing education course, Servicing Clients and Families Dealing with Substance Use Disorder, offers practical tips for recognizing the signs of addiction, how to breach the conversation with clients, and how to help them cover these costs without sacrificing retirement plans and long-term investments.

Unfortunately, there is still stigma attached to addiction and mental illness so even when a client has exhausted all other resources, they may be too embarrassed or afraid to ask a financial professional for their advice or help. That’s why training like this is crucial to ensure we are looking for the signs proactively and feel prepared to bring up the conversation.

Addiction impacts all aspects of life, and it must be treated in all aspects too — including financially. We all play a part in bringing recovery to clients and their families.

The Recovery Within Reach course is a free, one-hour virtual session and offers one continuing education credit hour from NASAA. Enroll now at Recoverywithinreachcourse.org.

Our organization focuses on providing the best financial advice to our clients and that includes helping them navigate challenging times and unexpected costs. While most of us don’t think of addiction as one of these unexpected costs, it has huge financial implications for our clients.

We believe it is critical that our team is trained on the financial impact of addiction so that everyone is armed with resources and tools to help clients manage these expenses without sacrificing their financial well-being.

As such, we are partnering with Recovery Within Reach on its new continuing education course: Servicing Clients and Families Dealing with Substance Use Disorder.

The course is a free, one-hour virtual session that will teach you how to spot the financial signs of addiction and help clients navigate the costs. After completion, you will receive one continuing education credit hour from NASAA and have access to handouts with all the tips and resources discussed in the course.

We are asking each associate to complete the course by [Insert Date]. You can enroll at Recoverywithinreachcourse.org.

Thank you and please reach out if you have any questions.