Scott Silverman of Your Crisis Coach Recently Featured on Close Up Radio

SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES, October 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- When Scott H. Silverman’s phone lights up with a number he doesn’t recognize, he smiles. The caller is likely a family in trouble, and for Silverman, a San Diego crisis coach, a chance to help save a life.

Silverman has taken calls like these for decades. Sober for more than 41 years, he brings his experience to families facing a loved one’s addiction. His first conversation tends to follow a pattern. He asks what he can help with and lets the family tell its story. Then he poses a single question: “If what you’re doing isn’t working, would you like to do something else?”

The answer, Silverman says, is almost always, “Yes.”

Coaching, Not Therapy

Silverman says he’s a coach, not a therapist. He does not use the DSM-5 or a fixed clinical model. Instead, he listens to family members and talks through what comes next. A doctor brings a medical perspective and a therapist brings a therapeutic one. Silverman brings lived experience. “One size doesn’t fit all,” he says.

He often opens with an analogy. A parent whose child had diabetes would see a doctor right away. Addiction is a disease, and Silverman encourages parents to apply the same instinct by getting a loved one assessed by the best resource available. “You cannot love somebody to wellness,” he said. “You’re not a lifeguard. When your child is drowning, you call the lifeguard.”

For families who notice a child’s behavior shifting from day to day, missing jewelry or unfamiliar friends at the door, Silverman recommends what he describes as a soft intervention where parents sit down to listen without accusations. The goal is to open a conversation and keep that conversation going.

Time and Treatment

After running his outpatient program for 12 years, he shares that about 15 percent of Americans are predisposed to compulsive behavior. He began drinking and using in his teens, not receiving help until he hit 30.

“Getting help wasn’t a choice for me,” he shares. “I entirely understand where addicts are coming from.”

He cites a 95 percent relapse rate for people who leave a 30 day inpatient program, noting that insurance often sets the length of a stay. In reality, learning to live without self-medication takes years, the way learning to play piano or training for a triathlon does.

Silverman also recommends that households with teenagers and people in their 20s keep naloxone, sold as Narcan, within reach. To him, Narcan is a tool, much like seat belts and EPIPENs^® now kept in office buildings and schools. Newer synthetic opioids currently hitting the streets can require multiple doses, and he notes that accidental overdose victims are far younger than they were 10 years ago.

Closer to home, he points to San Diego’s Psychiatric Emergency Response Team, which pairs sworn officers with clinically trained staff. Over the past decade, he shares, mental health has replaced alcohol as the primary diagnosis on those calls.

Silverman’s Bookshelf

Silverman’s first book, “Tell Me No, I Dare You!” grew out of years in the nonprofit world, where Silverman “wore knee pads and lip balm” to raise money, hearing no most of the time. Seven of 10 people are told no about something, such as their talent or their height, and most listen. “Tell Me No, I Dare You!” urges readers to take their no and turn it into yes.

His second book, “The Opioid Epidemic,” carries his message to a wider public. Silverman changed the title on the advice of his ghostwriter and mailed a copy to every governor in the country; only four sent thank you notes.

“You’re Not God: That Job Is Taken” is his newest release. After the idea sat in his heart for about 12 years, “You’re Not God: That Job Is Taken” invites readers to relinquish control and embrace humility, which makes for healthier relationships.

About Scott H. Silverman

Scott H. Silverman is a San Diego crisis coach and the founder of Your Crisis Coach, an outpatient treatment program. He spent nearly two decades running a homeless services agency before opening Your Crisis Coach. He has delivered a TEDx talk about San Diego, which he calls America’s finest city, and he serves on the California District Attorney’s Opioid Task Force. As to what might surprise people about his work, Silverman says, “I’m simply never going to give up.”

Close Up Radio recently featured Scott H. Silverman, founder of Your Crisis Coach, in an interview with Jim Masters on Tuesday October 20th at 11am Eastern

Listen to the Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/close-up-radio-welcomes-back-scott-silverman-of-your/id1785721253?i=1000797527542
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-close-up-radio-242020413/episode/close-up-radio-welcomes-back-scott-silverman-of-your-crisis-coach-348144051
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Fk0yUsMASUEeSwLVfEX2l

For more information about Scott H. Silverman, founder of Your Crisis Coach, please visit https://www.yourcrisiscoach.com/

Lou Ceparano
Close Up Television & Radio
+1 631-850-3314
Visit us on social media:
Facebook