Staying Sober: Addiction Recovery Apps Offer Support, Prevent Relapse
by Addiction Center |
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Continuing Recovery
After leaving an addiction treatment center, there are many recovery options you can choose from; there are local community programs, support groups, and meetings with peers. But now there’s another tool that can help you recover from drug or alcohol abuse: your smartphone.
That’s right; with a simple swipe of your phone or tablet, you can have access to addiction recovery apps right at your fingertips. Plus, when you use a recovery app alongside your inpatient or outpatient treatment program, it can improve the likelihood of staying sober for longer.
By 2018, more than half of smartphone and tablet users will have downloaded health apps, including ones for addiction recovery.
How Addiction Recovery Apps Work
Today, an increasing number of mobile apps are coming on the market to help encourage and support you during the recovery process. Most apps are designed around specific addictions, and each one offers unique features such as:
- Support group locators
- Journals and notes
- Activity and mood recorders
- Inspirational messages
- Recovery-related articles and news
Each year, sobriety apps grow in size and popularity among recovering addicts. They’re quickly becoming a large part of up-and-coming health apps that many people turn to for support and immediate accessibility to information.
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Finding The Right Recovery App
With so many apps available, how do you know which one will work best for you after leaving your treatment program? It all depends on your specific goals during each step of recovery. Maybe you prefer to write down your experiences, or you want to track your goals and connect with others in recovery. Regardless of what you’re looking for, there are many apps that can help you.
Roughly 75% of those addicted to alcohol will drink within the first year after treatment – a statistic recovery apps aim to lower.
Here are several trending recovery apps currently available:
A-CHESS (Addiction-Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System)
A fairly recent arrival to the app store, A-CHESS focuses on individuals recovering from alcohol abuse. One of the main reasons for its success is the tracking system that issues an alert if the person is nearing a favorite bar or liquor store.
Additional features include:
- A panic button that notifies peers and provides a distraction
- Monitoring to assess the risk of a relapse
- Frequent reminders about recovery goals
- One-touch communication with a care manager
- A community with others in recovery
recoveryBox
No matter what your addiction, recoveryBox allows you to customize the app based on your needs. It highlights accountability, so each day you’ll keep track of triggers by breaking them down into a traffic light system: red for negative choices, yellow for warnings, and green for positive choices. This method allows you to take full ownership of your recovery.
Other benefits of recoveryBox include:
- Emailing an update report to your counselor
- Games and rewards for positive reinforcement
- Customizing app based on activities you select
12 Steps AA Companion
A comprehensive app for AA members, the 12 Steps AA Companion gives access to the Big Book right at your fingertips. Review Big Book stories, highlight text, or even search for a specific topic within the app. You can also send notes of encouragement to friends and share via social media or email.
Other highlights of the app include:
- Sobriety calculator
- Prayers for the morning and evening
- Promises on experience, strength, and hope
- The ability to reach out to contacts and map the route to their location
A Recovery Tool In Your Pocket
Break the cycle of addiction and continue your path to sobriety. Downloading an addiction recovery app can help complement your work in support groups, therapies, and other ongoing treatment programs.
Many of these apps guide you in applying recovery lessons to everyday life events as well as coping mechanisms for difficult times. Explore your possibilities with a recovery app.
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Addiction Center