5 Helpful Relapse Prevention Apps to Check Out

More than half the people who enter recovery suffer a relapse. Some statistics show the number is closer to 90 percent.

With these figures in mind, tech-savvy recovery specialists are providing solutions. We have apps for everything else – why not relapse prevention? Following are five of the top smartphone solutions for sobriety.

Help In the Palm Of Your Hand

• JourneyPure Coaching™ App: JourneyPure At The River, a 70-bed addiction treatment center near Nashville, created this app to provide effective aftercare. Creators designed the app to gamify the process and provide a unique tool for coaching those in recovery. When patients complete treatment, they are assigned a personal recovery coach. This coach uses the app to develop an individualized aftercare plan that will help patients transition out of treatment and back into day-to-day life. The app prompts the patient each day to check in and check off completed goals. If tasks (such as attending a meeting) are missed, the app alerts the recovery coach so they can follow up with their mentee and help them stay on track.
• ASCENT App: Created by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, this app directly connects those in recovery with a support center of peer coaches. By accessing the app, clients can get advice from coaches and learn about intervention options. The app also provides a daily question that allows clients to alert their coaches if they’re feeling on the verge of relapse. The goal of the app is to keep those in recovery connected to a supportive community and help motivate them to stay on course.
• Mobile MORE Field Guide to Life: Hazelden developed this smartphone app inspired by their MORE (My Ongoing Recovery Experience) program they provide to patients as they leave treatment. The app takes users through stages of recovery over the first year of sobriety. It’s organized around the 12 steps and is designed to help users master relapse-prevention skills. It offers daily guidance and inspiration, weekly sober challenges, tools for tracking personal progress and trends, community support systems and meeting finder and specific relapse prevention techniques.
• Sober Tool: This goal of this app it to help users identify thoughts and feelings that lead to relapse. App users choose from a list to complete the thought, “I’m feeling…” They can also select their current struggle, such as “I am thinking about relapsing.” Depending on the selection made, users are walked through specific thought patterns to guide them toward healthier, sober thinking. The app also shows users how much money and time they’ve saved by being sober.
• Casava: The Casava app offers three main components. App users can locate support group meetings anywhere in the U.S., as well as receive and give feedback on specific meetings. The app also allows users to track their daily moods and activities to monitor all the areas of their lives (nutrition, sleep, relationships, stress), see how they are changing over time, and identify what areas they need to focus on. The app also provides daily reflections and a collection of motivational articles with tips on relapse prevention.

Last Comments on Relapse Prevention Apps

While no app is a substitute for comprehensive treatment, these technology tools offer a great supplement of 24/7 support for when you need it most.

These are just a few of the dozens of recovery apps available on the market. With each year, more and more digital options become available. While there aren’t any official Alcoholics Anonymous apps, there is an unofficial AA Big Book app. Those familiar with the 12-Steps may appreciate having a mobile version of the books on their smartphones or portable devices.