Recovery: There’s an app for that!
Recovery: There’s an app for that!
So you made it through rehab in one piece (which you probably never thought you could do, but you did) and now you’re about to carry on your new recovery lifestyle outside of rehab. Whether you’re staying in sober living or you’re back home, recovery support is always right at your fingertips. I’m talking about your smart phone. You know, the thing that seems to be glued to your hand. The thing that you probably take into the bathroom with you to kill time while you’re, well, you get the gist.
You’re likely on your phone all the time anyway. Whether it’s posting on Facebook or Twitter, or texting family and new friends in recovery, so why not also use it to aid in your recovery? Did you know there are tons, I mean TONS of recovery-based apps that you can download right now that will connect you with other people in recovery and help to keep you motivated to stay clean and sober? There’s an app to help support your recovery from pretty much any addiction, many of which are customizable to fit you specifically.
I did some research online and asked around the recovery community to find out which apps are the most popular, most user friendly, and the most helpful. While you might prefer one over the other, the following recovery-based apps are a great place to start if you haven’t found the right one for you yet. As with any app, you can preview each one and the features it offers before you download it. Some are free, some cost a few bucks, but the most important thing is that they’re all supportive – so check them out.
CleanTime Counter
This app keeps track of your sobriety from day one. You can personalize it with your name and the addiction you’re recovering from as well as set a password and add images to further customize the app. You can even take screen shots of your sobriety milestones and share them on social media – because you should be proud of what you’ve accomplished!
NA Meeting Search
Now you’ll be able to find an NA Meeting wherever you are in the world! Sure, you’ve got your hometown meetings down, but if you’re a traveler you now have the ability to find meetings no matter what city, state, or country you’re in. As a bonus, this app also offers you daily Just For Today meditations to help keep you motivated.
NA Speakers/AA Speakers
These are two different apps, but they serve the same purpose. By downloading these apps, you’re able to listen to recovery speakers from both Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous (depending on which app you download) whenever you want. The NA Speakers app offers over 300 speakers at NA conventions around the world, and specifies where they’re speaking and where they’re from. The AA Speakers app offers over 400 speaker tapes as well as workshops and presentations that you can purchase within the app.
Ami B., our wonderful Alumni Recovery Support Services Coordinator who is also in recovery, is a big proponent of the NA Speakers app. “I don’t consider myself too technology savvy, but I definitely appreciate convenience. As a full time employee and mother of four I try to use my time wisely. I love my NA app on my smart phone. The most time I find for myself is when I am commuting to and from work. I use the time to pray, and to listen to my NA Speakers app through my Bluetooth. I love that I can listen to stories of hope and inspiration from around the world. It gives me motivation to continue working in my own recovery and helps me to learn about ways to help others. There are many apps out there; I suggest trying a couple to find the one that works for you.”
Hazelden – My Sober Life
Hazelden, a world-renowned drug and alcohol addiction treatment center, has many apps available to download, but this one is their most popular. My Sober Life provides young people (ages 12 to 25) with guidance in order for them to stay clean and sober. It concentrates on life skills, peer support, and spiritual focus. You can personalize this app by tracking your days clean and sober, uploading pictures to set as your background, and utilizing the Stop Cravings tool within the app to keep you on track whenever you need a little extra motivation. These are just a few of the many features this app offers that make it well worth the money to download.
recoveryBox
The recoveryBox app utilizes a traffic light system that facilitates addiction recovery and accountability by tracking your daily life activities and breaking them down into categories, known as your “lights”. Each activity you enter into the app will get broken down by whether the activity is helpful in your recovery (green light), a warning of possible inappropriate behavior (yellow light), or that you’re acting out (red light). Each activity you choose to enter is totally up to you. You can decide with your sponsor which activities you engage in that you need to keep track of and customize the app based on your behavior.
12 Steps AA Companion
This is one of the most comprehensive apps available for members of AA. This app offers you the Big Book, and allows you to highlight text, view the definition of words, and search for something specific (among many other search options). It also enables you to keep track of your sobriety with a sobriety calculator and provides you with an AA contacts database.
iPromises Recovery Companion
This is an app created by Promises Addiction Treatment, another well-known alcohol and drug addiction treatment center. This app allows you to contact friends in recovery, find meetings out of town, create trigger alerts, and even share meetings that you are currently attending. Not only is this app free, but they’re always taking suggestions from users on what new features they’d like to see, and they actually implement many of them. It’s always nice to be able to voice your opinion and have it be heard.
Summary
While these are just the tip of the recovery apps iceberg, they are certainly some of the best that can be a part of your recovery toolbox, helping you in your new life of sobriety. These really bring a whole new meaning to the phrase, “there’s an app for that!”
