ROC Weekly Marketing Minute

Creating Sobriety Apps to Expand Your Reach to People Needing Your Services

While there is no substitution for treatment, recovery apps can be an effective tool to help others on their recovery journey. By creating an effective app, you can still help people who cannot access your rehab center and those who have completed their treatment program.

Sobriety apps can help users stay connected to others who are on their sobriety journey, act as a source of reinforcement and accountability, provide information that can help educate and inspire others, help manage cravings, and prevent relapse.

They also offer the opportunity to track progress, celebrate milestones, connect with others, access support, monitor triggers, keep a journal, and find the strength to persevere.

If you have been considering creating an app for your recovery center, you can gain inspiration from apps already on the market and connect with your alumni to help determine what would serve them best.

Benefits you can offer with a recovery app

Here is a list of benefits you can offer others by creating a recovery app for your alcohol and drug treatment center:

• Cost-effectiveness: Apps are usually cost-effective (many are free), so they can offer convenient support while minimizing financial barriers.

• Privacy: Using apps can help people share their struggles and experiences in recovery privately. Some people are hesitant to share their recovery journey, so using an app can help them remain anonymous and keep their experiences private.

• Availability and access: People in recovery navigate triggers every day, so the ability to offer support they can take with them anywhere can be crucial to their recovery. This is especially important for people who do not have access to recovery programs.

• Factual information: Scouring the internet for any information can lead to incorrect or false advice. By creating an app that is full of informed and educated advice and support, you can help users access information that benefits them instead of putting them at further risk.

Sobriety apps to gain inspiration

Here is a list of sobriety apps to help determine the features you might like to include on your own:

Sober Grid

Sober Grid functions similarly to Facebook in that users create profiles, share posts to encourage others, and interact on the platform. The app offers users the ability to monitor triggers, check in, journal, and create updates about sobriety, mood, and what is happening in their life. There is also the capability to turn on the GSP locator and find other sober people that are near. By establishing and managing connections with other people in recovery, the app offers a sense of community that can encourage sobriety and resistance to drug use.

Sober Grid also offers a sobriety counter and “daily quests” users can perform to improve their mood and reduce negative thinking. For example, this may include reading quotes for inspiration or writing a gratitude list. Users can make phone calls and can send unlimited messages on the app.

One of the best features of Sober Grid is the 24/7 live coaching available from certified and trained peer coaches.

Nomo- Sobriety Clocks

The clock function on this app highlights important emotional turning points, offers chips for each milestone, and tracks progress by the minute. Users can create as many clocks as they like, including time in sobriety, unhealthy habits they’ve gone back to, the amount of money they have saved, or whatever else they want to track.

Users have the ability to share their feelings or journal entries with others on social media, or by privately messaging accountability partners. The app offers the ability to share the clock information with others and has a “distraction” feature which offers games and exercises to help refocus users when they are having a moment of weakness. There is also a messaging feature where users can connect with an accountability partner when feeling triggered.

SoberTool

The SoberTool app offers tools to help users when they have a craving. It offers daily messages and reminders to help users stay on track and is an effective platform for tracking clean and sober days. Users can earn milestone rewards and calculate the amount of money they have saved in sobriety. When users are at risk of relapse, they can work through a series of questions and read uplifting messages to help them stay on track.

The app also offers a search engine to find relevant materials and a chat forum to connect with others on their recovery journey.

I Am Sober

The I Am Sober app tracks users’ sobriety milestones, provides motivational quotes for encouragement and support, and tracks the amount of money users have saved by not purchasing drugs or alcohol. The app can be used to develop new habits and provides a withdrawal timeline to provide information on what to anticipate and to help users stay focused on their goal.

The app also offers a network of others in recovery and has companions available to interact with 24/7. There is an opportunity to share what is working and to learn from others.

Users can write reasons and add photos to help them remember why they quit and can take a daily pledge to sobriety. There is also a feature to recap each day to help identify triggers and aspects that made life easier to help form new habits.

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Link for Apple

Link for Android

This app offers daily mediations to help inspire users and offer support. The app has reminders and the ability to favorite the lessons that resonate with users the most. There are prayers and religious teachings that pair well with 12-step programs. Users can share their favorite content via text or email.

Recovery Box

Link for Apple

Link for Android

The Recovery Box app divides the 12-step process into various actions. The descriptions come with directions to follow and mini-goals to achieve. It helps users navigate every single one of these steps, both expected and unexpected, with recovery stories, detailed descriptions of each of the 12 steps, a recovery calculator, hundreds of pages of readings from the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book, in-app sponsorship, and chat features.

Users can set nightly reminders and write their thoughts in a section designated for note-taking. They can also add sponsors or sponsees to connect with them through instant messenger.

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