A mobile app offered by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation puts help for addiction recovery at a person’s fingertips. (Credit: KARE 11)
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. – Mobile apps offered by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation puts help for addiction recovery at a person’s fingertips.
The Field Guide to Life features a SOS button that sends a message for help to the user’s support team. The app also includes structured guidance, tracking and motivational tools to help user’s succeed in recovery. The app took won the White House award for Best App for Patient Empowerment in 2014.
Hazelden offers 13 apps for Apple and Android products, each serving a different niche in recovery.
“I think it extends the world of recovery outside of clinics; it extends what they learn in treatment,” said Jodie Carter, senior product manager for Hazelden Publishing. “It provides them with support in between provider visits to help them stay on track.”
The Field Guide to Life was created following the success of Hazelden’s My Ongoing Recovery Management (MORE) Program. The web and phone-based recovery coaching program offers 24/7 support to clients after they leave treatment.
According to Hazelden, data shows that people who use large parts of MORE in the year after treatment had much higher abstinence rates and drank less alcohol than people who accessed little or no segments of MORE.
One of the apps, COR-12, is tailored specifically to heroin and opioid users.
“Everything from what is medication assisted treatment to what is recovery like and how is it different for opioid addiction,” said Carter.
Altogether, the apps have been downloaded more than 500,000 times, according to Hazelden.
“With people in AA and in recovery, it’s learning from other people. So even though it’s using technology it really goes back to people helping other people in recovery,” said Carter.
The Field Guide to Life is compatible with Apple and Android smartphones and tablets.
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