Using Technology to Help with Drug Addiction Recovery
06/28/19: Addiction Recovery \ Relapse Prevention
In this day and age technology is everywhere. The phone that you carry is more like a personal, compact computer than the phones of yesteryear. When you are in addiction recovery after treatment, being able to use every tool at your disposal is essential. The following guide walks you through a few ways you can use that technology to your benefit when attempting to stay clean and sober after addiction recovery.Video Chat with Your Sponsor When Needed
Being able to talk face to face with your sponsor is important. It allows you to have a personal connection with them and ensure that you feel you are really being heard. Unfortunately, it’s not possible for him or her to drop everything and meet with you on a moment’s notice. That’s where video chatting comes into play. Use video chat to be able to get the face time with your sponsor without having to physically in front of them.Manage Your Schedule with Calendar Apps
When you are in addiction recovery, there are a lot of events that you need to go to on a regular basis in order to maintain your sobriety. This can include group meetings with other addicts in recovery, counseling appointments and even meetings with your sponsor. Use the calendar on your phone to keep track of your important plans so that you never accidentally miss somewhere that you need to be. You can even set alerts to remind you of upcoming events so you can plan in advance to attend them.Track Length of Recovery with a Tracking App
Staying motivated when you are in recovery can be difficult because there is so much temptation in the world. Having a sobriety tracking app on your phone can provide you with the motivation you need to stick with it. There are apps that not only track the number of days that you are sober but also provide you with milestones to remind you of how far you have come. Look for an app that sends you a message each day letting you know how long you have been sober in the morning so that you can be motivated to stay clean all day long. You need to take your journey day by day and having extra motivation can be really helpful.Participate in a Recovery Meeting Anywhere
Being able to meet with other addicts when you are tempted to use or when you are going through a stressful time in your life is essential. Being able to have a meeting at any time of the day is difficult to do in person. There are apps available that allow you to arrange meetings with others online so that you can have a meeting whenever and wherever you need to have one. This can be great for accountability and to get advice when you really need it.Use a Trigger Tracker to Track When, Where and Why Triggers Occur
Knowing your triggers is important when you are in recovery from addiction. There are many people who think that they know what their triggers are, but quickly realize that more things trigger them to want to use drugs than they originally thought. Using a trigger tracker can help you to learn what is truly triggering you to want to use so that you can avoid them in the future. You can determine if going to certain places or doing certain things are negative for your sobriety. You can also look back on the information provided in the app to see that fewer things trigger you as time passes, which can also serve as a great motivator to stick with sobriety.Find a Recovery Meeting no Matter Where You Go
Traveling can be incredibly hard when you are in recovery from a drug addiction. Being able to go to sobriety meetings with other addicts on a regular basis is important, but when you travel it can be hard to find meetings because you may not know where they are held. There are apps available that allow you to find a local meeting wherever you go. This allows you to stick with your sobriety and find people in the area who are also in recovery. You can make new friends and they may be able to help you find fun places to go while you are in the new town or city.Boost Your Mood with Food and Exercise Apps
Going through addiction recovery can sometimes lead to depression. This is because you can feel alone because you aren’t hanging out with the people you hung out with before, or because you have so much time on your hand and don’t know what to do with it. There are apps available that help you to learn how to boost your mood naturally. You can do certain exercises to boost your mood and there are foods that you can eat to boost serotonin and thus improve your overall mood.Accurately Track Your Medication Intake
If you are in recovery and taking medications to make sobriety easier, you need to be sure that you take them at the right time and in the right doses each day. Using an app to track your medication intake ensures you know when to take medications and that you don’t forget to take them. Since you have your phone nearby at all times, it only makes sense to use it to help with your sobriety. Most of the apps that are available for addiction recovery are free or very inexpensive to use. This means that for little or no investment you can try to use technology to make your sobriety journey easier. Most of the apps have tutorials available to teach you how to use them so that they can be as effective as possible. There are also many forums available on the apps that allow you to connect with others who are in recovery so that you can build relationships with people who really understand what you are going through. Content for Arizona Addiction created by Cohn Media, LLC. Passionate and creative writing and broadcasting, covering the following industries: addiction rehab, health care, entertainment, technology and the food/restaurant industry. Advocate of clear communication, positivity and humanity at its best. www.cohn.mediaIf you or someone you know needs help with addiction, contact 602-737-1619 or email [email protected] to get the help you need. Our acclaimed recovery environment merges upscale, luxury accommodations with affordability, clinical expertise and an unwavering commitment to patient care and aftercare.
