There is a new way for Americans struggling with addition to stay sober and its available right on their smartphones.
iTether is an app to help patients leaving in-patient care transition back to life in society.
In 2017, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey declared an opioid crisis in the state.
iTether creator and Phoenix resident, Brad Wilde has firsthand experience with addiction and the impact it can have on the people around the addict.
“My involvement is personal,” Wilde said. “I’m a recovering person for 30+ years. I have seen over the years based on my personal journey and my experience working with a long-term provider here, both what works and what is lacking in the recovery continuum. What’s lacking is good, connective, out-patient care.”
Wilde says leaving in-patient care can be an incredibly daunting task for recovering addicts to face.
“The last and perhaps most critical part of the recovery process is once you leave and go out the door,” Wilde said. “What tools do you have to go forward and live your life? The answer today is ‘not much.’” Wilde said.
The app was created to collect all services and assistance opportunities together in one place to help keep recovering addicts on the right track.
“Your plan of care is essentially in your hand,” he said. “If you need to review lesson plans to keep you connected and sober, those are on your phone. If you need other resources for housing, job connection, meeting reminders, that’s all on your phone.”
A great feature the app includes is to contact for help directly through the app when you are running late due to a meeting due to emergency.
Wilde says that they are working on expanding the app to include healthcare and criminal justice facets of addiction as well.
“There’s a lot of crossover between substance abuse recovery and criminal justice recovery,” he said. “We’ve found many of the tools used for the substance abuse folks are also used in the criminal justice recovery arena.”
The app’s mission was to help addicts find success in sober living and it is doing just that.
“We’re taking a rocket ship ride to helping a whole lot of people,” Wilde said.
Click here to learn more about iTether.
