The last thing I want, after I hop into my cozy bed at night to do my daily 10th step work, is to have to get up and look for my pen and my journal. Uggh, it is cold here at night in Colorado 9 months out of the year. These 12 step apps simplify the process.
Hunting around on the internet for 10th step worksheets, I found something so amazing; I had to call the designer.
12 Step Apps on Your Smart Phone
Anymore, what do people always have with them? A smartphone! We sleep with the little computers for crying out loud. What if your phone held all your 10th step thoughts and asked you checklist style questions about your day.
David P. created this “12 step app” as an anonymous way to give back for a wrong he committed in the 80’s. Cleaning up his side of the street by making this app as an amends, David succeeded in helping recovery folks around the world.
In one years time, the “12 step app” was downloaded 50,000 times.
“The app serves people in 30 countries and was just translated into Russian by a loyal user,” David told me.
How the 12 Step Apps Came to Be
(I think this one is the best but for a comparison click this link)
While working his 10th step, David had the same problem I described above. A nightly paper tenth step was just not happening. David searched the web for an app and found one that prompted him with questions. It also stored his previous tenth step information for review.
This technique worked so well that he used it every night until… the app just disappeared. This is when the idea of producing one as an anonymous amends occurred to him.
Not being a computer “geek” David hired a designer in Israel who wrote code. The app then traveled through the hands of a Pakistani designer and was finally uploaded.
While David paid for this out of his pocket at first his daughter sparked a new idea.
The 4th Step App
The 4th step is a killer step in the recovery world. This step asks each recovering person to
Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of themselves.
It stops many would-be recovering alcoholics and addicts in their tracks. Who writes anything down any more. But that is what this step requires pages and pages of writing about who, what, where and when the recovering person harmed when mood-altering during their active addiction.
The 4th step is the pivotal step in recovery. A wake-up call to the reality of life and relationships that were being destroyed by addiction.
David said he was in the car one day when yet another call from a person he sponsored came through having trouble writing their 4th step.
David’s 10-year-old daughter piped up after the call and said,”Dad why don’t you make a 4th step app.”
What a smart kid David said he thought to himself. “They stop teaching you how to write in school after the third grade so why not create an app that people can print out?” David told me.
Creating the 4th Step App required funding.
AA Trivia Whack Game
David used a Go-Fund Me Campaign to get the 4th Step App off the ground. For more sustainable funding he and some buddies got together and developed the AA Trivia Whack Game, –crazy obscure facts about the AA program that made them laugh out loud. The AA Trivia Whack Game was built following AA founder Bill Ws lead that
“we aren’t a glum lot”. The goal of the game is to have some sober fun while learning about the program that is helping to save your life. Be prepared to be totally humbled by your ignorance of the Big Book, AA History, AA Slogans, and Big Book Vocabulary!
While the 4th Step and 10th Step Apps are free the AA Trivia Whack ($2.99) and Early Sobriety Companion ($2.99) use their nominal fees to support the needed updates for all 4 apps.
One Catch with the 12 Step Apps
The one catch with these 12 Step Apps is you do need a smartphone for true daily effectiveness. With most of the world addicted to their smartphones, this is normally not an issue.
The other problem, there are no more excuses. Looking at you AA sponsor and complaining that you left your journal at home is just not an option with these powerful apps. Being honest with yourself is now at your fingertips.
For a review of addiction recovery, smartphone app find it here.
Wow! What a great way to do 12 step work-always with you.
Thanks for the info. I will share with my group.