President's Message
Therapeutic Technology
The cell phone has become indispensable and most, if not all of our clients have them. Whether you love the phone or despise it, it is here to stay. With the advent of the smartphone there are a plethora of apps tailor-made for them. So what’s an app? It is simply a program that your phone can run, similar to a computer software program. There are many apps that are designed for mindfulness, inspiration, sleep, fitness, and self-care among others. I have listed a couple of my favorite ones and others that have been recommended by a few therapist friends. These apps can help both clients and therapists; think self-care. Most of these can easily be found in Google Play Store or the Apple Store depending on your platform.
1. Simply Being Guided Meditation for Relaxation and Presence ($1.99) is available for both the iPhone and Android. This is great app to start off learning to meditate, it will help teach the beginner that there is “no correct way” to meditate thus taking off the pressure to do it right. You choose the length of time that you will rest and meditate and which background sounds you want to hear. If you have trouble sleeping, this app will help create a calm and restful space.
2. The next app is the winner of 2014 Department of Defense Innovation Award The Virtual Hope Box (VHB) (Free) it was designed to be use by behavioral health providers and their clients as an adjunct to treatment. The VHB contains simple tools to help patients with coping, relaxation, distraction, and positive thinking.
3. Calm (free) when you have a stressful day you have to try this app. This app has beautiful photos with nature sounds. It has a variety of different themes to help you relax. It can help with meditation, relaxation, and better sleep, plus it is free!
4. Breathe2Relax (free) is a cool app that teaches diaphragmatic breathing exercises. This app will help clients to decrease their body's 'fight-or-flight' (stress) response. Breathe2Relax can also help with mood stabilization, anger control, and anxiety management and it is designed to be used with your therapist.
5. 5 Minute Journal ($4.99) - Many therapists encourage clients to journal as a main therapeutic tool, but some of our clients find it hard to think of what to write, draw a blank, or find the work intimidating or hard. This app provides subject prompts to help the client get started. It also has a nice feature that reminds clients to write in the morning and again once in the evening. Subject prompts include a focus on gratitude, positive affirmation, and short term goal setting.
There are plenty of apps out there to help with all sorts of problems and concerns our clients may have. Some of these apps are great problem solvers and others are not. But since many of these apps are free it may be worth your time to evaluate them for yourself. Let me know what your favorite apps are @therapyccs@gmail.com
Until next time,
Sherry Shockey-Pope, LMFT
IE-CAMFT President
