There is certainly no shortage of online services that claim to help people battling an addiction. But when your app is getting praise from famed startup mag Fast Company, that is certainly something worth noting. The tech company Data Cubed is behind the hot new iPhone download, which goes by the name ResQ.
ResQ is actually based on psychological assessments and utilizes a person’s network of family and friends. It is also targeted specifically toward the opioid crisis, which has earned its fair share of recent headlines. Neurobiologist Paul Glimcher is part of the team who put the app together and made a point to emphasize its scientific elements.
“The vast majority of recovery apps out there, and there are hundreds of them, have almost no science behind them,” Glimcher explained to Fast Company. “ResQ translates the assessments that I and other practitioners use in clinics to mobile games. The development team includes both game designers and researchers who have studied opioid addiction under National Institutes of Health grants.”
ResQ does implement a wide variety of techniques to assess a person’s penchant to relapse. They range from simple “lottery game” trivia questions, to touch button surveys, to deeper measurements of cravings and loneliness.
The app also lets struggling users add contacts from their support network. The peer groups can then view and track their loved one’s progress over time. And this works with both warning alerts, as well as rewards when a person has stayed clean for a significant amount of time. In fact, those in the network receive push notifications to send congratulatory emojis if a sobriety milestone is met.
As mentioned above, ResQ was designed by leading professionals in the field. This can be extremely beneficial for the friends and family of a struggling loved one. If the time has come to reach out, trained coaches can tell the networkers what to say and how to handle a potential relapse risk. This also works for counselors and medical professionals, who can monitor progress and potentially adjust something like a methadone dosage, if a high risk user is showing warning signs.
One thing that also caught our attention about ResQ was its complete user friendliness. Though these are complicated and difficult topics, the app makes a point to display data in a way that’s easily digestible. It’s also very colorful and upbeat, which can be very welcome for someone battling a dark addiction.
To find out more about ResQ, we recommend visiting the app’s official site.
