Step Away: Alcohol Help

Have you been having problems with alcohol? Have others expressed concern that your drinking may be out of control? Are you ready to step away from old drinking habits? If you are like many people, getting a handle on a drinking problem has been very difficult, especially if you are trying to do it alone. Step Away is here to help you through this process. Step Away brings the tools to make a positive change in you drinking easily and privately to your smartphone. Step Away will be your personal assistant as you go through the process of changing your drinking. It provides the structure you need to help you stop altogether or to reduce your drinking to safe levels. It will provide you with the tools and the accountability to make a positive change and stay with it. With Step Away, there is no need to wait until your next meeting with a counselor to receive helpful strategies and feedback on your progress while on your journey to a new relationship with alcohol. Immediate help will be right there on your smartphone. Step Away has been in development since 2013. It has been the focus of numerous grants from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. Research has shown that it has helped people reduce their drinking by as much as 60% and that users indicated that it was very helpful in giving them helpful tools and keeping them on track. Step Away is an empirically supported system that can help you take control of your drinking. Step Away will help you to privately and effectively: • Become more aware of your drinking patterns and triggers. • Set an overall drinking objective (to either stop drinking OR moderate your drinking) as well as smaller intermediate goals to help you succeed in stages. • Keep yourself accountable through continual feedback on your progress. • Stay in control when you are feeling tempted to drink by providing immediately available tools. • Learn new and helpful strategies for dealing with cravings, bad moods and boredom. • Keep you on track during your personally defined “high risk times” for drinking. • Remind yourself about your reasons for making a change when you are feeling like drinking or are in a tempting situation. • Share your progress with others (family, friends or health care provider). • Help you prepare for “high risk events” in the coming week - and strategically avoid alcohol triggers. • Identify alternate (non-drinking) activities and schedule them directly into your calendar. If you choose to utilize Step Away, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you allow the app to send you alerts and notifications. These are designed to keep you on track, particularly during times when you need help the most.