Drum circle helps those in drug addiction

Recovery app utilizes a game-like, rewards-driven approach to keep people engaged in their recovery. It is designed to reach out to millennial substance abusers, and is available for free.

Rolando Schneiderman, New Leaf’s chief technology officer, took a leave of absence from his computer science studies at Carnegie Mellon University to develop the software.

“It appeals to the young who played video games, and who tend to isolate themselves and are not inclined to reach out to structured Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous,” Ryan Brannon said.

The app provides information about addiction, mental health problems, and recovery, and relies on research from professionals in the addiction field and on applicable elements of game theory.

Besides self-monitoring tasks and positive coping strategies, it provides a “panic button” on every screen to get in touch with a hot line, mentor, or sponsor of one’s designation.

There have been 5,000 downloads in the past year.

“We don’t know who they are. They have their privacy,” Ryan Brannon said.

For their family members, it is social interaction that can be key.

“It helps knowing others are going through what you’re going through, and at all ages and stations in life,” Michelle of Westmoreland County said. She and her husband, John, attend family events. The couple, both of whom have suffered recent nervous breakdowns, chose not to give their full names.

Their son overdosed on heroin in 2016, and is in prison today.

“Here you learn the signs and symptoms of using, and what it does to your brain,” Michelle said. “I recommend coming now, even if your kids are young, and learning because you don’t know what lies ahead.”

“Come now before you need it.”

For more information on any of the events, call 888948-4424.