Recovery

The Fortune Society

BUILDING PEOPLE, NOT PRISONS

THE FORTUNE NEWS VOLUME LIX • WINTER 2025

RECOVERY

THE FORTUNE SOCIETY MISSION The Fortune Society’s mission is to support successful reentry from incarceration and promote alternatives to incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities.

We do this by: • BELIEVING in the power of individuals to change • BUILDING LIVES through service programs shaped by the needs and experiences of our participants • CHANGING MINDS through education and advocacy to promote the creation of a fair, humane, and truly rehabilitative correctional system

SERVICES AND PROGRAMS Services that Rebuild Lives The Fortune Society provides culturally competent services and lifetime aftercare to people with incarceration histories.

CONTACT US info@fortunesociety.org 212.691.7554 The Fortune Society 29-76 Northern Blvd.

Long Island City, NY 11101 Walk-In Hours: Monday through Thursday 8:00 am – 8:00 pm Friday 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

ENGAGE WITH US The Fortune Society @thefortunesoc

Our services include: HOUSING

@fortunesociety

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH (Outpatient Mental Health Treatment, Outpatient Substance Use Treatment, Peer Recovery Center (the NEST))

The Fortune Society

SKILL BUILDING (Education, Employment Services, Digital Literacy, Creative Arts)

@fortunesociety fortunesociety.org

WELL-BEING (Food and Nutrition, Benefits Access, Healthcare Coordination, HIV/AIDS Health Services, Family Services) DECARCERATION (Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) & Court Advocacy, Transitional Services (RISE), Supervised Release) ADVOCACY AND RESEARCH (The David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy (DRCPP), Center for Research, Inquiry and Social Justice (CRIS-J))

SUBSCRIBE Receive top news from Fortune each week by subscribing to the Fortune Weekly email list: fortunesociety.org/subscribe

VOLUME LIX • Winter 2025

THE FORTUNE NEWS TABLE OF CONTENTS

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EYE ON FORTUNE KEY EVENTS IN 2024

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THE VOICES YET TO BE HEARD

By Marino K. Leyba

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FACES OF FORTUNE

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PRE-TEEN SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND PRISON

By Craig Mobayed

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WAR AND PTSD

By B.A.

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HELP IN YOUR POCKET: APPS TO SUPPORT MENTAL HEALTH AND AID IN RECOVERY

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NAVIGATING FRIENDSHIPS AND RECOVERY

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THE HARDEST BATTLE, THE HARDEST TRUTH

By Dani Harris

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A CLOSER LOOK AT MEDICATION-ASSISTED TREATMENT FOR OPIOIDS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kendall Shepard ASSISTANT EDITOR AND WRITER Madelyn Fink MANAGING EDITOR Brian Robinson

The Fortune News is a publication from The Fortune Society, printed twice per year to inform the public of the work and impact of Fortune’s reentry services, advocacy efforts and research work. ©2025 The Fortune Society, Inc. All Rights Reserved

PRISONER CORRESPONDENCE Samuel Davis Judith Wall WRITER AND EDITOR Leah Shear DESIGNER Background Stories

EYE ON FORTUNE See your writing in the next edition of the Fortune News!

IN THE NEXT ISSUE: Justice for All – What does the term “justice for all” mean to you? What impact does the word “justice” have when talking about the justice system? Do you feel heard as an American? This theme is open for interpretation through written and visual responses.

Send written (800 words or less) or visual art responses to:

BREAKING GROUND ON CASTLE III This past June, The Fortune Society broke ground on our new permanent affordable housing site, Castle III. Located in East Harlem, this 82-unit site will be built with high performance building envelope and onsite renewable energy. The project is designed to serve formerly incarcerated individuals experiencing homelessness and community members with low incomes, ensuring they have stable homes and the support they need to thrive. Castle III is expected to open in 2026. 

development@ fortunesociety.org or mail them to: Fortune News Editors c/o The Fortune Society 29-76 Northern Boulevard Long Island City, NY 11101

NEW HOPE WITH ATLAS HOPE In 2024, United Way of New York City provided The Fortune Society with a grant to implement the Atlas HOPE program, which aims to add to the existing community violence intervention and prevention strategies in New York City by creating a continuum of care for adult men most likely to engage in serious community violence and least likely to receive the supportive services necessary to end cycles of trauma and violence.

This investment will aid in the development of individualized

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plans that will provide the necessary services and resources to reduce barriers to engagement, along with transitional

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employment opportunities that will create a pathway to stable, unsubsidized employment. 

FACES OF FORTUNE transitional services, now our RISE Transitional Services. I’m grateful to have had incredible growth opportunities at Fortune, taking on the role of Director of Contracts, Data, and Special Projects and, most recently, being promoted to Senior Director of Workforce Development upon reaching my fifth anniversary at the organization.

CARLER, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

I began my career in criminal legal reform as an intern at Osborne Association before being hired as Billing Coordinator in Fortune’s

In my new leadership position, I oversee the Education program and Employment Services program.

Adjusting to the role has been challenging, as I previously supervised a team of two which has now grown to a team of 32, but I’m grateful for the support from Fortune’s Executive leadership team and my colleagues.

pursuing a career serving system impacted people. With ES, I enjoyed assisting during mock interviews and with resume building. Getting to know the participants and hearing their stories helped solidify my interest in working in the criminal legal space.

ELOISE, INTERN

I first began interning at The Fortune Society over a year ago with Employment Services (ES).

I learned about Fortune through the Career Services Center at my college, and I was interested in

During my time with Fortune, I’ve explored several departments as I prepare for my future after graduation.

After completing my internship with ES, I came back to intern at the Supervised Release Program (SRP) office. My primary role was working in the food pantry. Returning to the community was important to me, as I wanted to continue building my relationships with the participants and staff members.

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As the child of a justice-impacted parent, I bring a unique perspective to my work at Fortune. I consider how our participants feel at every part of the process during their time with us. Society often pushes justice-impacted people aside in a way that can severely diminish their confidence. My goal is to empower our participants and provide a haven to rebuild that confidence and flourish.

Everyone deserves another chance.

I believe that we all make mistakes and, whether it takes one try or 20 tries, we all deserve the opportunity to move forward. 

While with SRP, I toured a courthouse in the Bronx where I was present during some of our participants’ arraignments. It was a perfect introduction to SRP because it showed me how we support participants in a multitude of areas, from transitional and court services to housing and employment assistance. I’ve already learned so much, and I hope to continue exploring Fortune’s reach in the future. 

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WAR AND PTSD

BY B.A. Indiana Prison Writers Workshop student

In 1963, I lived a normal life in Indianapolis, Indiana, but like many young men, I was eager to grow up fast. I joined the United States Marine Corps at 17. For two years, I trained in California in various warfare tactics, focusing heavily on guerrilla warfare. Unbeknownst to me, America was preparing for the Vietnam War. Rumors about Vietnam and the possibility of war were rampant. Suddenly, it became real when, in 1965, my Marine company received orders for Chu Lai, Vietnam. In 1965 and 1966, I fought in Vietnam. I lost my company commander, Captain Bruce Webb, whom I admired, along with many other close friends in combat.

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Throughout my life, I never quite recovered from those losses.

crew members, just 19 years old, was killed in my sight. I quit the power company that day and stayed drunk most of the time. I felt miserable and had no idea what was happening to me.

When I returned home in 1967, I struggled to adjust to civilian life.

I began drinking alcohol, something I had never done In 1972, I “I felt miserable before. Later, committed a crime psychologists said that would change and had no my alcohol abuse my life forever. I idea what was was an attempt robbed a bank and happening to me.” to self-medicate. shot it out with a Recovery was sheriff’s deputy. slow. Upon The officer died. returning There was a trial— to Indianapolis, I worked for some of which I don’t remember— Indianapolis Power and Light and I was found guilty of murder Company. One day, one of my and sentenced to life in prison. The

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bank robbery and trial were like a bad dream, except it wasn’t a dream.

Many days, I woke up in a cold cell with the horrible realization that the robbery was real. During the day, I stumbled around in silence, but inside, I was overwhelmed with grief and sadness. The first years of my life in prison were spent submerged in a foggy haze.

In Vietnam, I never drank alcohol, although many of my Marine friends did. When I went out on the town with them, I drank Coke. I was their insurance policy to make sure they got back to base on time because I was sober. My reasons for not drinking alcohol stemmed from childhood—my father was an alcoholic, and I swore I would never touch alcohol. And I didn’t, until the miserable life I was living became the devil’s playground, and I was out of control. What I swore I would never do, I now did.

Looking back, I realize I was never able to recover from the trauma of Vietnam.

I’ve spent 52 years in prison.

Although I have been eligible for parole for 32 years, Indiana does not

easily forgive someone who shoots a proud Marine, but I became ashamed police officer. Since being in prison, and afraid to wear my uniform I discovered that I had suffered from in Indiana. I went to war for my severe post-traumatic stress disorder country. I killed America’s enemies.

(PTSD). PTSD was diagnosed And for the record, I never killed after 20 years of government any babies. But I couldn’t rationalize studies because too many Vietnam why my friends died, and I didn’t. veterans were experiencing similar The guilt overwhelmed me, and symptoms. After the findings were drinking alcohol became my escape. made known, my family hired My recovery took time. I’ve read several psychologists specializing many self-help books while in in PTSD, and they prison, attended all concluded that many Alcoholics I suffered from Anonymous full-blown, chronic classes, and spent “I no longer have PTSD at the time many days in a cell, of the crime. There nightmares. I alone, meditating was no help for no longer drink on life. They say Vietnam veterans time heals all alcohol.

I can when I came home. things, but a man talk about the My fellow Hoosiers lost his life that day. war and what made it worse by I no longer have happened now.” spitting on me and nightmares. I calling me a baby no longer drink killer at the airport, alcohol. I can talk which hurt more about the war and than the trauma I what happened now.

Today, I’m was suffering inside. I was left alone wiser.

War is hard; it leaves behind to endure a miserable existence. I hidden scars. And I don’t watch war had no criminal record until after movies before bedtime because I Vietnam. It was then that my world want to sleep.  began to shatter. Before that, I was a

VOLUME LIX • Winter 2025

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NAVIGATING FRIENDSHIPS AND RECOVERY a listening ear during times of vulnerability, they want participants to succeed.

Ingrid, a participant at Fortune, is a welcoming presence at many of the group meetings and has found critical support from the NEST as she focuses on developing healthier habits and relationships.

The NEST at The Fortune Society, or the Networking and Engagement Services Team, is the peer recovery center for Fortune participants, offering a safe space for individuals in recovery from a substance use disorder. The non-clinical setting promotes long-term recovery through skill-building groups, recreation and the opportunity to connect with peers with similar life experiences.

In the NEST, participants will find both individual and group support.

The weekly groups discuss numerous topics including relapse prevention, anger management and reentry support, all guided by the needs and experiences of those present at each group meeting.

Peer recovery coaches offer one-onone guidance for participants as they navigate reentry. Whether providing help finding employment, rebuilding relationships with family or offering

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including nonjudgemental support, respect of boundaries and shared interests beyond substance use.

Maintaining healthy relationships can play a critical role in long-term recovery, increasing feelings of acceptance and encouraging sobriety and healthy habits.

FIRM BOUNDARIES

Coming home after 12 years of Ingrid decided that physical distance incarceration, Ingrid vowed never was necessary during recovery to repeat her past mistakes. Instead, as she chose to focus on healing she prioritized family, health and relationships with her family. She healing. She surrounded herself with realized that many of her friends positive people who were unsupportive offer support and of her recovery encouragement during journey or “While physical her recovery journey. encouraged her to fall back into distance is not A secure support negative patterns. the only way system is crucial to Though she didn’t sustaining lasting to maintain want to hurt sobriety during anyone, Ingrid boundaries, it’s long-term recovery. knew that setting important to Ingrid shared some clear boundaries insight into how she find friends who was a crucial step developed healthy toward long-term offer mutual and rewarding recovery. respect without relationships. judgement.”

While physical WHAT IS A distance is not HEALTHY the only way FRIENDSHIP? to maintain boundaries, it’s Coming home, Ingrid reconsidered important to find friends who offer what a healthy friendship looked like mutual respect without judgement. as she sought uplifting and fulfilling This may mean setting limits on relationships. A healthy friendship the amount of time you spend with should have trust, honesty, good someone, only seeing them at certain communication and understanding. times and locations, or clearly communicating your needs and Spero Recovery Center also shared expectations from the relationship. some characteristics of healthy friendships for people in recovery,

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“Ingrid has made significant strides by surrounding herself with positive influences and remaining committed to learning.

She is proud of the positive role models and friendships she has found at Fortune.”

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Ingrid has found comfort in a healthy and sustainable routine. By keeping in mind her goals of finding a home, getting a job and, eventually, starting her own business, Ingrid has gradually developed healthy habits that put her on the path toward success. She begins each day with prayer and meditation, journaling and speaking positive affirmations.

Ingrid comes to The Fortune Society for daily support groups and workshops. Through Fortune, she has learned coping skills and has gained a secure support system to

celebrate her recovery milestones.

Ingrid has made significant strides by surrounding herself with positive influences and remaining committed to learning. She is proud of the positive role models and friendships she has found at Fortune.

DISCOVERING NEW HOBBIES Avoiding negative influences may push you to explore new hobbies and interests during recovery. Ingrid began to prioritize new hobbies like bowling, crocheting and writing. She focuses on hobbies that spark joy and align with her long-term goals.

VOLUME LIX • Winter 2025

The Walker Center shared some ideas for how to combat boredom during recovery, which can increase the risk of hazardous decisions and relapse, especially for those in the early stages of recovery.

They compiled a list of 50 things to do instead of using a substance, including gardening, cooking, learning a new skill or going for a bike ride. Hobbies like these can be a great opportunity to meet others or spend time with loved ones. Ingrid shared that, as she develops new skills and hobbies, she is grateful to have friends to share them with. 

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THE HARDEST BATTLE, THE HARDEST TRUTH

BY DANI HARRIS Teague, TX

Addiction was written in bold script on my DNA in my mother’s womb.

Both my parents had addictive personalities. My oldest sister, Claudia, died from liver cancer attributed to her having been an alcoholic and a drug addict for most of her life. It’s inherited, and we pass it on to our children.

the next year on morphine and other painkillers. Every surgical procedure brought the needle that would send me spiraling away into euphoria. I learned it was worth the pain between shots for the oblivion the shots would bring along with neon dreams.

For the next ten years, I would resist the needle and only indulge in the addictions of pot and beer, lots of pot, with a few pills thrown in for kicks. Then, my youngest sister died in 1983. My world died with her. A year later, “It only takes a few estranged from My battle with random events my family, my addiction began Uncle Joe died, to trigger our when I was 5 or 6 and a girl I knew addictive potential years old when my told me she could parents began to and leaves us get me pills that allow me to drink would make battling against our beer at family me feel better. I self-destruction.” gatherings. My agreed, and then dad would hand she told me they me his bottle of had to be shot up cheap Scotch on with a needle. frosty mornings at the hunting club so he and his friends could laugh as I Life wasn’t worth living anymore, guzzled it like water. and for the first time, I shot up a speedball concoction made up of an Dad was always so proud of his little opiate pain pill and a prescription alcoholic as he took the bottle away. asthma medication. The pain This was the sixties before such evaporated, and all I wanted was to behavior was frowned upon. We’ve stay high forever so the pain in my learned since then that the younger soul would stop tearing me apart. a person is when they start drinking, the more likely they are to become Since then, I’ve tried every drug alcoholics and drug addicts.

I could find and liked them all.

No rehab has ever worked for me In 1975, I was hit by a car and because I don’t want to be sober. I broke both legs. I would spend It only takes a few random events to trigger our addictive potential and leaves us battling against our selfdestruction. Many of us lose that battle. That’s the hard fact no one likes to face.

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just want to blur the edges of my reality and forget the pain for a time.

I’ve been sober for nearly a year now and have hated every day of it.

I have had to admit that I no longer do drugs to get high. I was doing them in search of that final oblivion.

I’m tired of living the life drugs gave me. I have spent the last 32 years in prison and have no idea when I’ll be free. There was a time when I’d tell people about my escapades on drugs. Now they tell me, and I don’t remember. Yet, I crave the escape every time I see or smell drugs. And in prison, I can’t avoid drugs. They are everywhere.

The hardest truth is that the battle I fight today is one I will ultimately lose. It’s a battle already lost because drugs have destroyed my very soul.

I’m an empty shell trying to survive one more day while never knowing when I’ll fall, but knowing I will, and it’s only a matter of time before I fall and never rise again.

The hardest truth of all, I look forward to it because then the pain of life will be over. 

A CLOSER LOOK AT MEDICATION-ASSISTED TREATMENT FOR OPIOIDS than women; those with fulltime employment were 14 times more likely than those who were unemployed; and those living in large metropolitan areas were 3 times more likely than those living in nonmetropolitan areas. 63% of approximately 3,000 local jails across the country screen people for OUD when they are admitted, according to the 2019 Opioid Use Disorder Screening and Treatment in Local Jails report.

However, The Fortune Society offers FDA approved medications to treat opioid use disorders (OUD), including buprenorphine (Suboxone, Sublocade) and naltrexone (Revia, Vivitrol), and can also provide referrals to programs offering methadone.

These medications are vital tools for gaining control over opioid use disorders avoiding overdose and living healthy and productive lives. Robust evidence supports their effectiveness: 60% of people remained opioid free while on Buprenorphine treatment opposed to only 20% of participants remaining opioid free when they had no treatment or were on placebo treatment.

• Patients on Methadone had 33% fewer opioid-positive drug tests and were 4.44 times more likely to stay in treatment compared to controls.

• MAT patients reported a 31.7% decrease in heroin use

post-treatment, and a 11.3% decrease in prescription opioid use compared to 22.3% prior to treatment.

• People with OUD taking prescribed methadone or buprenorphine are 50% less likely to die of overdose compared to no treatment and compared to those taking naltrexone.

An estimated 5.6 million people aged 12 or older in the US had an OUD in 2021. Yet, only about 1 in 5 received medications to treat their OUD. Among adults with past-year opioid use disorder, some groups were found to be less likely to receive medications for opioid use disorder, including Black adults, women, those who were unemployed, and those in nonmetropolitan areas. For instance, non-Hispanic White adults were 14 times more likely to receive medications for opioid use disorder than non-Hispanic Black adults; men were 6 times more likely

VOLUME LIX • Winter 2025

• Only 24% of jails continued MAT for people already engaged in treatment.

• 19% initiated MAT for those who are not.

• 10% of prisons offered clinical treatment in the form of a residential treatment program, professional counseling, detoxification unit, or MAT, suggesting the programming available in prison facilities is primarily self-help or peer-based.  SOURCES Outcomes from the medication assisted treatment pilot program for adults with opioid use disorders in rural Colorado 2021 NSDUH Annual National Report Only 1 in 5 U.S. adults with opioid use disorder received medications to treat it in 2021

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THE VOICES YET TO BE HEARD

BY MARINO K. LEYBA Hobbs, NM

Somebody pointed a gun at me.

I’m having dreams, like getting shot.

Listen!

It’s like I am not able to trust anybody at this point.

Who’s going to have my back? I was trying to suppress the feeling of having a gun shot right next to my head, of having a knife held to my throat.

The world has taken a toll on me.

I keep running into problems.

Anxiety, depression, feeling sad and hopeless.

Hiding, afraid of uncertainty, and the threat of violence.

I keep getting anxious.

I keep surviving!

Isn’t that the purpose of life?

Survive at all costs?

I can still remember sitting on the floor, thinking that when I die I will ask god for all the answers.

How are we supposed to respond to things that seem impossible?

High stakes deal with truth and justice, life and death.

-We are...

We are the voices yet to be heard!

-We are haunted!

How do you view the world?

We know about despair and dark alleys, dead ends.

Were you shaped that way?

Some people are always trying to right their wrongs.

We don’t live long enough to do it.

We all have hearts of gold, yet the world is cold.

This is just a glimpse into the lives of some of the people you know, some of the things we’ve seen.

-Some of us are known for telling the truth to the world!

-For examining why bad things happen to good people!

-For sharing the grief that comes with sudden violence and mourning the empty space once occupied by a loved one.

-We are the voices yet to be heard! 

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PRE-TEEN SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND PRISON

BY CRAIG MOBAYED Napanoch, NY

There are two tragic themes to my life story: The first is about my substance abuse at the ridiculously young age of eight years old, and the other is about my life in prison on the “installment plan” as a direct result of that pre-teen substance abuse.

I was raised in an alcoholically dysfunctional home where I suffered childhood psychological and emotional abuse, as well as the neglect that enabled me to roam the streets of Brooklyn from as young as six years old. By age eight, I was smoking cigarettes and marijuana and sniffing glue; by age nine, I was sexually assaulted on those same streets. How I didn’t end up on a milk carton then is astounding.

By the age of sixteen, I had been steadily blowing my underdeveloped brains out with marijuana, alcohol, glue, nitrous oxide, LSD, uppers,

downers and angel dust. Of course, action from that point on revolved I didn’t know that all those previous entirely around getting more and years of substance abuse, especially more cocaine, pretty much for the the pre-teen years from age eight, rest of my life. had caused severe Four months later, damage to my I got arrested for an brain and instilled attempted robbery in me a life-long “I had no on the street with susceptibility idea just how a toy gun to get to chemical money for more ‘susceptible’ dependency. I had cocaine. I had never no idea just how I was until been arrested before, “susceptible” I was cocaine found its and neither my until cocaine found father nor I knew way into my life its way into my about the justice life and my brain and my brain at system or lawyers. at age seventeen. age seventeen.”

Our first mistake After snorting was not knowing just one line of that I was eligible cocaine, I became for a Legal Aid immediately and Lawyer, and instead, my father severely addicted to the drug. I was mistakenly retained an apparently suddenly like the infamous lab rat ineffective private lawyer who which chooses cocaine over food got me a one to three-year prison until it dies. Every thought and sentence in exchange for my guilty VOLUME LIX • Winter 2025

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“Recovery is synonymous with and conducive to mental wellness.

I am proof that it is never too late to achieve sobriety.”

plea. I learned much later that as a seventeen-year-old with no record and with a drug problem since the age of eight, along with childhood sexual and psychological abuse issues, I never should have been sent to prison. Due to all those “mitigating circumstances,” I should have gotten a drug program as an alternative to a prison sentence and even probation. I also should have gotten a youthful offender status, which would have sealed that conviction. That is, “if” my lawyer would have informed the court of those mitigating circumstances. I had gotten good and railroaded.

Almost forty years later, they changed the law on prosecuting and sending sixteen and seventeenyear-olds to prison because of the damage it causes to them. In 2019, a “Raise the Age” movement became legislation in New York where sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds can no longer be held criminally responsible for their actions. The legislation also includes mandatory Youthful Offender Status to seal these cases so young individuals 13

can recover from their mistakes and move on as independent, lawabiding citizens. This will allow young people to receive the ageappropriate treatment they deserve.

Legislators also indicated that: “there is an increasing recognition that adolescents are immature and impulsive and it is unconscionable that they are forced into a system that focuses on punishment; overwhelming medical and psychological evidence proves that sixteen and seventeen-year-olds don’t have the same faculties as adults in criminal matters and the practice of treating juveniles as adults in the criminal justice system have caused irreparable damage to their development and any prospects they may have had for successful law-abiding futures.”1 Prison-instead-of-treatment at age seventeen, concurrent with my existing, unresolved childhood abuse, resulted in a life-long progression of my disease of addiction, and the struggles that I faced with repeated relapses resulted in my serving four prison sentences WWW.FORTUNESOCIETY.ORG

over the next forty years for robberies committed with toy guns for drugs. But there is good news.

At age sixty, now on my fourth incarceration, I have been clean and sober for the first time since I was eight years old. I share my life story through magazine and newspaper articles to help struggling addicts recover from addiction and to educate parents on the tragedy of pre-teen substance abuse. I am pursuing certification as a recovery coach/ peer advocate with the prospect of working with recovering people with an addiction upon my release, as well as maintaining my sobriety for the rest of my life.

Recovery is synonymous with and conducive to mental wellness. I am proof that it is never too late to achieve sobriety.  SOURCES 1

New York Raises the Age of Adult Criminal Responsibility

HELP IN YOUR POCKET Apps to support mental health and aid in recovery Mental health apps are emerging as valuable tools in managing mental well-being, especially with their accessibility through the internet and smartphones. They offer a range of features, from tracking moods and journaling to providing guided meditations and connecting users with support networks. This evolving landscape of mental health apps encompasses diverse functionalities, each tailored to specific needs.

It’s crucial to remember that these apps are valuable tools for self-care and can be beneficial complements to professional therapy, but they should never be considered a replacement for the guidance and expertise of qualified mental health professionals. All apps are available on IOS and Android.

HAPPIFY Happify’s science-based activities and games can help overcome negative thoughts stress, and life’s challenges, developed by leading scientists and experts who’ve been studying evidencebased interventions in the fields of positive psychology, mindfulness, and cognitive behavioral therapy for decades. happify.com

CALM

HEADSPACE

Calm can help manage stress, balance moods, improve sleep and refocus attention. The app features an extensive library of guided meditation, Sleep Stories, soundscapes, breathwork and stretching exercises.

Focused on meditation and self-care, Headspace aids in improving sleep, managing everyday anxiety and offering services like the ability to text with a mental health coach.

calm.com

headspace.com

I AM SOBER

SOBER SIDEKICK

I Am Sober is a sobriety tracking and support app, assisting millions of people on their journey to maintain sobriety each year.

Members utilize it as a sober day tracker and milestone logger for all types of addictions from quitting alcohol, drugs, nicotine and more.

Sober Sidekick is an app and social network that helps you maintain your sobriety by connecting with a community of people who can empathize with where you are. The app features 24/7 virtual AA meetings for support and daily monitoring and milestones.

iamsober.com

PTSD COACH PTSD Coach was created by the VA’s National Center for PTSD and the U.S. Department of Defense’s National Center for Telehealth & Technology. The PTSD Coach app was designed for Veterans experiencing symptoms of PTSD and includes reliable information, tools for screening and tracking symptoms, easy-to-use tools, and direct links to support and help. ptsd.va.gov/appvid/mobile/ ptsdcoach_app.asp

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