Self-Help Apps

Evernote (free)

• Top rated note-taking app
• Allows users to scribble down notes or type characters
• Can capture photographs and record voice memos
• Can be synched across 2 devices
• Can share notes with friends or peers

Available for Apple iPhone, Mac, Windows, and Android.

myHomework Student Planner (free)

• Track your classes, homework, tests, and assignments
• Calendar display to easily remind you when things are due
• Never forget an assignment

Available for Apple iPhone and Android.

 SelfControl

• Allows users to block specific websites for up to 24 hours
• No cheaters allowed here! Even if you delete the app, the website will still be blocked for the designated amount of time

Available for Apple Mac.

Freedom ($6.99/month)

• Blocks apps and websites (or even the entire internet)
• Users can build new, productive habits with scheduling features
• Cover all of your devices (Mac OS X 10.8 - 10.12, Windows (Vista, 7, 8, or 10) or iOS 9+

See above bullet for available devices.

Addicaid (free)

• Provides list of 12-step and alternative substance abuse support programs
• Meeting location and directions to location
• Saves group meeting dates
• Allows users to check-in to meetings and offer feedback on meeting
• Provides chat/discussion boards for users to talk anonymously

Available for Apple iPhone and Android.

IMquit (free)

• Traces behaviors
• Allows users to compare/share their success with friends and/or physicians
• Allows users to track more than 1 addiction at a time
• Provides visual charts and diagrams to illustrate user's progress

Available for Android.

Recovery Box ($1.99)

• Provides information on why habits/ addiction form and how to break the cycle of addiction
• Users track their activities using a light system (Example: green light = favorable activities)
• Users can journal their triggers and earn badges when they reach personal milestones

Available on Apple iPhone and Android.

Breathe2Relax (free)

• Teaches breathing and stress management through diaphragmatic breathing exercises
• Guides deep breathing practice
• Can set preferred music, video scenery, and breathing intervals

Available on Apple iPhone and Android.

Tactical Breather (free)

• Teaches the use of breathing to control stress responses
• Gain control over physiological and psychological responses to stress

Available on Apple iPhone and Android.

 Self-Help Anxiety Management (SAM)

• Offers tools for anxiety-related problems
• Users rate the helpfulness of the tools and build their own toolbox
• Self-assess your level of distress in different domains of anxiety
• Users can share their experiences

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

Panic Relief (free or pay $0.99 for added features)

• Offers educational material on panic disorder
• Offers several techniques for prevention and managing a panic attack

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

Stop Panic and Anxiety (free)

• Provides tools, articles, and audio files for individuals struggling with panic attacks
• Provides assistance during panic attacks, relaxation techniques, emotion training, and mindfulness training

Available on Android

My Pain Diary ($4.99)

Designed for pain tracking for several chronic health conditions including:

• lupus
• fibromyalgia
• arthritis

Program is able to explore changes in pain level over time

• Includes mood scales for anxiety and depression

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

Chronic Pain Tracker (lite version = free)

• Builds upon pain diary mechanism (see above)
• Adds descriptors for pain intensity, sensation, and speed of onset
• Interactive map that covers afflicted areas of the body
• Includes medication logs for both prescription and OTC medication

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

The Safe Place (free) 

• The Safe Place is a minority mental health app geared towards the Black community. 

• Allows users to chat with others about mental illness. 
• Provides mental health articles and tips. 

Available on Apple iPhone. 

Action for Asperger's (free)

• Provides counseling and support for all variants of autism, from lower-functioning to higher-functioning types

Big White Wall ($37)

• Allows users with various mental illnesses to chat about their issues
• Users can chat with and be supported by a trained therapist
• Chats are anonymous
• Allows users to register for online therapy programs

Available on Apple iPhone and Android.

eMoods Bipolar Mood Tracker (free)

• Daily monitoring of the user's mood, sleep patterns, medication, and other symptoms of bipolar disorder
• Emails a report to the user's doctor or caregiver every month
• Can help identify triggers and possibly prevent future episodes

Available on Android.

DBT Diary Card and Skills Coach ($4.99)

• Includes key principles of dialectical behavior therapy
• Designed to help user slow down and process their thoughts/feelings in the moment
• Allows for behavior monitoring

Available on Apple iPhone and Android.

Insight Timer (free)

• Features more than 4,000 guided meditations from over 1,000 teachers
• Topics include self-compassion, nature, and stress
• Can also do quiet meditations and meditate to intermittent bells

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

Liberate Meditation (free) 

• Mission is to support the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community. 
• Features dharma talks and guided meditations by Buddhist teachers of color, like Ruth King, Gina Sharpe, and Mushim Patricia Ikeda. 
• The content features a variety of topics including dealing with microaggressons and cultivating loving-kindness for difficult people. 
• Meditations are on a varitey of topics such as mindfulness, self-worth, and gratitude. 

Available on Apple iPhone and Android. 

Headspace (free for 1st 10 days)

• Guides you through meditation 10 minutes at a time
• Aims to be the personal trainer in establishing daily practice

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

Stop, Breath, and Think (free)

• Includes psychoeducational properties, progress tracking, and a variety of other activities
• Covers some of the neuroscience of mindfulness and the physiology of stress

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

Gratitude Circle (free) 

• Friendly and uplifting platform featuring a social media app  
• Compiles photo and note posts in one 'Feed' for you to soak up gratefulness shared within the circle you set up 
• Aims to bring hapiness and positivity to users 
• Privately track gratitude in 'My Notebook' 

Available in the App and Google Play stores 

Whats My M3 (free)

• Helps users track mood symptoms
• Screens for depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and PTSD via 27-item self-assessment
• Provides visual representations and psychoeducational links

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

T2 Mood Tracker (free)

• Track issues related to service member's transition to civilian life (anxiety, depression, well-being, PTSD)
• Can also be used by non-service member individuals

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

PTSD Coach (free)

• Helps users with PTSD symptoms to better understand and manage their symptoms
• Provides education about PTSD, info about professional care, self-assessment for PTSD, and opportunities to find support
• Tools range from relaxation skills and positive self-talk to anger management, mindfulness, etc.

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

If you are involved in on-going therapy with a licensed professional, we have other applications that may be useful for you! Talk with your counselor to learn more about these apps.

 CBT-i Coach (free)

• Helps users with insomnia symptoms move towards more optimal sleep
• Should not be used independently, but in conjunction with a clinician who is trained in CBT for insomnia

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

Dream EZ (free)

Help diffuse nightmares to increase optimal sleep

Users can:

• write and log description of nightmare
• track and monitor when and how often the nightmare occurs
• practice visualization techniques
• record new version of the dream

Available on Apple iPhone and Android

It is great to get help for yourself or even a friend, but these applications are not meant to be used in place of professional help.

If you are thinking about or maybe even considering suicide, please call the Baltimore County Response Team at (410) 931-2214 or visit the nearest emergency room.

Grassroots (410) 531-6677 and Baltimore County Suicide Hotline (410) 433-5175 are also great resources!

As always, please give us a call (410) 704-2512 and schedule an appointment to speak with one of our counselors.

A Friend Asks

A Friend Asks is a free smart-phone app that helps provide the information, tools and resources to help a friend (or yourself) who may be struggling with thoughts of suicide. Education is the key to prevention and with information like this as close as your smartphone, you could help save a life!

Operation Reach Out

Operation Reach Out is part of MCA-D’s effort to provide timely and effective support and guidance for military families. It's designed to:

• Encourage people to reach out for help when they are having suicidal thoughts.
• Help those who are concerned about family members, spouses, or fellow service members who may be suicidal.
• Provide a personal contact help center.
• Provide activities to help people who are depressed stay connected to others.

Note: This app contains many videos segments and may take up extra memory and time to download. Video must be downloaded while connected by wifi.

 Abhaya

• Designed to protect women from dating violence and sexual assault
• Installs 4 numbers on speed dial and if user clicks "start" button in app, then it alerts the 1st number listed
• Tracks GPS location (when opened)

Available on Android

Circle of 6 (free)

• Can send different notifications to the user's
• Allows users to contact the local authorities
• Provides information for sexual assault and relationship abuse hotlines

SAFESNAPP ($9.99)

• Allows users to take a picture of their assailant
• Picture is then sent to user's email address and the email addresses of a close friend or family member
• Sends the GPS location to email as well

Available on Apple iPhone and Android.