Introducing the Saying When app

The Saying When app was designed and developed by the Education department at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Canada’s leading addictions and mental health hospital. The program itself has been used with great success for over 20 years in book format, and it is now finally available in a mobile version.

Based on the research and evaluation of various treatment methods for patients with alcohol problems by former CAMH senior scientist, Dr. Martha Sanchez-Craig, Saying When is a self-help program that has a proven track record. The same tools that Dr. Sanchez-Craig used with great success to help people bring their drinking under control for over 20 years are used in this mobile version.

The program is introduced with tools that both educate and are easy to understand. You’ll learn what a standard drink is and how the Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines can help you enjoy a healthier lifestyle that can include moderate drinking.

Self-assessment
Answer a few quick questions to set your baseline for success. Understanding when and why you drink will help you know when to “say when.”

Personalized goals
You set your own goals to fit your lifestyle. You can chose to quit drinking or cut down to moderate drinking—the choice is all yours.

Monitor your alcohol and urges to drink
From your personal dashboard you can track when you have a drink or an urge to drink. You can also view your daily stats, monitor your progress and see how you’ve been handling things since you started Saying When.

Interactive drink tracker
We’ve made tracking easy and fun by providing a wide-range of alcohol types to chose from then showing container types that most likely match the one you are currently using. Use the scroll feature to fill the glass to match your drink and you’ll know just how many standard drinks you are consuming before you track them. You can always review and delete and drinks in your Drinking Diary section.

Tips for Success
We’ll provide you with plenty of tips for success that will help your success in the program. They are easy to access and you can be prompted to read them from time-to-time if your tracking puts you over your personal limits.

Checkups
The app will continually be keeping track of your progress versus the weekly limits you set for yourself. Checkups providing stats on how you have done over a 28-day period will become available to view once the period has past. You can see how your drinking pattern may have changed over time and how your personal drinking habits reflects against a those done in a CAMH survey.

Help is always available
If you are experiencing difficulties cutting down or you ever think you can’t do it alone and need more support, links to resources that can provide more help are available in the app.

What is an urge?
An urge to drink occurs when you are tempted to drink above the limits you have set for yourself.

What can I do to cope with my urges to drink?
Keep in mind that the best coping strategies are those that are simple and direct. Fill the time you would be drinking with leisure and other free-time activities. Or simply switch to non-alcoholic beverages. Ask family or friends for support.

What is a goal?
A goal is the upper limits you set for yourself as to the amount you will drink and how frequently. Setting these yourself makes them more realistic and will provide a greater sense of accomplishment. You will be setting a First Goal (2-weeks long), a Long-term Goal and Weekly Goals for yourself in this program.

What is a standard drink?
A standard drink contains a fixed amount of alcohol. The percentage of alcohol in wines, beers, ciders and coolers varies to help you visualize a standard drink see the “What is a standard drink?” section of this app.

When will I get a checkup?
A regular checkup in the Saying When program occurs every 28 days—but you’ll always know how you are doing against your current goal on your tracking dashboard. The app will automatically generate the 28-day checkups for you and you’ll be notified when they are available to view.

If I want to re-start the program how do I do that?
We realize people’s lifestyles fluctuate and you may find yourself wanting to re-start the program. We have built-in the option to reset Saying When so you can start fresh. You’ll be able to redo Taking Stock and reassess your activators and other baseline stats. Be aware that if you chose to reset, you will lose the data you have already tracked—so think about it before you reset.