For addiction treatment centers
A daily check-in for every addiction recovery client — and an early warning for everyone who supports them.
Each day your clients answer a short check-in by phone, web or smartphone. Random drug tests are scheduled automatically. When something looks wrong — a missed check-in, distress detected in the voice journal, high cravings, a failed test — the right people hear about it the same day, not at the next appointment.
Used every day at ABC Recovery Center since 2018 · 623 clients · Medi-Cal approved
Schedule a demo See how it worksWho we are
Built inside a treatment center, not a tech company
HandHeld Monitoring was built for the clients of ABC Recovery Center in Palm Desert, California, and has run there every day since 2018. We are four people: a treatment-center leader, an addiction-medicine physician, a researcher in emotion and addiction, and an operations lead who sets up and supports every center we work with.
David M. Grey
Chairman of ABC Recovery Center. Decades running addiction treatment.
Dr. Matthew Torrington, MD
Addiction-medicine physician. Medical Director at CRI-Help, Los Angeles.
Dr. Edward (Ted) Hill, PhD
Published researcher in emotion and substance use. Designed and built the platform.
Jonathan James
Sets up each center, trains the staff and is the person you call.
The client at the center
One client, everyone who supports them, on the same page
Recovery involves more people than the counselor. Each of them sees only what their role needs, and is told only what they should act on.
The client
Daily check-in, voice journal, random tests.
Counselor & caseworker
Mood & craving trends, same-day alerts.
Physician & nursing
Medication adherence, test schedule & results.
Family & loved ones
Wellbeing updates, with the client’s consent.
Sober living
Resident check-ins and test results.
Court & probation
Compliance records, missed & failed tests.
Program leadership
Outcomes, CARF & Medi-Cal reporting.
What actually happens
A week with HandHeld Monitoring
Example: Sally is a client six weeks into an outpatient program.
How we work with your center
Running in days, not months
We set you up
We configure your accounts and testing schedules and train your staff. No setup fee.
You enroll clients
A caseworker registers each client with their substances, prescriptions and support contacts.
It runs every day
Check-ins, random tests and voice journals run on their own. Testing is done at your nursing station, or fully remotely through LabCorp.
You act on what matters
Alerts go to the people who should act. Trends and reports are on your dashboard.
Why it matters
Better for the center, the client and the people who love them
For the treatment center
- More clients complete treatment: 70% at ABC vs. 48% nationally
- Clients stay longer: 85 days on average vs. 79
- Caseworkers spend time on the clients who need it today
- Outcomes data ready for CARF and Medi-Cal
- Medi-Cal billable, priced per client per month
For the client
- Structure and accountability every day, not only at appointments
- Someone notices a bad day before it becomes a relapse
- Learns to name and understand their own feelings, a skill tied to staying sober
- Works on any phone, including a basic or government-issued one
For family and loved ones
- Know their person is checking in and staying on track
- Hear early when something is off, instead of after a crisis
- Less guessing and less policing at home
- The client chooses who is told, and what
completed treatment
(national average 48%)
days average stay
(national average 79)
clients monitored
Sept 2018 – Jan 2026
“Relapses have dropped dramatically since we adopted HandHeld Monitoring. Clients are more accountable to program compliance. We can monitor our clients more closely and evade relapses when there is a hint of trouble.”
Johnny Courreges · Sober Living & Transitional Living Manager, ABC Recovery Center
ABC Recovery Center, Palm Desert, CA — Newsweek Top Addiction Treatment Center 2021–2023. Results published in RecoveryView.
See it with real data
A 30-minute call with Jonathan: we walk through the dashboard using anonymized results from ABC Recovery Center.
Schedule a demo