Addiction Support Platform Built on Plone & Django
Location
Berlin, Germany
Industry
Mental Health
Website
Founded
10 Years and counting…
About ChooseHelp
ChooseHelp.com is one of the most visited and trusted addiction recovery platforms in the U.S., connecting people with treatment centers, counselors, and mental health resources across the country. Operated by an independent international media company based in Berlin, the platform offers a mix of editorial content, helpline routing, treatment provider directories, and expert Q&A forums.
ChooseHelp’s mission is to provide real, practical support for individuals and families facing addiction, while avoiding deceptive marketing practices common in the industry.
Challenges
Before partnering with SoftFormance, the platform was limited by outdated CMS tools and fragmented architecture. There were three main challenges:
- An aging Plone instance and unscalable architecture
- The need for a flexible yet stable way to manage two large feature sets: editorial content + rehab listings
- Growing traffic and security demands
Our Solution
We modernized ChooseHelp.com with a dual-application setup, combining the power of Plone CMS for content-heavy sections with a Django REST API for rehab listings and lead generation workflows.
Two applications, one unified platform:
Services We Provided
Over our 10+ year partnership with ChooseHelp, we’ve provided full-cycle product support:
Plone CMS Development & Maintenance
Django REST API
Developmen
Frontend
Engineering
Plone Theming &
Customization
Ongoing Platform
Upgrades
QA, DevOps,
and Security
Retainer-Based
Monthly Support
Rehabs Catalog
One of the platform’s core functionalities is the comprehensive rehab facility directory powered by Django and REST APIs. Users can search, filter, and compare addiction treatment centers across the U.S. in real-time. The system supports call tracking, lead delivery, and integration with third-party marketing tools.
Experts Directory
Built entirely on Plone CMS, the experts section lets users browse licensed addiction counselors and therapists. Visitors can read profiles, explore past answers, and submit their own questions through custom forms. This section showcases the flexibility of Plone to handle structured content types, custom permissions, and dynamic content presentation.
I’ve never really had an experience with them where they couldn’t deliver.
User-Contributed Blog & Articles
ChooseHelp enables individuals in recovery and professionals alike to share personal stories, advice, and educational content. Built on Plone, this section uses advanced workflow permissions, spam protection, and custom moderation tools to manage large volumes of user-generated content securely and efficiently.
News & Topic Hub
The Topics section functions as the site’s dynamic knowledge base, combining curated news, treatment advice, and categorized content hubs. Built in Plone, it takes advantage of Volto’s React-based frontend to deliver a fast, mobile-optimized experience. Topics are SEO-optimized, interlinked, and allow the editorial team to group content by theme, improving user engagement and discoverability.
Our Development
Process
Software Startup Workshop
We began with a collaborative discovery session to align with the client’s product vision, define key user journeys, and document initial technical requirements.
Design & System Architecture
Our design team worked on wireframes and visual prototypes, while engineers mapped out the backend structure and CMS content types needed to scale.
Agile Development in 2-Week Sprints
We delivered the core product in staged releases using Scrum methodology. Features were prioritized in collaboration with the client and demoed at the end of each sprint.
Ongoing Support and Evolution
For over a decade, we’ve maintained and grown the platform with monthly support retainers - handling everything from security patches and UX updates to major CMS and API upgrades.
Key Platform Features
Nationwide addiction treatment provider directory
Real-time lead routing and call tracking integrations
Rich content library: thousands of articles and expert responses
Helpline and location-based treatment matching
Mobile-optimized responsive experience
Custom moderation and content publishing workflows
Results & Impact
Reliable Platform
A stable and scalable platform that handles high traffic and daily publishing workflows
Flexible Workflows
Easy-to-manage editorial workflows thanks to the flexibility of Plone CMS
Evolving Partnership
A long-standing partnership that evolves with the client's business and product goals
Faster Results
SEO improvements and faster page loads, resulting in steady organic traffic growth
Technical Empowerment
A technical foundation that allows non-technical editors to maintain content while developers continue to build new features
Want to Build a Long-Term Software Platform?
Team Involved
Vitaliy Podoba
Anastasiia Maslyuk
Taras Melnychuk
Senior Python Engineer
Serhiy Valchuk
Illia Kupriianov
Anastasiia Haiduk
QA Engineer
Related Projects
CeriumLabs
LocalPower
Gryps
Contact Us
Vitaliy Podoba
CEO, SoftFormance
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