Helping Someone Quit
It’s been proven that smokers who are trying to quit are more successful if they have the support of friends, family or a health care professional. It’s important to remember that quitting isn’t only about overcoming an addiction—it’s also a major lifestyle change. For most tobacco users, cigarettes or chew are a part of their daily lives and have been for a long time. Successfully quitting means they have to adapt to a totally new way of life that doesn’t involve tobacco. They need to change deep-rooted everyday rituals that once involved tobacco, such as taking coffee breaks, the drive to and from work, smoke breaks, time after a meal, smoking at parties, outings with friends, and more.
While quitting is hard, you can be a huge help. If approached in the correct way, your loved one or patient may be more open to your thoughts and feelings about why they should quit tobacco.
Helping Friends and Family Quit
As part of a smoker’s support system, you can make a huge difference in their efforts to quit. While the decision to quit and to stay tobacco free is up to them, there is much you, as a support person, can do to help
It’s really important to empathize with them while not being judgmental or enabling them to continue their addiction. Expressing pride, optimism and understanding will be a major source of positive reinforcement to help them quit.
Help Your Patients Quit
As a health care professional, you feel a strong responsibility to help your patients quit smoking. In fact, 86 percent of doctors say they “advise” patients to quit smoking. Yet, many don’t provide extensive assistance to help patients actually quit.
Help Your Patients Choose to Quit»
Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRTs)»
*Please note that throughout this site, reference is made to smokers because the great majority of tobacco users are cigarette smokers, but these strategies work effectively for smokeless tobacco users as well.
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