THUNDER BAY -- Smokers have a chance to STOP with the support of a smoking cessation program.
The Smoking Treatment for Ontario Patients, or STOP program, helps people quit smoking with free nicotine replacement therapy and educational workshops.
Provided by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and local district health units, the program offers five weeks of nicotine replacement therapy to help smokers with withdrawal symptoms.
Participants also attend an educational workshop where they would form a quit plan with a health professional.
The Thunder Bay District Health Unit has been part of the program since 2007 and runs one or two phases of the workshop per year.
“We’ve helped more than 1,000 smokers throughout the last five years throughout their quit process,” said Jennifer McFarlane, Northwest tobacco control area coordinator.
A big part of the challenge when it comes to quitting is realizing it’s a process, said McFarlane.
“It’s not an event,” she said. “It does involve sort of accessing those supports that are out there, making a quit plan, using nicotine replacement therapies if they work for you to manage your withdrawal symptoms.”
It’s important to not give up and keep trying, she added.
McFarlane feels the STOP program is a great resource to get people wanting to quit smoking on the right track.
The free nicotine replacement therapy is a valuable part of the program. A person trying the therapy on their own could end up paying around $300, so offering it for free removes a barrier for a lot of people.
Through onsite support participants also learn about what their triggers are, how they can prevent relapse and what kind of supports are available to them like the health unit, their doctor, pharmacist or the smokers helpline.
The next workshop at the health unit is on Jan. 28. They will also be hosting more workshops in February and March.
For more information or to find out if you’re eligible for the STOP program, contact the Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
