Great Things
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” -Vincent van Gogh The world […]
Addiction Recovery
Public Tobacco Cessation Community Groups
Quitting smoking and other addictions is more successful with support. Public tobacco cessation support groups are offered at the People’s Place Community Center in Gardner, MA and in the Briggs Conference Room in Athol, MA.
On-site Tobacco Cessation Classes
Professionally facilitated classes at your location bring a high-value and life-changing resource to the people you care about. Workbooks and interactive teaching materials give every smoker a chance to develop their unique Quit Plan.
Groups are always offered without cost to participants – no cost, no co-pay, no insurance requirements.
QuittersWin Core Beliefs and Group Guidelines:
- Everyone in the community has something to learn from everyone on the community and everyone in the community has something to teach to everyone in the community.
- No one in the community is as strong, wise, brave, or capable as everyone in the community.
- Out of respect for all speakers and all listeners we limit talking to one member at a time.
- Because we understand that our human condition can lead us to hold untruths and cause our perceptions to be skewed, we make every effort to keep our minds open and honestly consider other explanations for things we think we “know.”
- Out of this diversity of understanding, we hope to discern ultimate truth for the good of all, without need to hold unhelpful or unhealthy beliefs out of some motive of ego.
- As each of us attains our noble goals, all of us grow stronger, wiser, and more capable.
- In spite of our individual imperfections, diverse experiences, and past failures, as a community we hold confidently to the certainty that freedom from addiction is possible and is, in fact, close at hand!
Quitting smoking or any other unhealthy relationship with a substance is more successful with support.
Soothe or Stimulate, Music Might be the Answer
When I’m in the car – especially for a long time – at some point I’ll start thinking about junk food. My thoughts about food are not usually related to being bodily hungry, but tend to related to feelings. Negative feelings (anxiety, anger, etc.) can certainly provoke me to want to do something to soothe
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Creed
QuittersWin Core Beliefs and Group Guidelines Everyone in the community has something to learn from everyone on the community and everyone in the community has something to teach to everyone in the community. No one in the community is as strong, wise, brave, or capable as everyone in the community. Out of respect for all
Congratulations!
Today I am incredibly proud of a brave friend, Marion, who quit smoking tobacco three years ago! That’s an impressive milestone, especially since tobacco is considered a more clinically complex addiction than any other! She has defeated her “5-Headed Dragon!” Her accomplishment is all the more astounding since a few weeks after she quit, a
Get Support, Be Support
The Great American SmokeOut began 50 years ago in hopes of raising awareness of tobacco’s negative health consequences and the numerous ways a person might choose to break up that complicated relationship. Each year since then, the third Thursday in November has been designated as the day when smokers are challenged to declare a “mini-quit”
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We Are Not Alone
No, this post is not about extraterrestrials. That may be a conversation for another day. But in a very healthy way, most of us are better when we’re connected to others – especially others who understand our situations. And I don’t mean someone who can whine with us and be miserable with us and complain
Kindle Kindness
I’m feeling plenty of pain, stress, and suffering in the world around me and it makes me want to respond. So I am challenging myself (and of course, you too!) to start this week with a mindset and purpose of kindling tiny flames of kindness. I suspect that no matter what personal situations have you
Grace for Today
Perfect is such a powerful word. It usually conjures up feelings of deep satisfaction, accomplishment, completion, and pride. It’s also – at least for some of us – a deeply troublesome word, often stirring up a profound sense of frustration, feelings of inadequacy, waves of hopelessness, and caverns of dark despair. When one unfairly holds
Feel or Flee?
Same four letters – two different outcomes. When we notice an emotional state that’s uncomfortable, we have two choices; FEEL the feelings or FLEE the feelings. As in most of life, there is not a single solution for every situation. There will be situations when allowing the feelings to flow freely could result in catastrophic
About QuittersWin
About 20 years ago I observed a way to look at addiction that seemed like it might be helpful. People I served in my tobacco cessation practice often seemed overwhelmed by the idea of quitting smoking. I felt that way myself every time I tried to quit smoking. Logic led me to look at ways
Perspective
“What you see and what you hear depends a good deal on where you are standing.” -C. S. Lewis (The Magician’s Nephew) In both literal and figurative ways, ‘where you are standing’ matters. It can change what you see or hear. Here are a few images that have interesting perspectives: We
Snap Out of It?
Thousands of texts, dozens of faces, various groups, several places – each week I share and often the topic is change in some way shape or form. I want to be sure that when I talk about change, people don’t hear me saying “snap out of it” (and I’m never saying “man up,” but that’s
Worrious?
On my way to the car this morning I noticed a nasturtium bud in the window box on the porch. The pointed flower-to-be, poised on the end of it’s gracefully curved ‘neck’ looked oddly like a creature in a scary sci-fi movie. Perhaps you can guess which one. I smirked as I continued to the
Remember QuittersWin is Searchable!
Remember that even on days when I don’t post, there are plenty (over 350?) posts here to keep your head busy. Like most web sites, the blog is searchable and by typing into the box by the magnifying glass icon (in the black bar above) you can quickly find all of the posts related to
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Accompaniment
Music is mighty and I can’t imagine a day without music! Friedrich Nietzsche is said to have said “Without music, life would be a mistake.” Mistake or not, life would certainly be bleaker without the sounds and vibrations of music. Let’s ward off “all things bleak” with some intentionally selected music. Maybe music is medicine