Public Tobacco Cessation Community Groups
Quitting smoking 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:
Compared to illicit drugs or excessive alcohol use, tobacco tends to be more…
Accessible – It’s legal and available in LOTS of forms in LOTS of stores.
Acceptable – Tobacco’s stigma (while considerable) isn’t as great as the stigma of staggering down Main Street or being found in a gutter with a needle in one’s arm.
Affordable – As expensive as tobacco is, if we consider the cost of “a day’s worth,” tobacco is often cheaper.
Addictable – Because nicotine can be delivered very quickly to the brain, each puff may make a tiny ‘impression’ on the smoker’s brain. A smoker may puff hundreds of times in a single day and make hundreds of tiny impressions! Furthermore, those impressions get associated with the coffee cup, steering wheel, telephone, familiar face, or familiar place in ways that make those triggers really ‘stick’ in a smoker’s brain. Subsequently those behaviors, faces, and places become cues, telling the smoker to want a cigarette.
Absolutely more LETHAL! -Tobacco kills more Americans each year than homicide, suicide, drugs (legal and illegal), alcohol, motor vehicle accidents, and HIV/AIDS combined!
Quitting smoking or other unhealthy relationships with a substance is more successful with support.
Favor is a verb. – “My mother always seemed to favor black jelly beans, so we’d save them for her.” It’s the root of the word favorite, and it’s a noun. “May I ask you a favor?” Today I’m asking some of my favorite folks (Yes, I’m talking to you) to do a favor for …
Five finger breathing: a simple way to reboot your brain, calm down and be in the moment. Worry takes up your brain’s “RAM” (working memory.) Paying attention to many senses (seeing, feeling) & body parts (hands, breath) at once crowds out worry. Dr. Jud has lots of resources that can help us understand habit formation …
This morning I came to the desk where I sit when working from home. As I internally expressed gratitude that my work is continuing, I looked at the small fleet of mobile phones plugged into their various charging cables and the “easy” button which I use to celebrate various tasks I accomplish. The subject of …
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BESOCHEMPS If you haven’t yet heard of the 5-Headed Dragon, BESOCHEMPS, you’re either new here, or I haven’t been doing my job. (Please don’t scroll away yet – we aren’t a cult and this discussion about a 5-Headed Dragon is neither frivolous nor foolish.) Over twenty years ago I began serving brave folks intent upon …
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Yesterday afternoon the Governor of Massachusetts, Charles D. Baker, declared a state of emergency and announced at a press conference that the state will ban the sale of all vaping products. While precise details are not available at this time (exact starting date of the ban, duration, etc.,) comments made during the presser make it …
Massachusetts Temporarily Bans All Vaping Products Read More »
Change is beautiful and essential. When we stop changing, I think we stop living! While not wanting to rush the seasons to change (as if my wanting it made it so – LOL!) I have been a fan of autumn for as long as I can remember. So, revisiting a series of quotes and photos …
We all WANT to do things that we know aren’t good for us from time to time. And feeding those urges with occasional splurges may be OK now and then. But when it feels like the habit has us on its leash, it’s time to take our control back!
Some of us carry a so-called “stress-buster” in our pockets every day. In fact some of us would NEVER think of leaving home without them. Most of them come in a handy pack of 20 – some with a flip-top box! In order to use these alleged reducers of stress, one generally needs to light …
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Just a quick question for your Monday: Here’s hoping there are more smiles on your way! Remembering and revisiting those things that used to make us smile can be #GoodMedicine. So, consider dusting off your paint brushes, canoe paddles, dancing shoes, or any other smile-makers that may be stashed in your closet or basement, and …
Thinking about quitting smoking? Not quite sure where to begin? This idea always helps, whether you’re a heavy smoker, light smoker, or social smoker. Four quick questions and a pencil will not only bring you some important information to help you quit, but the collection of data will actually move you closer to your freedom. …
In 1958 and 1959 Gene Deitch drew a cartoon series called Tom Terrific. For 26 episodes Tom, along with his companion, Mighty Manfred, the Wonder Dog, would be featured on the Captain Kangaroo television show where each of the the 26 stories was presented in daily 5-minute excerpts, most of which ended in some sort …
