Programme aims to help women quit smoking

WOMEN in three Northside areas are invited to take part in a programme that will help them quit smoking.

We Can Quit is an initiative of the Irish Cancer Society in partnership with the Northside Partnership, the HSE and the National Women’s Council of Ireland.

The programme is open to female smokers living in the Darndale, Kilmore and Bunratty areas who are over the age of 18. Smokers that have tried to quit before and those who have never tried to quit are welcome.

The free 12-week programme is group based so that women can join forces with other women as they quit together.

Women today lead busy, demanding lives. Family, work and other commitments can mean that they leave little time for themselves. Many women feel that smoking is the only luxury or break they have.

Stopping smoking may seem like an uphill struggle they face alone. We Can Quit will show women they are not alone and provide the support they need to quit smoking.

Women on the programme will receive plenty of support and information about how to increase their chances of quitting successfully.

They will have access to GPs, attend weekly group sessions where they will have a chance to talk about the problems they face and share solutions, and have one-to-one support meetings.

They will also be able to access telephone support with a Smoking Cessation Counsellor who will be available to them before, during and after their quitting journey.

Joanne Vance, Senior Health Promotion Officer at the Irish Cancer Society, said:

“We know that the majority of smokers want to quit but we also realise that many women see quitting smoking as a huge challenge which can seem very intimidating.

“We want them to know that we are here to support them and they are not alone as they embark on their quitting journey.

“We Can Quit will give each woman one-to-one support to address these individual issues alongside giving women the opportunity to meet and quit together in the group sessions.

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Marion Vickers, chief executive of Northside Partnership, said they were delighted to be involved in this initiative with the Irish Cancer Society and the HSE.

“We feel that by providing this support to women in their community to stop smoking it will impact not only on their health but on their family and children’s health in the long term,

? she said.

The We Can Quit programme will begin on March 24. For further information and to apply to take part, contact Bernie McDermott or Maureen Downey on 01-8771507.

Also, you can call into Northside Partnership, based at Bunratty Road, Coolock, Doras Bui, Bunratty Drive or the Darndale Belcamp Resource Centre.