Stop Smoking for Good

Contents:

• Working with Your Doctor and Health Plan
  
• Smoking Cessation Programs(online, phone counseling, local classes)
• Smoking Cessation Aids
• Other Resources to Support You
  
  

  Free Quit Kit for Faculty and Staff ! (pdf format)

Health*Matters supports faculty and staff who want to quit smoking. Below are resources to help you stop smoking for good.

Working with Your Doctor and Health Plan

To maximize your success as a non-smoker, Health*Matters, the worksite health promotion program, encourages you to make an appointment with your doctor to discuss the use of complementary quitting tools to minimize withdrawal symptoms. Research has shown success rates are significantly improved when nicotine replacement products such as nicotine patches or gum, or prescription medications such as Zyban® or Wellbutrin, are coupled with a smoking cessation program.

Check with your doctor regarding insurance coverage for smoking cessation aids and what programs your health plan offers. The HMO plans for UC Berkeley offer the following:

HealthNet 1-800-522-0088

For HealthNet members (your must login):

• Stop Smoking - Free online program.
• Free & Clear® - Telephone program providing personalized support from a professional counselor.
• Online links to Quitnet®, a free, national online smoking cessation program.

Kaiser Permanente 1-800-464-4000

For Kaiser members (you must login):

• Healthmedia Breathe® - Free online program; includes a pharmacy benefit for participants.
  
• Freedom from Tobacco - Free workshop for members; non-members can enroll for a fee.
  
• Individual counseling available with co-pay.
• Healthphone - Free telephone info with pre-recorded messages.

For both Kaiser members and non-members:

• Online educational materials and personal stories from Kaiser members who successfully quit smoking and information on the hazards of tobacco and the benefits of not smoking.
• Call 1-800-332-7563 for Healthphone, a free phone message service addressing many health issues related to smoking cessation, including developing a plan for quitting, quitting information for teen smokers, dealing with chronic lung problems and more.
• Smoking cessation classes, typically 6-8 weeks, are offered at many Kaiser facilities. Check with the Health Education Department at your local facility. Class fee and co-pays vary; non-Kaiser members pay a higher fee.

PacifiCare 1-800-513-5131

For PacifiCare members (you must login):

• Free & Clear® - Telephone program providing personlized coaching and support from a professional counselor.
  
• Stop Smoking - Free online program with seven booklets (PDF files); includes pharmacy benefit for participants.
  

Blue Cross 1-800-634-3435

For Blue Cross members (you must login):

• The Last Cigarette (TLC) Quit Kit - Free kit providing info and record-keeping tools.
  
• Living Free - Online 3-5 week program; $75 for Blue Cross members.
  
• Various discounted quit smoking products and services available online for purchase, including nicotine gum and patches, books, and relaxation CDs.

Smoking Cessation Programs

Online Programs:

• QuitNet.com A free online, interactive program developed by the School of Public Health at Boston University. This program blends proven scientific methods with web technology to customize a smoking cessation program for you. It provides tools to help you quit, ex-smoker to smoker support, timely emails and lots more. This site also maintains a directory of smoking cessation programs (classes) and many more helpful links.

Online Quit Guides:

• Smokefree.gov was created by the Tobacco Control Research Branch of the National Cancer Institute, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and the American Cancer Society. This comprehensive site provides an online guide as well as downloadable resources to quitting smoking.

• Clearing the Air: How to Quit Smoking… and Quit for Keeps, an online booklet that guides a smoker through the day-to-day process of becoming a non-smoker, is available from the National Cancer Institute. The document describes practical, step-by-step approaches and techniques for preparing yourself for quitting, understanding the ways of quitting, knowing what to expect on the day you quit, and lots more. Referrals to additional information and resources are included.

• Smoking Facts and Tips for Quitting a health education guide created by University Health Services, providing information and resoures for Students, Faculty, and Staff of UC Berkeley.

• Quit Smoking Action Plan from The American Lung Association's Tobacco Control Website provides information on how to quit smoking, including a Quit Smoking Action Plan and a Nicotine Replacement Therapy Fact Sheet.
  
  
• The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Tobacco Information and Prevention Source website has current tobacco-related news, educational materials, and guides to help you quit smoking.

Additional Online Resources:

• American Cancer Society's Tobacco Control Web Page provides information about the health hazards due to smoking, how-to tips for quitting, dealing with withdrawal, maintenance issues once you quit and much, much more.

• The Virtual Office of the Surgeon General has a section called Tobacco Cessation Guideline with an online library of smoking cessation educational materials. This site also has press releases, fact sheets, and other information on tobacco use and cessation.
  
  
• The National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service has a website with information about cessation programs and the health risks associated with using tobacco products.

Phone Counseling:

• Call 1-800-NO-BUTTS, the California Smoker's Helpline, a telephone program that can help you quit smoking. Helpline offers up to seven free sessions of individual telephone counseling if you are ready to quit now. A study showed that California residents who got counseling through Helpline were twice as likely to stop smoking as those who sought no outside help. When you call, a trained staff person will offer a choice of services, from self-help materials to a referral list of other programs to one-on-one telephone counseling. The helpline has service in the following languages, Monday - Friday, 9-9 and Saturdays, 9-5.

• Call 1-800-4-CANCER, the Cancer Information Service, a program of the National Cancer Institute. Call for help with quitting smoking, for personalized answers to you questions about cancer, or for free publications and referrals to community resources for smoking cessation. English or Spanish.

Local Classes and Support Groups

• City of Berkeley offers free, on-going Freedom from Tobacco Programs, including a free 6-week class and a two-session workshop with the option of either acupuncture or hypnosis. For the current schedule or more information, see the Calendar, contact the City of Berkeley at (510) 981-5330 or email QuitNow@ci.berkeley.ca.us.

• Alta Bates Hospital offers free, one-to-one quit smoking counseling in Cantonese language. Contact Marcia Lam at (510) 593-8896.

• UCSF's Cancer Resource Center at (415) 885-7895. The SUCCESS Program is a newly created Smoking Cessation & Relapse Prevention course at UCSF Mt. Zion Medical Center. This month-long interactive course will focus on the following: Smoking & Health, Addiction, Strategies for Quitting, and Motivation. Participants receive written materials, which they may keep, and the program will lend them videotapes. Participants will have their carbon monoxide levels checked, free of charge, at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months to determine their success at quitting. Participants who remain smoke-free at 12 months will have the initial $50 registration fee returned to them.

• American Lung Association, (925) 935-0472 holds classes throughout the East Bay. Call to find one that meets your needs. Fees average about $100 for a series.

• Nicotine Anonymous at (415) 752-2230 or hotline at (408) 236-2196. Modeled after AA, these groups meet at many locations. Call for a recorded list of free meetings.

Back to top

Smoking Cessation Aids

It's a myth that kicking the habit is easy. Most smokers make several attempts at quitting before finding success. Why? It's not about willpower. It's about nicotine, a powerfully addictive drug that makes the body both physically and psychologically dependent. Smokers must overcome both of these dependencies to stay smoke-free. Here is more information about pharmaceutical, nicotine replacement and alternative smoking cessation aids:

Pharmaceutical Aids:

• Zyban and Wellbutrin information from QuitNet.com and from the American Cancer Society

• Nicotine Replacement Therapy information from the American Lung Association.

Alternative Aids- Hypnosis:

Back to top

More Resources to Support You

• Campus Walking Group

• CARE Services for help with stress management

• List of Community Resources for smoking cessation programs
  
  
• UC Berkeley's Smoke Free Policy

Back to Health*Matters home page >