This October, we celebrated the first anniversary of CPSL Mind’s Stop Smoking Specialist Support service. It was a lovely opportunity to come together, reflect on our first year and recognise everyone’s contributions.
Even before the service launched, we knew our approach needed to reflect the needs of people experiencing mental health challenges. Individuals with lived experience and healthcare professionals helped us shape a service that is flexible, trauma-informed and built around each person.
Support is delivered where and how people feel most comfortable, including through home visits, with financial incentives to recognise key milestones. Our two pathways give people a choice, whether someone feels ready to quit or wants to begin by cutting down towards stopping, we offer encouragement and practical support without judgement.
Our first year in numbers:
💙 92 eligible referrals received
💙 57 people currently receiving care
💙 22 people have already stopped smoking
Mary, who accessed the service, has now been smoke free for nine months an shared how the support has helped her.
“It’s all worked.
All of it.
I’ve had the backing I needed. The support I needed. … It’s just having the support there…
It’s having somebody to talk to about it that I can go and see or they can come and see me…..having face-to-face and stuff, it feels great…..it’s having somebody there that I can talk to and they can understand…
….I can message her and say I need help if I get a problem.”
Another inidividual wh has been supported by the service shared their feedback and said: “The support I think is on point… if you need to chat to someone or just talk things through with someone, or if you need anything… there is a number where you can speak to someone and you are gonna get a reply…. it’s reliable in a way because you’re consistent, does that make sense?”
People who have accessed the service are experiencing many wellbeing benefits.
“I’m not coughing so much. My incontinence is virtually non-existent….And they’re the two main points why I’ve had to pack up smoking…..
….I think I have changed, mentally, because it’s given me a clearer mind.
I think a bit more than I used to.”
We continue to listen, learn and adapt. We are also building connections across Cambridgeshire so that more people – and the professionals supporting them – know about the help available.
Every step towards stopping smoking is worth celebrating.
We’re also proud that Oliver Holdsworth’s work evaluating our service has received national recognition. Oliver has put considerable care into interviewing people who accessed the service, listening to their stories and learning from their experiences. This work has opened opportunities to share learning through two national webinars organised by ASH and the Mental Health Foundation, work with Mary Yates and Gemma Taylor, and presenting in Birmingham at the largest stop smoking conference in the UK in September. He has also been interviewed on That’s TV Cambs and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk to promote our service and talk about smoking and mental health.
To find out more or make a referral, visit cpslmind.org.uk or email stopsmokingteam@cpslmind.org.uk.
