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I Quit program being offered to smokers

I Quit, an eight-week smoking cessation program, will be offered to interested Coastal Carolina University faculty and staff in February. There will be no charge to faculty and staff who wish to participate in the program. The program will be an 8-week course from Feb. 27 through April 10 and will run weekly from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.  It is currently scheduled for the training room in the Coastal Science Center, but a few of the sessions may be switched to the HTC Center.

The program was launched by the American Lung Association in 1980. Although the original model for this program has been modified and changed somewhat over the years, it has helped hundreds of thousands of smokers quit. CCU currently has three trained and certified facilitators who will be used to facilitate this training. They are Lamonica Yates, director of training and employee services; Woody Goff, training and events specialist; and Lori Cox, benefits manager.

The program is designed to:

·         Provide participants a systematic approach to quitting with a logical progression from awareness of smoking dependence to actual behavior change.
·         The program has a positive focus. It emphasizes the benefits of better health and improved lifestyle habits as well as mastery of one’s own life. The activities and assignments provide individuals who smoke with proven strategies for changing their behavior and lifestyle.
·         This program also includes maintenance strategies for staying smoke-free including an array of online resources.
·         The program is also realistic about the chance of relapse for participants.
·         It conforms to the adopted smoking cessation counseling or advice core measures of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations for the quality of care for those who use tobacco.

For more information or to enroll, contact Goff at 843-349-5058 or at wjgoff@coastal.edu.