Lives Lived Well’s residential withdrawal and rehabilitation service, Wyla has joined the Cancer Council’s Tackling Tobacco program, enabling us to boost the supports we can offer our clients to quit smoking, in turn helping them to make lasting changes to their alcohol and other drug use.
The Tackling Tobacco program provides organisations with grants to build resources and staff capacity around quitting smoking. It also gives clients access to ongoing support beyond their AOD treatment program.
Around 80% of Wyla’s clients are smokers when they enter treatment. Currently Lives Lived Well pays for clients in the withdrawal unit to use NRT patches. By joining the Tackling Tobacco program, Wyla’s rehabilitation clients will be able to access subsidised NRT. Clients will have the choice of a nicotine inhaler or gum at greatly reduced prices.
The Tackling Tobacco program also gives Lives Lived Well’s Wyla staff access to four modules of online or face-to-face training covering topics such as understanding tobacco dependency, brief interventions and treatments. All Wyla staff will complete the training in the new year.
Post treatment, our clients will have access to the Cancer Council’s I Can Quit support line as well as the resources available through this service.
Our team is excited to do this training in 2022 and looks forward to offering subsidised NRT in support of our clients. The research tells us clients who can stop smoking are also likely to be more successful in reducing or ending their use of alcohol and other drugs.
Lives Lived Well is one of seven organisations in NSW to join the program in 2022.