Tobacco Cessation as Part of Recovery
Earlier this month, Mighty Crow CEO Dr. Gretchen Clark Hammond, was a keynote speaker on the University of Kentucky’s virtual “BH WELL Tobacco Treatment Workshop: Normalizing Tobacco Treatment in Mental Health and Behavioral Health Settings.” Dr. Hammond’s presentation entitled ‘Enhancing Recovery through Tobacco and Nicotine Treatment Integration” focused on the benefits tobacco cessation can have on mental health and SUD recovery treatments, and dispelled myths about tobacco cessation that are often passed as conventional wisdom during recovery.
Created for an audience of healthcare professionals, the presentation was well-received by workshop attendees as 100% of respondents to a post-event survey indicated Dr. Hammond achieved the session’s leaning objectives either “very well” or “extremely well.” Additionally, 100% of respondents indicated their knowledge of the topic was “good” or “excellent” after attending the session. You can view the slides from the presentation at the workshop page linked above.
With the new year quickly approaching, this is a great time for individuals to consider their relationship with tobacco too. Some eye-opening stats about smoking included in Dr. Hammond’s presentation (originally cited in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General) are as follows:
· Cigarette smoking is estimated to cause more than 480,000 deaths annually (including deaths from secondhand smoke)
· Life expectancy for smokers is at least 10 years shorter than for nonsmokers
· Quitting smoking before the age of 40 reduces the risk of dying from smoking-related disease by about 90%
If you’re ready to quit smoking, or even ready to make tobacco cessation part of a larger wellness goal for the new year, please know there are many resources available to you including:
- How to quit Smoking from the CDC
- Help! I want to Quit Smoking from the American Heart Association
- Tobacco Treatment Center of Ohio
If your organization is interested in having Dr. Hammond as a speaker, she has number of prepared presentations on a wide-range of topics including : Core Components of Evaluation, Common Pitfalls in Grant Writing, Building Community in the Workplace, Understanding Recovery. Additional presentations customized to your organizational needs can be created as well. For more information on booking Dr. Hammond for a speaking engagement, please complete our contact form.
