Objectives:
1. REDUCE the uptake of smoking in young people
2. SUPPORT parents and young people who wish to quit
3. REINFORCE the benefits of clean air spaces
Youth Project Updates:
To read more about some of the youth services Quit has delivered this past year please click on the following
BLOG LINK
to find out more.
Recommendations:
We have used QUIT to provide our schools in reach education programme for two years now. This has enabled us to get the message out to our young people around the dangers of smoking. Using the educational skills of the QUIT team was a resource that we did not have in our services. We were involved in the planning and set up phase but QUIT did all the work and delivered an excellent package for us.
Youth Services:
Smoke Free Family Life:a holistic programme working with young people in schools and families through interaction between the parents and children as well as local media and the Local Stop Smoking service, to encourage parents and carers to take the steps to quit smoking and prevent young people from starting. Click HERE to navigate to the main Smoke Free Family Life page.
Presentations: Presentations are lively and interactive to capture young people’s attention. The sessions are usually done at schools and can run up to an hour, with the information tailored to suit the age group. Topics discussed include myths and facts about smoking, ingredients of a cigarette, the tobacco industry, and effects on health and appearance.
Follow-up sessions:These sessions provide young people with the chance to ask more questions and receive in-depth information on a more personalised basis. In primary schools, activities could include pass the parcel, body-mapping and quizzes. In secondary schools, an advice and information stall can be provided, where young people can get more information about quitting, and referrals to local stop-smoking services.
Events:3 hour events can coincide with any event happening at the schools or within the community. Sometimes these are done after our presentations so that the students who were affected by the presentation can then receive 1 to 1 support.
Stop Smoking Groups:These groups are run in schools, youth clubs, and any other youth setting to support young people who wish to stop smoking. The courses run for up to 9 weeks and are intense interventions with groups of students – we can accommodate up to 12. Usually done during lunch breaks, the course covers a number of topics and support elements such as how to quit, preparation, support after quit date, Nicotine Replacement Therapy, how to avoid relapse and much more. We later conduct 4 week and 6-month follow-ups, and quitters can count towards NHS targets.
Workshops:QUIT has run parent workshops, sometimes in conjunction with obesity program, which have been successful in both educationally and knowledge this in turn gets passed onto their children. Parent workshops can be run by QUIT and/or in partnership with the stop smoking service. Other workshops include teenage pregnancy and young families.
Peer mentoring:Train young people as Peer Mentors with the aim of working with younger peers to prevent the uptake of smoking and to reduce the numbers of smokers amongst their peers.
Aims:Enable young people to learn the skills in order to mentor, support and encourage other young people to think about the risks associated with smoking and prevent the uptake of smoking, whilst being able and confident to sign post young people to their local stop smoking services for those seeking support to quit smoking. Objectives:
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- Educate young people about the risks associated with smoking.
- Train young people to enable them to deliver brief interventions and sign post other people to stop smoking services.
- Provide young people with information about approaches to smoking cessation prevention and cessation.
- Support young people by providing relevant materials and resources to carry out their roles as mentors.
- Support young people to evaluate and report on the programme.
- Evaluation of process and outcomes for participants as well as young people who participate in the programme. Benefits
- Developing a youth led project leads to skills development and confidence for young people.
- Young people learn skills of project development, including brainstorming, research, planning, resource management, delivery and evaluation.
QUITS youth team are stationed around England and are committed to working in collaboration with key partners. We have strong relationships with local authorities, school nurses, healthy schools, tobacco alliance groups, and substance misuse teams. Our programme is extremely flexible and can adapt to your area’s strategic direction, need and/or gap. We have different models in many areas throughout England, so the information provided above is simply a ‘shell’ of what we can adapt for your needs.
Evaluation of Youth Services:
QUITS Youth Advisory Board reviews all QUITS youth services to find out more click HERE
Contact
To find out what youth services are available in your area, please contact QUIT’s Head of Youth Services:Nick Faraday on 0207 553 2108 or email n.faraday@quit.org.uk
QUITS youth services are part funded by the British Heart Foundation
