Wednesday 31st May is World Tobacco Free Day, but how can we support others to be smoke free? Our blog content this week has been supplied to us by our guest blogger Oxygen, the website providing young people with all they need to know about smoking and being smoke free.

So over to Oxygen – what can we do to help others be smoke free?

Want to talk to your BFF or buddy about quitting but scared she’ll bite your head off? When your friends or family smoke and you’re concerned about it, it’s difficult to know what to do. It can be a very sensitive subject to bring up with people and you might not be sure how to talk about it or how you can help. Here are some suggestions.

Talking with friends about quitting smoking

You’re in a pretty good position to help your friends quit smoking, as they’re more likely to come to you for help before anybody else. Below are some questions you could ask them to start up a conversation about their smoking.

• What are the things you like about smoking?
• What are the not-so-good things about smoking?
• How do the good and not-so-good things about smoking compare?
• How interested are you in stopping smoking or not smoking as often?
• What could you do to stop or cut down smoking?
• How confident are you to stop or cut down your smoking?
• How could I support you to stop or cut down smoking?

If they do want help in quitting smoking, here are some ways to help them.

• Let them know that when they feel like smoking, they can call or text you and you’ll talk with them until the craving goes away.
• Plan some regular activities with them to help distract them from wanting to smoke as the first three months will be their hardest, e.g. kicking the footy, going for coffee, going to the beach, shopping, heading to a skate park.
• Encourage them to call the Quitline. People who call the Quitline when trying to stop smoking have a better chance of quitting than if they try on their own.

Talking with parents/family about quitting smoking

If your parents/family member smoke, it might be quite hard to talk with them about quitting. Research has proven that when you breathe in other people’s smoke, you are susceptible to various illnesses. This is called second hand smoke.

Below are some suggestions for ways in which you can talk to your parents about quitting.

• Start by telling them how much you love them and want them around for a very long time.
• Tell them how worried you are for them about their smoking and you don’t want them to get sick.
• Tell them how concerned you are for your own health and that you don’t want to get sick by breathing in their smoke.
• Speak to them about making your home and family car smoke-free. This means no smoking inside the home and car, and also removing ashtrays and lighters which could tempt or remind them to smoke if they decide to quit.
• Suggest they quit together (if both your parents smoke) or quit with a friend as it’s easier to give it up with a `quit buddy’.
• Call the Quitline on 13 7848 and request a quit pack for your parents.

For further information on smoking check out our smoking page with digital stories, community section, factsheet as well as download-able resources supplied by the Heart Foundation.

Maybe you can encourage your friend to visit the page themselves – you can use our share facility on the left to let them know about the page.

To give you a taster of what you can find on our smoking info page check out the smoking podcast below – ashtray warning!!

This video was created by Wide Angle Tasmania for Tune In Not Out

Tags: helping other, quit, smoking