About Smoking Cessation in Mental Health

By attending this one day Smoking Cessation in Mental Health conference you will benefit from extended interactive sessions, as well as looking at current research evidence and best practices. You will be provided with practical information and inspiration to take back to your organisation and utilise in implementing and improving smoking cessation in your organisation, ensuring your service effectively supports people with mental health conditions to stop smoking and does so within a smoke free environment.

“Smoking rates amongst people with a mental health condition are significantly higher than in the general population and there is a strong association between smoking and mental health conditions. This association becomes stronger relative to the severity of the mental condition, with the highest levels of smoking found in psychiatric in-patients. It is estimated that of the 10 million smokers in the UK about 3 million have a mental health condition. It is not clear whether smoking is the cause or effect of mental conditions.

However, some researchers believe that smoking could act as a trigger for mental ill-health. As a result of high smoking rates, people with a mental health condition also have high mortality rates compared to the general population. Therefore quitting smoking is particularly important for this group since smoking is the single largest contributor to their 10-20 year reduced life expectancy.” Pharmacy Guidance on Smoking and Mental Disorder February 2017