Ready to Quit?  We are here to help.

Smoke Free Campus

The University of Alabama became smoke-free in January 2015 and there are resources available to assist those in becoming smoke free. For Blue Cross Blue Shield-AL covered employees, you can contact Human Resources for plan benefits.

Additional benefits are listed below, but check with your health care plan for other plan benefits.


Resources:

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT

  • LIVESTRONG MyQuit Coach creates a personal plan to help you quit smoking. Through a physician approved, interactive and easy to use app, you’ll evaluate your current status, set attainable goals and adjust preferences according to your needs.
  • NCI QuitPal is a free smartphone app to support smokers working to become smoke-free. This interactive app is developed using proven quit strategies and tools to help change behavior and assist you with giving up smoking.
  • QuitSTART is another free smartphone app to help track your cravings and moods, monitor your progress, identify your smoking triggers, and upload personalized “pick me ups” and reminders to use during challenging times to help you successfully become and stay smokefree.”

HELP BY TEXT MESSAGE

Receive information and advice about quitting smoking through real time text messaging with The National Cancer Institute’s Live Help Service. Cessation support is offered by a live smoking cessation counselor. LiveHelp is offered only in English only during specified hours of operation.

SMOKELESS TOBACCO RESOURCES

  • My Last Dip – MyLastDip is a free Web-based intervention that is designed to help young smokeless tobacco users quit.
  • Kill The Can – This website offers free resources and tools to help dip, snuff, and chewing tobacco users quit. Along with useful information, it offers a support forum and a live quit chat room.

 Inspiration and Hope:

Cecil Crumpton, Custodial Services
After smoking for over 10 years, Cecil knew that she did not want cigarettes in her life anymore.  She hated the way they tasted and the way it smelled.

She turned to her spiritual faith for help – and low and behold!  She found out about the UA Wellness Quit Tobacco program.  The support she received there, including education and random check-ins over the phone gave her the confidence to go on and achieve her goal.  She has now been smoke-free for almost 4 years and appreciates that she can breathe easier and feels better in general.

Her grandchildren appreciate it too: they are happy her car does not smell like smoke anymore!  She says, “The only thing I miss about smoking is the day I started.”  Cecil truly regrets ever starting to smoke, and encourages others to quit and find that difference in their own lives.

Matthew Eubanks, Brewer-Porch Children’s Center

Like the majority of smokers, Matthew Eubanks, a mental health professional at UA’s Brewer-Porch Children’s Center, wanted to quit. After several unsuccessful attempts, he found the motivation he needed during his 2012 WellBAMA health screening.

“I needed someone to tell me I didn’t have to do this anymore,” he said of the one-on-one health coaching he received at that session.  “The day of my WellBAMA screening, I threw away a half a pack of cigarettes and I haven’t looked back since.”The simple behavioral change of tossing the last dozen cigarettes he had triggered something in him, Eubanks said.

“Every other time I thought about quitting, I always decided to hang on to a pack just in case I got stressed or really wanted one. Something about not having a backup was the key for me.” Eubanks said he’s glad he finally made a permanent commitment to quitting in 2012.

“My food tastes better; I don’t need to use as much salt because I can really taste my food now,” he said. “The health benefits of quitting tobacco just keep on coming.”

wellness@ua.edu | (205) 348-0077