Hey Quitters, 

 

Nursing school is being creative in the time of COVID. I have an assignment for my mental health clinical group on "self help" support groups. I am of course going to write about QuitTrain because this is the group that has helped me quit and kept me accountable for 7 years. 

 

I am attaching a copy of the assignment so that you can see what my rubric is and what I will be writing about. I just wanted to let everyone know.  

-DD

Self-help group report guidelines.docx (1).doc

Oh boy! Back to School.

What time does class start and, will there be food?

 

2 minutes ago, reciprocity said:

Oh boy! Back to School.

What time does class start and, will there be food?

School is in the livingroom at the moment because I am on a COVID exposure restriction and not allowed on campus. So I get to zoom into lecture and homeschool the kids all at the same time! 

There is always food! 🙂

Massive Congratulations Sweetheart...

I know you have worked your socks off ....to become a nurse 

Mammy is very proud and happy for you. ....

 

1 hour ago, Devil Doll said:

 

School is in the livingroom at the moment because I am on a COVID exposure restriction and not allowed on campus. So I get to zoom into lecture and homeschool the kids all at the same time! 

There is always food! 🙂

OK - Honestly, food was the only must have - be right over 😋

 

Stay safe Devil Doll, its so scary for you health care workers. We have 408 Health care workers just in my county who have gotten sick helping others 😞 

3 hours ago, jillar said:

Stay safe Devil Doll, its so scary for you health care workers. We have 408 Health care workers just in my county who have gotten sick helping others 😞 

The messed up part is that my patients didn’t do this to me (symptomatic, but negative). Student nurses did!!! Now because of that I refuse to go on campus for lectures. I am going to virtually attend classes and go to my clinical double masked with and N95 and a cloth mask. 

The self-help group that we chose to attend is an online quit smoking forum called QuitTrain.com. An online forum provides the person who might not feel comfortable in person the opportunity to obtain support while maintaining anonymity. This board was formed in 2014 by [redacted] (Maryland Quitter) as a safe space assisting people on their path to freedom from smoking and addiction to nicotine. The board does promote the quitting philosophy of Joel Spitzer but QuitTrain also recognizes that there is not a “one size fits all” approach when it comes to quitting smoking.  Permission was obtained from the owner and notified the members about using the forum as a source of information for this report.

           

We chose this type of group because according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Unfortunately, quitting smoking isn’t as easy as lighting that first cigarette. There are physical and mental withdrawals that go along with deciding to quit. This withdrawal can be so intense that people surrender and cease their quit attempt. All of the members of the QuitTrain are former smokers.  They have the unique perspective of knowing what every member on that board is going through.

 

I [redacted] have been an active member of quit smoking boards for the past seven years. On December 31st, 2013 decided to quit smoking for the <insert failed attempt #> time. The one thing that I changed in this attempt is that I searched for help. I found a message board, joined and made my first post. I immediately found support from people who were in all different phases of their quit journey. It helped to know that there were people in the same phase of withdrawal as I was and others that were further along; meaning that they made it through what I was going through. It also helped to assist people who were new to the site, at the beginning of their journey. I not only had cheerleaders on my side, but I was a cheerleader to someone else.

           

QuitTrain is free to join, the criteria that you need to join are that you need to quit smoking and all forms of nicotine use. There is no required method, there are members that have quit Cold Turkey, and also by using NRT (nicotine replacement therapy), Chantix, or a “vaping” step-down method with nicotine (this is not a preferred method). New members are asked to pledge a one-year commitment to the board. There is a daily pledge thread where you are encouraged to post in for accountability. Each member promises themselves “NOPE – Not One Puff Ever (just for today).” New members are also asked that if they feel they are in danger of relapsing to post in the S.O.S thread. QuitTrain has international members and moderators to ensure that someone is always on the board to answer an S.O.S. The S.O.S thread had saved me quite a few times when I needed it.

          

 When a member relapses, it isn’t viewed as a failure. That member is encouraged to dust off and get right back to it. Some members will ask the poster to dig into why they relapsed just so that they can avoid that trigger if they encounter it again. When I was weak, I would tell myself that “If I have just one cigarette I would be back to where I started. Where I started was desperately wishing that I was where I am today.”  Now, seven years later, I say that to members who are struggling. That is where the benefit of having former smokers helping on the board comes in. They not only know how the poster is feeling in a moment of weakness, but they also know that it is possible to get through this hard time.

           

Quitting smoking is difficult because there is not only physical but also psychological withdrawal associated with freeing your body from its dependence to nicotine. We learned that this group has been beneficial to helping people successfully quit smoking and maintain their independence from nicotine. Support and accountability are positives when it comes to helping keep the motivation going even when what they are doing is hard.

           

 

 

 

References

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/index.htm

This is fabulous Sweetheart......very well written ...and exactly right ......Love it ....💕

This is great and well written. I couldn't have said it any better....Thanks

A+