The Advantages Smokers Have Joining Smoking Cessation Groups

A motivated smoker may find many goals to push them through to success. They might factor in how smoking has affected their children, or even their pets. Smokers trying to quit may also be concerned about the mountain of expenses caused by their habits.

While motivation is needed to propel those trying to stop smoking at first, they may need a helping hand to get through the toughest cravings and days they feel defeated. 

Of course, there’s always their supportive family and network of friends to listen to them, as well as a quit mate who’s always ready to talk to them.

But what if your family can’t be there when you slip up? What if your quit mate was busy with work or other things? Importantly, what if they just don’t understand what you’re really going through?

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This is where a smoking cessation group will be helpful in talking you out of your cravings and keeping you on the path towards success in the complex and ever-changing process of quitting smoking.

In this post, we’ll take a look at why every motivated smoker should join a smoking cessation group that can help them stay smokefree. 

Support and Accountability

The best way to quit is to create an environment that supports your goals.

For people trying to quit smoking, it won’t be enough just to throw out the pack of ciggies. They need people who won’t ask them to buy cigarettes, and won’t smoke around them, to ensure they’re keeping on the right path. 

Your family and friends can do that for you, but they only see half the picture of your quit journey. In a smoking cessation group, everyone, especially your facilitator, understands your pains and challenges throughout the process – they’ve gone and are going through it, too. 

Talking to people who can understand you completely is emotionally and mentally relieving, reinvigorates your resolve, and can allay many of the difficulties you might face throughout the quit journey.

Shared Experiences and Strategies

Quitting on your own or with a buddy gives you a few strategies to try (the ones you might have found in online forums or tried by your buddy). 

In a smoking cessation group, you can get plenty of varying approaches you may never have heard of before, and these tools may greatly help you overcome a long-time obstacle in the quitting process.

Furthermore, in a group, you can get insights on coping ideas you’ve experimented on or thought about. You can get feedback on whether your strategy helps you cope properly or if you’re exchanging one addiction for another.

Expert Guidance and Resources

Smoking cessation groups give you both the guidance you need and the resources to propel you towards the goal of stopping smoking. 

Many smoking cessation groups are sponsored by organisations that focus on psychological and medical studies about nicotine addiction and other forms of addiction. Often, they’re led by professionals in medical fields as advocates towards giving the best resources to people strongly motivated to quit smoking for good. 

The information and resources from your facilitators come from these experts. More importantly, you can trust that the advice and facts they state are backed by data scrutinised by professionals for decades to ensure they work for any motivated smoker trying to quit.

Emotional Support

In a smoking cessation group, you have a shoulder to lean on – or even cry on if you need one.

A smoking cessation group often has an unwritten rule along the lines of, “no judgements even if you did smoke again.” 

Your group would never make you feel that they’re disappointed and treat you differently after discovering you had a stick a week ago. 

Instead, they would mention that it’s okay you failed once – you telling the story to the group is proof that you’re still willing to pick up where you left off. Then, they will encourage you to take responsibility and be accountable next time.

Even if your family and friends are greatly supportive of your quit journey, they may not fully understand the grip of nicotine addiction and how painful withdrawal symptoms could be for quitters in their first week or month. 

On the other hand, a smoking cessation group lets you share your experience, even if you’re angry, frustrated, or scathing when sharing it because they’ve gone through your experience. 

With empathy, they understand that by letting you express yourself in a safe space, they’re helping you out in the best way possible.

Long-Term Maintenance

Successful ex-smokers and group facilitators understand how the quitting process doesn’t completely end. 

Whether you’re one week or one year free of cigarettes, the most important thing is you don’t smoke again and don’t feel too complacent that you won’t smoke later on. 

Resilience is the biggest difference between people starting to quit and those who have quit smoking more than a year or beyond. 

Ex-smokers with years behind them might give in to temptation, but they quickly forgive themselves if they do and return to their quit journey immediately.

Motivated smokers who have just started might beat themselves up too much after failing – a typical challenge for many solo quitters. But, with the help of a smoking cessation community, they would welcome their failures, take responsibility for it, and then try again.

By providing a safe space to talk about difficulties and failure without being judged, celebrate milestones, and receive ongoing encouragement and reinforcement, smoking cessation groups give any person trying to kick cigarettes out of their life the best chance of success.

Summary

It’s okay to quit solo if you’re greatly motivated and are fully confident you can face the challenges. But, having a community of people trying to quit smoking share their troubles and experiences with you gives you a judgement-free environment that lets you work over each other’s difficulties and support each other in the best way possible on your respective quit journeys.  

Are you looking for a supportive group that can help you quit smoking for good? If you’re reading this, you’re definitely in the right place to get help.

Smokefree Clinic gives you access to many medically reviewed and trustworthy resources that can inform and aid you in your path to wellness, so have a look around! 

If you’re ready to get started, Smokefree can connect you to Australian healthcare professionals who excel in helping patients quit smoking for good.