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Mental health

Training and resources for mental health services

People living with mental illness are two-to-four times more likely to smoke than the general population. The rate of smoking tends to increase with the severity of mental illness and varies by diagnosis. High smoking rates and lack of access to best practice treatment contributes to widening inequities.

How to embed smoking cessation care into your organisation

An organisation-wide approach is needed to embed the Ask, Advise, Help (AAH) smoking cessation brief advice model into routine practice. The AAH model outlines how to deliver best practice smoking cessation care and can apply to all health, social service and community settings.

The facts: mental health and smoking

In Australia, smoking rates for people with mental health conditions range from 25 to 50% depending on their diagnosis. One of the reasons that rates continue to remain high is that there are many myths that persist about the links between smoking and mental health. It’s important to know the facts about smoking, mental health and how to quit, so that you or your patients will have the best chance of quitting for good.

How quitting improves mental health

There are a number of benefits for people with mental health conditions once they have quit.

How to embed smoking cessation support into your organisation

Embedding  smoking cessation supports into everyday care for mental health services takes a whole of organisation/service approach.

Mental health and smoking: tools and resources

Below are tools and resources related to mental health and smoking. There is also a range of more general resources which can be ordered or downloaded to support health professionals and clients on this site.

Supporting your patients to quit

Offering evidence-based support and treatment to your patients with mental health conditions will give them the best chance to quit smoking. Most smokers with a mental health condition want to quit, and with the right supports, can quit successfully.