Mental Health Connect

This week I spoke with Maxie Ashton about being awarded the Special Judges Award for the Tobacco and Mental Illness Project.

1. Tell us a little about your program

The rate of tobacco use amongst people with mental illness is very high and as a result many have significantly reduced life expectancy, poor physical health, poor finances, restricted access to community facilities and significantly reduced quality of life.                                                                         

The Tobacco and Mental Illness Project has brought together Government and Non-Government mental health and tobacco control services, to build skills, develop joint initiatives and work together to address this problem.

 The project has addressed the issue with considered passion and energy and careful consultation and it has been instrumental in raising awareness and in the development and implementation of effective approaches.

 Many people have tackled their tobacco, making a big difference to their health, finances and quality of life. Mental health and tobacco control services are beginning to make significant changes to ensure this serious health issue is addressed and people receive support.

 2. What was the inspiration for the program

The Project started in 1998 when some of the participants of the Port Adelaide rehabilitation program identified that tobacco was getting in the way of their goals and in particular was affecting their health, finances and quality of life. They asked for help to tackle tobacco.

 3. Can you give me an example of how you know the program is working

Over 700 people with mental illness have contacted the Project since 2003 and asked for help to address their tobacco use. Most have actively participated in a group program and worked hard to overcome an addiction and make significant healthy lifestyle changes.

Most participants manage to reduce or quit tobacco for at least a month and many go on to become non smokers. These results are outstanding given that most of these participants had been heavy smokers for many years and were living with significant disability associated with mental illness, and most smokers in the general community need to make several attempts before they are able to call themselves a non smoker.

The project held a 10^th year celebration and approximately 60 consumers, carers, and workers came together to celebrate their achievements and the importance of tackling tobacco.

The Be Smoke Free participants at the party who had managed to quit tallied the number of smoke free days, -19,251 days and estimated that approx. 580, 500 cigarettes were not smoked and that over $232,200.00 or nearly $$$¼ million was not spent on cigarettes (This did not include the participants who had been unable to get to the party, or had simply reduced their cigarettes but not quit. It also did not measure at all the health and quality of life benefits achieved by the group).

 4. Looking into the future what is planned? What are the next steps for the program?

The project is planning to develop the range of resources and so they can be made available to services all over Australia and so more people with mental illness begin to get good information and support to address tobacco.

It is also working closely with Tobacco Control and mental health services in South Australia to facilitate significant tobacco policy and practice change within services.

The goal is to ensure all people with mental illness are asked about their tobacco use and are encouraged and supported to quit or reduce.

 5. What do you see as the challenges and opportunities working in the mental health sector today

The rate of tobacco use has always been very high amongst people with mental illness and mental health services have tended to put it in the too hard basket. As a result people with mental illness have not received the support they want and need to address tobacco. This provides an opportunity to make significant differences.

The National Preventative Health Taskforce has recently released their final report and they have identified the need to be proactive at addressing the high rate of tobacco use amongst people with mental illness. Tobacco Control services are beginning to recognise that people with mental illness are now a significant percentage of the remaining smokers in the community and that they need to be much more involved in working with mental health services in helping them to quit tobacco.

 6. What was your preferred session at the conference and why?

I enjoyed the hypothetical organised by SANE about Smoke Free hospitals and health services. It involved a panel considering the complexities of smoke free mental health services.