Tobacco addiction exacts a major toll on people living with mental health and addictive disorders. People with chronic mental illness die 25 years earlier than the general population, with smoking as the major contributor to premature mortality (Schroeder & Morris, 2010); and people with addictive disorders are more likely to die from tobacco-related causes than from all other substance related causes combined (Guydish et al., 2011). Many of these individuals want to quit smoking (Schroeder & Morris, 2010), however they frequently lack access to effective pharmacological and psychosocial interventions. This course provides evidence-based knowledge and skills, incorporating case-based discussion and practice, interactive audience voting system questions, reflective exercises and small and large group discussion.
At the end of this course, participants will be able to:
- Describe the prevalence, associations and causal pathways between and among tobacco use, mental health and addictive disorders.
- Identify system-level and direct practice-level barriers and enablers to effective cessation interventions in mental health and addictions.
- Apply screening and assessment tools and strategies with these patients / clients.
- Identify and apply evidence-based interventions, both pharmacological and psychosocial.
- Adapt evidence-based approaches to diverse client populations in your own practice setting.