PRESS RELEASE

Innovative Quit Smoking Pack Launched
Turningpoint Therapies Limited

New Zealand’s Turningpoint Therapies Limited has launched the new Quittingpoint Pack this month – specifically aimed at preventing relapse.

The Quittingpoint Group Programme was trialed throughout the Auckland region with a 40% success rate at one year. That success rate prompted the development of the Quittingpoint Pack.

Brenda Burke, the founder of Quittingpoint, says the Pack incorporates all the successful components of the Group Programme and has been extensively modified for participants to complete Stage 1 of the programme in the comfort of their own home, at their own pace. Each Pack features a practical, easy to follow Guide Book, an accompanying audio CD and two hypnotherapy CDs. The Pack is also available online as an eBook and audio downloads.

She believes this quit smoking programme is a significant step in assisting more smokers quit for life, especially if they have tried other interventions. “It is drug free and uses a multifaceted approach allowing for the transition and addressing all of the challenges to quitting smoking” she says.

“In Stage 1, participants continue smoking but learn simple yet powerful tools and techniques to change the way they think, feel and act towards smoking. In Stage 2, participants stop smoking and go through withdrawal. Three acupuncture sessions through affiliated acupuncturists are highly recommended to support the participant through any physical withdrawal. Affiliated acupuncturists are located in Auckland and Wellington, as well as Taupo, Tauranga, Napier, Gisborne, Nelson and Blenheim.” Brenda adds.

For further information about Quittingpoint, visit www.quittingpoint.com.

 

Quitting without relapse is the goal

More people are stopping smoking because of rising tobacco costs, health risks, and increasing smoke-free policies and public attitudes.

Brenda Burke of Silverdale is the founder of the Quittingpoint Quit Smoking Programme - specifically aimed at preventing relapse. A qualified neuro-linguistic programming practitioner, acupuncturist, and ex-smoker herself, Brenda has been helping others quit for more than a decade.

A quote from Mark Twain sums up the situation for many. "It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it hundreds of times."

Quitting smoking presents many personal challenges, Brenda says. There is no "one size fits all" solution - so a programme incorporating simple, powerful tools and techniques to change the way you think feel and act towards smoking, while supporting you through withdrawal, is easily adapted to individual needs, she says.

Every trigger to reach for a cigarette must be disconnected, strong assumptions, beliefs and attitudes towards smoking must be identified, understood and dispelled, Brenda says. Practical, effective skills to help address social pressures and emotional ups and downs are valuable, as well as supporting the body through physical withdrawal. It therefore comes as no surprise that about 95 percent of smokers need extra support when it comes to quitting smoking, Brenda says.

Brenda believes the Quittingpoint programme is a significant step in helping more smokers quit for life, especially if they have tried other interventions. It is drug free and uses a multifaceted approach allowing for the transition, and addresses all the challenges to quitting smoking.

The Quittingpoint Group Programme was trialled throughout the Auckland region in 2009 with a success rate of 40% at one year. That prompted the development the Quittingpoint Pack, Brenda says.

The pack incorporates all the successful components of the group programme and it has been extensively modified for participants to complete Stage 1 in the comfort of their own home, at their own pace. Each pack features a practical, easy to follow guide book, an accompanying audio CD and two hypnotherapy CDs. The pack is also available online as an eBook and audio downloads.

The programme normally takes three weeks and Brenda says it has been developed to be practical and easy after many years working on it.

"In Stage 1, participants continue using the nicotine delivery device of choice but learn simple yet powerful tools and techniques to change the way they think, feel and act towards smoking," Brenda says. "They are also provided with practical, safe recommendations to prepare their body through withdrawal."

"In Stage 2, participants stop using the nicotine delivery device and go through withdrawal. Three acupuncture sessions are highly recommended to help support the participant through nicotine withdrawal. Quittingpoint has affiliated acupuncturists throughout New Zealand," says Brenda, who feels acupuncture is an integral part of the programme.

For more information about the programme, visit www.quittingpoint.com.

Rodney Times, June 30, 2011

 

Craving to Quit

Once the glamorous, cool and socially acceptable thing to do, smoking is now less tolerated in society making it extremely uncomfortable to smoke in public. Approximately 70 percent of adult smokers would like to quit and many smokers have tried time and again to quit, only to relapse months or years later. Mark Twain once said “It’s easy to quit smoking, I’ve done it hundreds of times”. This quote is significant, as it takes the average smoker many attempts before they quit for life.

What makes quitting difficult is the addiction to nicotine. Nicotine is known as a ‘reinforcing’ drug – smokers want it regardless of its damaging effects. It is considered reinforcing because it causes smokers to continue to smoke in order to avoid the unpleasantness of withdrawal. What this means, and what most smokers don’t realise, is that as soon as a smoker finishes their cigarette, they are in withdrawal. Imagine a lifetime of being in withdrawal – anxious, distracted and miserable – often preoccupied and distracted by the thought of the next cigarette.

Although smoking has declined dramatically over the past few years, one in four people in New Zealand still smoke. The unfortunate thing is that this does not make it any easier for most smokers to quit. Fears arise that life will never be the same - that they are losing something special; that they won’t be able to cope in stressful situations; that they will never fully enjoy themselves again or spend the rest of their lives craving a cigarette.

Almost all new smokers are under 18 and these young people are what the tobacco industry calls its ‘replacement smokers’, replacing the nearly 5,000 smokers in New Zealand who die each year from tobacco related illnesses. The tobacco industry is constantly trying to entice new ‘replacement smokers’ and the latest tactic is by trying to introduce on the market fruit flavoured cigarettes and pretty pink cigarette packets. They are also fighting to keep their “powerwalls” behind the counters of dairies and petrol stations so that they can continue to entice young people and ex-smokers. It has been proven that children who see the “powerwall” constantly are twice as likely to take up smoking.

The bottom line is that it is difficult to dismantle the powerful illusions associated with nicotine addiction and the fear of stopping that keeps smokers smoking. Smokers need all the support and encouragement they can get when they decide to quit… again.

Brenda Burke
LIC AC

[Rodney Times]