Registration is now open for the fall tobacco cessation sessions offered by students in the College of Pharmacy. The UGA campus will be tobacco free starting Oct. 1. This includes all cigarettes, chewing tobacco and e-cigarettes.
Limited to 20 participants, the first six-week session will be offered to UGA employees and members of the Athens community. Weekly meetings will be held Aug. 26 through Sept. 30. They will be held on Tuesdays from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the UGA Training and Development Center, 315 S. Thomas St. Parking at the center is free after 5 p.m.
At each meeting, trained pharmacy students will lead participants through a group program followed by individualized coaching to educate attendees, develop a personalized plan and provide participants with the tools needed to help them quit using tobacco.
The tobacco cessation program, adapted from Pfizer’s “Beat the Pack” initiative, can be used for both cigarettes and chewing tobacco. Each session will focus on tobacco-use issues such as health risks, reasons to quit, cessation aids, coping with urges to use tobacco, handling relapse and maintenance.
The session’s registration deadline is Aug. 25. The registration form and other information about the program is available at http://t.uga.edu/PO. To register, fax the completed form to 706-542-6022, email the form to beatthepack@rx.uga.edu or call 706-542-5328.
A second session will be offered to UGA students. Dates and times for the student program are to be determined, but the expected start date is late August or early September. Group classes as well as individual counseling are available to students.
