Former Smoker Praises UW-CTRI Support Group

Mary Luther had tried to quit smoking four times since she started in 1969, but wasn’t able to quit for good. Her fortunes changed when she heard a UW-CTRI spokesperson discussing a UW-CTRI support group on the radio. Mary decided to give it a try. She learned from the sessions that it can be very helpful to plan a quit attempt before actually trying to quit.

Mary Luther, former smoker

“The phrase we use in the group is, ‘stacking the deck in your favor,’” Mary said. “So I planned ahead.”

It worked. She quit in April and hasn’t smoked since. She says the UW-CTRI support group sustained her after the kudos and attention from family and friends dissipated. The group, comprised of smokers and former smokers and led by Terese Giuliani, meets Monday nights.

“Terese is great,” Mary said. “I was very impressed with her knowledge. She’s not judgmental. She’s very calm, focused and professional. She’s warm but keeps us on track. Nobody feels pressured; you can be as involved in the discussion or passive as you want.”

Mary said Terese and the other participants helped her understand the cravings and emotions she’d feel during the quit process. “They understand the magnitude of what it means to quit,” she says. Mary uses techniques like breathing deeply when she has a craving or verbalizing the craving, i.e., “I want a cigarette,” until the craving goes away.

“So many things that are said in the support group crystallize how I feel,” she said. She remembers a fellow participant saying, “It’s not about what I want; it’s about what I said I was going to do.” That quote is an inspiration to resist the urge to relapse. “Sometimes I want a cigarette,” she said. “But if I smoked even one cigarette, then I couldn’t say I quit in April.”

She said the best part about quitting is freedom. “You start to realize that smoking impacts every aspect of your life,” she said. “You can live without planning to smoke, stopping to buy cigarettes or worrying about how you smell. Just the little, insidious ways it affects your life. And there’s life after smoking.”