General | Alberta | British Columbia | Prince Edward Island
General
The Quash app, developed by the Lung Health Foundation, is a free mobile app designed to help youth quit smoking or vaping. The app empowers users to quit smoking or vaping by allowing them to design their customized quitting plan based on their goals, personality, values, interests, and products used. The Quash interface also allows users to track their cravings and earn badges when goals are reached. The Lung Health Foundation also offers a free facilitator training course for adults interested in delivering the Quash youth smoking and vaping cessation program.
Smokefree Teen – quitSTART
Smokefree Teen is part of the Smokefree initiative by the National Cancer Institute that aims to reduce youth tobacco use. Developed by Smokefree quitSTART is a free app, available on Android and iOS, that allows youth to create a personalized quitting plan. The app offers tips and challenges to make the quitting experience engaging and motivational for teens.
The I quit for me program, formerly known as the Quit 4 Life program, serves as a tool to guide youth in quitting tobacco, cigarette, or vaping use. The resource includes a series of questions that act as a self-assessment tool for current users to gauge their level of dependence on vaping and/or smoking cigarettes. The I quit for me program presents comprehensive information on the risks of smoking/vaping, reasons to quit, and first-hand accounts of how former users successfully quit. Detailed, week-by-week plans to quit smoking and/or vaping are outlined, with supplementary resources included, such as a Smoking tracking card and a Vaping tracking card.
Alberta
Alberta Health Services - Let's Talk Tobacco: Social Media Toolkit
The Alberta Health Services google drive folder features a social media plan aimed to raise awareness about tobacco and the harms associated with it. This social media plan, displayed on an excel spreadsheet, includes 10 images and their corresponding post texts that can be posted on social media platforms or to the school’s website. Each post contains a link to additional informational resources.
Alberta Health Services – Tobacco & Vaping Resources for Teachers
Alberta Health Services works to deliver health services to the province of Alberta through an integrated health system. The tobacco and vaping resource page shares grade-specific resources, for example, GeminAI Rising is an online learning experience for young people in grades 7 to 9. A guide for teachers to facilitate the GeminAI Rising in the classroom can be found here (Pdf). In addition, Alberta Health Services and Healthier Together has developed an interactive Fact or Fiction game to educate youth about common tobacco use misconceptions and help promote healthy lifestyle choices.
British Columbia
BC Cancer Prevention Programs – Tobacco Education and Action Module (TEAM)
BC Cancer’s Prevention Program serves to educate on preventable causes of cancer through evidence-based resources. Their TEAM resource is designed for use by anyone – including educators, school health professionals, and youth – who want to support tobacco users in quitting. The module is meant to informally assist with tobacco quitting by enhancing knowledge on the harms of smoking and the process of quitting, as well as by providing external resources.
Interior Health – Tobacco and Vapour Prevention and Control
Interior Health provides a tobacco and vapour prevention and control program to protect the public from the harms of tobacco use, vaping, second- and third hand smoke. In addition, schools can access resources such as toolkits and fact sheets from the Interior Health Tobacco Reduction Program in order to take action on tobacco.
Prince Edward Island
PEI Public School Branch – Tobacco and Smoke-Free Environments Policies and Procedures
The PEI Public School Branch (PSB) has developed Tobacco and Smoke-Free Environment Policies and Procedures which prohibit smoking and the use of tobacco products on PSB property and discuss the importance of maintaining a tobacco and smoke free environment. Refer to the Operational Procedures for information on the enforcement and compliance of this policy and procedure in the school environment, and the benefits of these policies and procedures for students and staff.
LUNGNSPEI – Smoking Cessation
LUNGNSPEI’s mission is to promote lung health in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and a part of their initiatives involves providing resources and programs for smoking and vaping cessation. For example, the Smoking Cessation page outlines smoking facts and provides resources on how to quit smoking oneself and how to help someone else quit smoking. This website and its resources can be shared with students, parents/guardians, educators, and staff.
PEI’s Smoking Cessation Program
The PEI Smoking Cessation Program helps PEI residents who wish to stop smoking or using other tobacco products by covering 100% of the cost of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products (i.e., nicotine gum, lozenges, patches, and inhaler) and specific smoking cessation prescription medications. Interested individuals can book an appointment with a primary care network office in their area for more information. In addition, their website offers a list of resources, including the Quit Your Way Vaping Youth Guide and Quit Smoking Program Brochure.