A Shared Struggle with Tobacco Addiction
With her finger on the pulse of advocacy, practice improvement, and trends, Linda Rosenberg, CEO & President of the National Council for Behavioral Health, brings news from the field that you, or your work, can’t live without.
In Their Own Words: Wisconsin’s Roadmap for Becoming Tobacco Free
The Wisconsin Nicotine Treatment Integration Project (WiNTiP) has developed recommendations on how treatment facilities can become tobacco-free. This document provides mental health/substance use treatment programs and state governing bodies with a roadmap about specific elements and steps that collectively constitute a tobacco-free treatment setting. It emphasizes: 1) the importance of a tobacco-free healthy treatment setting; 2) the provision of evidence-based tobacco dependence treatment; and 3) the necessity of helping staff who have tobacco dependence to quit.
Southern Strides: North Carolina’s State-Operated Behavioral Health Facilities Go Tobacco-Free
May 15, 2014 was a momentous day for North Carolina. On that day, North Carolina amended a rule to ban the use of tobacco anywhere on the grounds of a …
LA County: Strategies for Tobacco Free Recovery Summit
On March 4-6, 2012, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health convened the Living Well: Strategies for Tobacco Free Recovery Summit. The Summit brought together more than 160 Communities …
Helping People with Mental Illness in Massachusetts and Connecticut Quit Smoking
Success story about 10 mental health treatment facilities in Connecticut and Massachusetts that tested out a new Approach to Addressing Tobacco Use Through Organizational Change (ATTOC) – a 10-step process …
Minnesota Becomes First State to Host Tobacco State Strategy Session
On October 12th, 2015, Minnesota launched its first ever statewide initiative addressing smoking prevalence among people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Hosted by the American Lung Association with …
Michigan Community Mental Health Center Champions Tobacco-Free Policy
Across the nation, tobacco-free policies are making workplaces, school campuses and homes safer. Meanwhile, there have been relatively few policies aimed at community mental health boards. In Michigan, community mental …
Way Station, Inc., Community of Practice Alumni, goes Tobacco-Free
A 2015 Tobacco & Cancer Control Community of Practice (CoP) member, Way Station Outpatient Mental Health Clinic went Tobacco-Free in May of 2016. Way Station is a behavioral health organization …
Everything’s Bigger in Texas, Including Lassoing Tobacco Use
With funding from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, project directors Lorraine Reitzel, Cho Lam and Bill Wilson guided 18 mental health authorities (later joined by a nineteenth) through a new initiative to become 100 percent tobacco-free.
NatCon2017 Highlight – Addressing the Epidemic in Behavioral Health: Tobacco and Cancer
During the National Council for Behavioral Health’s 2017 National Conference, former Community of Practice alumni and webinar speakers of the National Behavioral Health Network for Tobacco & Cancer Control shared their experiences in addressing tobacco & cancer control with behavioral health populations.
New Jersey Hosts Wellness & Tobacco-Free Recovery Summit
On September 6 and 7, 2017, the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Department of Health, and Department of Children and Families, in partnership with the CDC’s National Behavioral Health …
How to Stay Engaged in Comprehensive Cancer Control: Takeaways from the 2017 CDC Cancer Conference
The National Behavioral Health Network team shares lessons learned from the CDC’s 2017 Cancer Conference, sponsored by the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors.
Addressing America’s Number One Killer Starts Today
As we mark the 40th anniversary of the first nationwide Great American Smokeout this Thursday, November 16, Tom Hill, Vice President of Practice Improvement at the National Council for Behavioral Health, speaks out about the importance of addressing tobacco within behavioral health populations.
Pennsylvania’s State Strategy Session for Tobacco Free Recovery
A day and a half summit designed to leverage and create new opportunities for tobacco control and behavioral health initiatives, policies, and interventions. A selected group of industry leaders, influencers, …
Back by Popular Demand: Sharing Information around Cancer Education and Behavioral Health
In 2016, the National Behavioral Health Network for Tobacco & Cancer Control (NBHN) hosted two cancer educational sessions at a Washington, DC behavioral health provider, MBI Health Services. The sessions …
A Collaborative Effort in Kentucky to Reduce Tobacco Use
900,000 people. That’s almost 1 million individuals who smoke in the state of Kentucky – the state with the highest rate of smoking. People with mental illness make up a …
Forging Partnerships to Reduce Tobacco Use in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is known for the steel mills that built America, and although the smoke stacks of those mills are mostly gone, the smoke remains. Almost 22 percent of all Pittsburgh …
Establishing Communities of Practice to Enhance Tobacco & Cancer Control Efforts
Individuals with mental health and substance use disorders use commercial tobacco at rates 2 to 4 times higher than the general population and have an increased risk of cancer. To …
Member Spotlight: Initiating Practice Change with a Tobacco-Free Policy
“How will our members react to a tobacco-free campus?” “Will this change the way we interact with them?” “What if members stop coming?” These questions echo the concerns that behavioral …
STATING the Obvious: Tobacco Disparities CAN be Eliminated through State Tobacco Control Efforts
The National Behavioral Health Network (NBHN) for Tobacco and Cancer Control, in January 2019, launched its 7th Community of Practice, the 2019 State Tobacco Control Community of Practice (CoP) in …
NBHN, SCLC and the SAMHSA National Center of Excellence for Tobacco-Free Recovery Launch Two-Part Training: Empowering Behavioral Health Facilities to Go Tobacco-Free
To support behavioral health facilities in going tobacco-free and expanding cessation support services, the National Behavioral Health Network (NBHN) for Tobacco and Cancer Control and the Center for Disease Control …
25 x 25: Indiana Commits to Reducing Smoking in Individuals with Behavioral Health Conditions by 13% in Five Years
In Indiana, individuals with behavioral health conditions, such as those who experience poor mental health days or those who engage in heavy drinking, smoke at a rate twice as high …
Alaska Takes Action to Reduce Smoking Prevalence by 7% in Five Years
Over the past decade, smoking prevalence has decreased among Alaskans; however, when looking at individuals with behavioral health conditions, the numbers tell a different story. While 22% of the general …
NBHN, SCLC and the SAMHSA National Center of Excellence for Tobacco-Free Recovery: Behavioral Health Facilities Convene in Denver to Go Tobacco-Free
To support behavioral health facilities in going tobacco-free and expanding cessation support services, the National Behavioral Health Network (NBHN) for Tobacco and Cancer Control and the Center for Disease Control …
State Cancer Control Programs Work to Advance Comprehensive Cancer Care with Mental Health in Mind
In August 2019, the National Behavioral Health Network for Tobacco & Cancer Control (NBHN) facilitated the launch of the 2019 Cancer and Behavioral Health Education training, a three-part in-person and …
Tobacco Control Champions Unite in Minnesota
Minnesota has long been distinguished as one of the healthiest states in the country, and the rates of tobacco use in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” are no exception: about …
Peer Specialists: Enhancing the Behavioral Health Workforce to Address Tobacco Cessation
Peer Specialists: Enhancing the Behavioral Health Workforce to Address Tobacco Cessation Interview with Heath Hayes, Senior Director – Communications and Strategic Engagement Oklahoma Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse …
Persistence and Practice Change: How Fourteen State Tobacco Control Programs Continued Their Commitment to Addressing Tobacco Disparities During COVID-19
On a brisk January morning, fourteen state tobacco control programs convened in Washington D.C., for the launch of the National Behavioral Health Network’s (NBHN) 2020 State Tobacco Control Community of …
Examples of Endurance: Twelve State Tobacco Control Programs Showed Tenacity in Addressing Tobacco Disparities While Still in a Global Pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic continued through 2021, overwhelming public health agencies and other healthcare providers, twelve states, representing 8 of the 10 Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regions, …
Adaptability and Intersectionality: Cohort 12 of State Tobacco Control Community of Practice
Alongside public health agencies and healthcare providers who persistently navigated the third year of a global pandemic, eleven states embarked upon a six-month practice change intensive to further commit to …