![\"\"](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/seelig_terrri-233x300.jpg\" "\\"Terri")
<\/a>\u201cI am tired of watching people die due to smoking,\u201d says respiratory therapist Terri Seelig, the facilitator for the Tuesday class. \u201cI would like everyone to quit. It would be awesome to help people quit so they can enjoy a healthy, long life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nurse practitioner Diahann Wilcox, who will facilitate the Monday class, brought \u201cFreedom From Smoking\u201d to the UConn Health Center in January. Eight people successfully completed the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe focus on changing behavior and replacing smoking with healthy lifestyle choices,\u201d Wilcox says.<\/p>\n One of Wilcox\u2019s \u201cgraduates\u201d was Suzanne Brayton, who says the support system the class offers helped her stay on track.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to take a look at your smoking habits, look at what you\u2019re doing,\u201d Brayton says. \u201cYou have to write down times of day and what you\u2019re doing, and what your mood is when you light up. You keep a diary, then look back and make a conscious decision to eliminate the triggers. I signed up for an exercise class and kept myself real busy during my trigger times.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilcox and Seelig each completed a one-and-a-half-day American Lung Association training program to become certified facilitators.<\/p>\n \u201cI have had family members and friends pass away too young as a result of smoking,\u201d Seelig says. \u201cAs a respiratory therapist, I have also taken care of many patients with smoking-related illnesses. I would like to help people quit smoking before they become debilitated by their habit.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCaring for people with smoking-related disease and knowing that their suffering could have been prevented is what drove me to get involved,\u201d Wilcox says. \u201cMy door is open to any smoker who is motivated to quit, no matter how many times they have tried before.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Brayton, she feels healthier and proud of her success.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a self-satisfaction that you kicked a habit you know is bad for you, and that gives you a more positive outlook on your health,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s the economic benefit of not buying cigarettes anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cI already spent it,\u201d Brayton says. \u201cI spend more on going out with my kids. I\u2019ve been able to grow my entertainment budget.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFreedom From Smoking\u201d provides a tool box of smoking cessation techniques with personalized support. It meets once a week over seven weeks. The $50 registration fee is refundable after successful completion of the program. Call 800-535-6232 to register or for more information.<\/em><\/p>\n Follow\u00a0the UConn Health Center<\/a> on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a> and\u00a0YouTube<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The UConn Health Center is offering two seven-week programs to help smokers kick the habit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":64732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[57,2010],"class_list":["post-64726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uconn-health","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-20 01:49:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64726"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66216,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64726\/revisions\/66216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/64732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64726"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=64726"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=64726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Diahann](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/photo_wilcox-226x300.jpg\" "\\"photo_wilcox\\"")
<\/a>
\n