University Health Services will be offering free cessation classes beginning Sept. 29 for students, faculty and staff.Sabrina Laurent, coordinator of women’s resource and services, said that the classes are meant to assist anyone who wants to quit smoking. Sign-ups started with e-mails sent to students, faculty and staff last week.
The classes are part of the Freedom From Smoking initiative sponsored by the American Lung Association. Laurent said the class will consist of eight sessions, each geared towards quitting and “staying quit.” The sessions will occur over seven weeks and will meet once a week with the exception of sessions four and five, which will occur in the same week.
The first class on Sept. 29 is for faculty and staff. Students will begin meeting on Oct. 7.
“We thought that we should offer a variety of times and class formats,” Laurent said. There will be two classes for students and two for faculty and staff. The final set of classes will be open to everyone on campus. She said the department will try to make accommodations if there is a need for alternative times. Cessation classes will continue to be offered in the following semesters.
“We want the classes to be whatever the person going through needs them to be,” Laurent said.
She said the classes are meant to help someone quit smoking, but if someone needs to take the classes multiple times to get to the quitting point, they are welcome to take the classes as often as possible.
Seven Nicholls faculty and staff that have been trained by the American Lung Association as Freedom From Smoking Facilitators have volunteered to teach the classes.
Jason Anderson, athletic training junior from Bourg, said that the classes are a good opportunity to quit, especially because they are free.
“If I smoked, I would go,” Anderson said.
Trey Acosta, general studies sophomore from Cut Off, said he knows the classes would not work for him.
“As long as I’m working behind a bar, I’ll never bring myself to quit,” Acosta said.
To enroll, contact University Health Services at (985) 493-2609.
