L.A. County Pioneers for Smoking Cessation Profile: Options for Recovery
(left: balloons and banner for the "Save your Lungs" campaign; right: Becky Senter and Darlene Walker sporting "Save Your Lungs" campaign merchandise)
The Options for Recovery Perinatal Substance Abuse Treatment Program is on the leading edge of tobacco-free policy work in the South Bay. Three years ago the program wanted to offer tobacco dependence treatment and the interest in going tobacco-free persisted. The substance use treatment program jumped at the opportunity to join the Los Angeles County Pioneers for Smoking Cessation. Director, Darlene Walker, and Assistant Director, Lynda Sanchez joined the Pioneers program with the goal of eliminating smoking at the treatment facility. Benefits of joining the Pioneers Project according to Lynda Sanchez, Assistant Director, included the structure, support with timelines, policy guidelines and the encouragement to incorporate wellness into recovery.
Since joining the L.A. Pioneers initiative, Options for Recovery hosted a kick-off party for clients and staff, eliminated one of the client smoke breaks and plans to eliminate a second smoke break in October. The major success has been the clients' motivations to begin working towards quitting. Darlene Walker, the Director of Options for Recovery, asserted, "Kids are our focus" to help mothers to quit smoking. Educating mothers about the dangers of second and third hand smoke shifts their focus to the health of the whole family.
The program provided a 2-hour intensive workshop for smokers from June-September. They also provide a smoking cessation group for all clients monthly. Everyone at SCLC and L.A. County Project TRUST congratulates Options for Recovery for doing an outstanding job as a Pioneer for Smoking Cessation. For more information about Options for Recovery follow this link: http://optionsforrecovery.com/default.aspx.
To put the policy work at Options for Recovery in a broader context, here is some background information on the Pioneers and LA County Project TRUST. The County of Los Angeles, Department of Public Health, Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention, was awarded $32 million through the Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant initiative funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Project TRUST (Tobacco Reduction Using effective Strategies and Teamwork) received $16 million for a two-year grant period and aims to reduce tobacco use in high-risk communities across the county through policy, systems and environmental change interventions. Through this program, social service agencies that receive funding serve as "Los Angeles County Pioneers" and work toward implementing 100% smoke-free workplace environments for staff and clientele.
For more information or if you would like to take your facility smoke-free, please contact Dior Hildebrand, Project Coordinator, at dhildebrand@ph.lacounty.gov.
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