Quit smoking

Tobacco smoking reduces your life expectancy and your quality of life. Smoking is a leading cause of preventable death and disease in Queensland.

Quitting smoking can be one of the most difficult yet beneficial things you can do. Finding your own strategy for quitting is important, along with considering information and support available to help you.

Quitline -13 QUIT (13 7848)

The Quitline 13 QUIT (13 7848) is a phone support, information and advice service for people who want to quit smoking. It is a confidential, free service that will provide you with help tailored to your particular needs. Counsellors are available 7am–10pm, 7 days a week. 

Quitline counsellors are all very experienced at helping people over the phone. Quitline staff are people of different ages and from different backgrounds. There are males and females, non-smokers and ex-smokers. Quitline counsellors are understanding and supportive, because they know about addiction and how hard it can be to quit smoking. They are never judgmental about people who smoke. They are there to help smokers who want to quit to do so successfully.

Quitline counsellors can provide advice on:

• quitting, including sending you self-help materials
• identifying your smoking habits and how to manage risk situations
• making a plan to quit
• nicotine replacement therapy and other quitting methods
• how to stay a non-smoker once you have quit

Quitline also has a team of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander counsellors. When you call 13QUIT, ask to speak with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Counsellor. A support program including multiple call backs is offered to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders.

Calls from anywhere in Australia cost the price of a local call (calling from a mobile costs more).

Why quit?

• Smoking damages your body—smoking is a proven risk factor for fatal or debilitating diseases and conditions, including cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer.
• Smoking when pregnant may harm your baby—smoking during pregnancy is the biggest contributing factor to the development of complications including miscarriage, premature labour and sudden unexpected death in infants.
• Quitting improves your health and wellbeing—your heart rate drops, your sense of taste and smell improve, coughing and shortness of breath decreases and your risk of coronary heart disease is halved after 1 year. 
• Your smoking affects your family and friends—second-hand smoke is known to be harmful to the health of others.

Tips for successful quitting

1. Prepare to quit—identify your reasons to quit, create your quitting plan and put your plan into action.
2. Quitting methods—find a strategy that best fits your situation, Research with smokers over many years shows that using nicotine replacement therapy NRT (e.g. patches, gum, lozenges)) and counselling (like from the Quitline) can more than double your chances of successful quitting. People have also had success using medications like varenicline which can be prescribed by your doctor, combined with counselling.
3. Quit support—get the right help from free services such as Quitline on 13 QUIT (13 78 48) or online through Quit Coach.
4. Avoid relapses:
   • be aware of your early warning signs and have a plan of action
   • make a list of high-risk situations and triggers that could lead you to smoke again, such as when feeling upset, having money worries, at social occasions where people are smoking and drinking
   • avoid high-risk situations where possible or prepare yourself by thinking about possible difficulties and ways of coping with them
   • ask people not to smoke around you and never buy, hold or light cigarettes for othersdo something active when the urge hits
   • cange your routine so that you have something else to do at the times and places you used to smoke
   • phone the Quitline on 13 QUIT (13 7848) for support 
   • visit Quit now for more ideas and coping techniques.

Further information and support

• Quit Smoking—information and advice on how to quit smoking. 
• Quit now—information and resources about the risks of smoking, the benefits of quitting, ideas for how to quit and what to do if you’re having trouble quitting.
• My Smoking—information and advice for young people quitting smoking. 
• Cancer Council Queensland—information about all types of cancer, resources and tools for quitting smoking.
• Quit now calculator—calculates how much you spend on cigarettes and how long it would take you to reach a savings goal if you were to stop smoking.
• Quit Coach—lets you create a personalised quit plan to achieve your goal to become a non-smoker.
• MyQuitBuddy—personalised, interactive app, free to download on iPhone, iPad and Android phones.
• Quit for You, Quit for Two—a personalised, interactive app for women who are pregnant or planning to be. Free to download on iPhone, iPad and Android phones.

Contact us

Quitline—Phone: 13 QUIT (13 7848)
The Quitline 13 QUIT (13 7848) is a phone support, information and advice service for people who want to quit smoking. It is a confidential, free service that will provide you with help tailored to your particular needs.
Request a call back

Cancer Council Helpline—Phone: 13 11 20
Cancer Council Queensland’s Helpline is a phone based support and information service providing advice, information, access to support, and referrals to other services.