Health Professionals Hold Conference to Combat Smoking among Mentally Ill

Tobacco is the number one killer of people with mental illness. 

Officials say only one in four mental health facilities offer smoking cessation programs. 

In light of that fact, the American Lung Association and Northland health professionals came together to learn how to better help the mentally ill and those struggling with addiction to quit smoking. 

Smoking rates have gone down in Minnesota, however, 40 to 60 percent of those with mental illness or addicts smoke. 

“There’s a lot of evidence that this population, for example, is more addicted than other smokers, so they really need an intensive treatment approach, which could be a combination of medications and counseling. They’re very unlikely to be able to just quit on their own,” said Dr. Jill Williams, an Addiction Psychiatrist at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New jersey. 

The two-day tobacco cessation conference was the first-of-it’s kind held in the Northland. 

The conference picks back up Friday morning.