Arizona leadership academy for wellness and smoking cessation
Leaders from state agencies, consumers, behavioral health, the Arizona quitline, and tobacco cessation experts came together on January 14th for the Arizona State Leadership Academy for Wellness and Smoking Cessation Summit. At the beginning of the summit Dr. Laura Nelson, the Deputy Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, commented, "Through the work we'll do today, we'll have a tangible, concrete action plan. We have an incredible moment that we can take advantage of."
Although the mood was subdued due to recent tragic events in Tucson, the partners worked to create an action plan to lower the prevalence rate in Arizona's behavioral health population.
Twenty-four participants, with representatives from each county agreed on the goal to reduce the prevalence of smoking in the behavioral health care system 40% by 2016.
The summit partners identified 3 overarching strategies to reach this goal:
- Peer intervention through treatment, education and marketing
- Educate providers to help members quit smoking
- Policy change and assessment
Arizona is the second of five states selected to hold Leadership Academies. The Academies are made possible by SAMHSA and SCLC. The goals of the Academies are to reduce smoking and nicotine addiction among behavioral health consumers and staff, to stimulate cooperation and collaboration among the fields of public health, including tobacco control and prevention, mental health, addiction treatment and prevention.