Mr. Michael currently serves as the Director of the Arizona Smokers’ Helpline housed at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health. He has over 20 years of experience in behavioral health settings. He holds a Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling with a focus in Substance Abuse. He has worked in both the public and private sectors providing services to people with behavioral health issues including addictive behaviors and chronic mental illness. He is a National Past-President for the Association for Ambulatory Behavioral Healthcare. He became involved with tobacco control in 1997 as a member of the evaluation team for the Arizona Tobacco Education and Prevention Program. He returned to tobacco in 2006 as the director of the ASHLine which provides quit tobacco services to all Arizona residents who want to quit tobacco. Mr. Michael is the author of a white paper outlining a framework for quality improvement for tobacco quitlines in North America. Most recently, Mr. Michael has participated as a member of the Behavioral Health Advisory Forum that released a white paper with recommendations regarding the use of tobacco quitlines for those diagnosed with mental illness or substance use disorders.
- What is it that has been learned in other addiction services that can be tailored for tobacco cessation?
- Can tobacco quitlines really work as an intervention strategy?
- How can partnering benefit both programs and consumers?