When he opened the email that President Richard Englert had sent at the beginning of the month about Temple’s smoke-free policy, Dave Wilson got motivated to quit smoking for when he comes back to Temple’s Main Campus to work.
Dave Wilson is a senior publisher for Temple University Press and will soon be working on Temple’s Main Campus in the Charles Library this upcoming school year.
“I started smoking in college.” Wilson says, “It seemed like it helped with stress, it seemed like it helped getting through stressful classes, even at my job now its stressful, and I’ll got out and have a cigarette.”
Wilson, among other faculty and staff, attended the College of Public Health Department for its first Smoking Cessation Workshop, sponsored by Total Wellness. During the workshops, participants learned about free smoking resources and the health benefits of quitting tobacco.
The hour-long event was hosted by Temple senior Courtney Cunningham, who expresses how she knows first-hand how hard it is for people to stop smoking.
“I’ve had a lot of family members and friends who smoked, so I always felt connected into smoking and stopping it,” Cunningham says, “I wanted to get involved so I can be a part of the compassion enforcement and to help people find these resources.”
Dave Wilson still has some concerns for the best way to communicate to students and faculty, over the summer, who may be considering quitting before classes start in August of next fall.
“I don’t know if they gave people enough time. I feel that it was very fast and very indirect announcing the policy through email,” Wilson expresses,” I know the struggling to quit, I am wondering how am I going to do it.”
Wilson wants Temple to keep reminding its students and faculty about the policy as well as offering resources to those who want it.
The tobacco-free policy will take effect on July 1st, and the Public Health Department will continue workshops next school year for students and faculty who are motivated to quit.
To learn more on Total Wellness benefits, Smoking Cessation Workshops, and resources you can go on https://www.temple.edu/life-at-temple/tobacco-free-temple.
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