LEWISTON – Central Maine Medical Center will offer Quit for Life, a smoking cessation program, starting Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Quit for Life is a five-session program designed to help tobacco smokers become non-smokers again. The program provides information, tools and skills that each participant will use to decide how to become a successful non-smoker.

The program includes instruction on preparing to quit, getting through the first few days, avoiding triggers that lead people to begin smoking again and strategies for staying tobacco-free.

Participants receive time-tested coping strategies, information on overcoming addiction, preventing relapse, managing stress, exercise and nutrition. To address the addictive nature of nicotine, the program includes an explanation on the benefits of nicotine replacement (patch, gum, nasal spray, inhaler) and Zyban, how they are used and what the side effects might be.

The group setting provides support and a forum for sharing ideas about what works and the assurance that quitters are not going through it alone. Wendy Tardif, a Central Maine Medical Center community educator, will be the facilitator.

Tardif has a bachelor’s degree in health and science and more than 15 years of experience in tobacco control and helping individuals become tobacco-free. She is certified as a tobacco treatment specialist and is part of a statewide training team for the certification of tobacco treatment specialists.

Participants in the Quit for Life program will have a direct link through Tardif to the medication voucher program offered through the Maine Tobacco Helpline. The medication voucher program provides free nicotine replacement (patch or gum) for those without insurance coverage.

The Quit for Life sessions will meet Nov. 1, 8, 15 and 22, and Dec. 6 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Isaacson Rooms (Rooms F & G) at CMMC. “Quit Day” is Tuesday, Nov. 15, two days before the Great American Smokeout.

The cost of the program is $45, but no one will be turned away based on the inability to pay. Class size is limited. To register, call the CMMC Wellness Center at 795-2473.