Health and community services agencies and their workers can make a difference in the lives of people who smoke. As a first step, making a positive difference involves providing a supportive service environment. Smoke-free services and settings encourage and support quitting and help prevent the uptake of smoking by de-normalising smoking. In environments where smoking is visible and accepted, smoking is easily reinforced, making it more difficult for people to manage their smoking or attempt to quit. The addition of accessible information and resources to assist interested people to quit smoking can really make a supportive service environment. 

Workers in health and community services have a unique window of opportunity to work directly with people about smoking. The seriousness of the health and welfare implications of smoking gives workers a clear mandate to address smoking with their patients/clients. Smoking kills more than 15,000 Australians annually and is the foremost contributor to illness and premature death. Moreover, smoking is a social justice issue with vulnerable groups, such as Indigenous Australians and people with a mental illness, bearing a disproportionate share of the burden of disease. There is also growing evidence that smoking reinforces and intensifies disadvantage. Because smoking rates remain very high among disadvantaged groups despite the downward trend among the broader community, the social inequalities in tobacco use make a significant contribution to inequalities in health.  

At a minimum, workers can ask their patients/clients about smoking, provide a referral to Quitline, a local quit group, doctor or other relevant professional if appropriate and actively encourage and support their patients/clients in their quitting journey.

For workers who want to provide a more intensive level of assistance, the Quitskills workshop is an accredited training program, carefully designed to assist workers in health and community services to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to support and assist people to address their smoking.