Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking Therapist Conference

Once a year we hold our International Conference in Weybridge, Surrey. It’s a wonderful week during which the Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic in London hosts dozens of trainee quit smoking therapists from every corner of the globe. As part of a new therapist’s training they spend a couple of days observing members of the Senior Stop Smoking Therapist Team in action with smokers from every part of London.

As well as visitors from overseas – it’s a great opportunity to get together with our stop smoking clinic staff from our clinics in Bournemouth, Brighton, Southampton, Reading, Staines, and Maidstone as well as the teams from Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Liverpool, Scotland, and the North East.

After observing the training sessions at the London Stop Smoking Clinic – all delegates decamp to the beautiful Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge for two days of meetings, discussions, training, and socialising.

There is no better feeling than looking around the meeting venue and seeing 50 Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Therapists from 5 continents. It was particularly wonderful to welcome our newest team from Allen Carr’s Easyway Colombia who are based in Bogota.

Other attendees this year included stop smoking counsellors from –

Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Tahiti, Turkey, Ukraine, USA

During the conference we explore so many issues related to stopping smoking, cigarette advertising, as well as practical elements of the Allen Carr stop smoking method.

The conference may have only just ended – but myself and the whole team from Allen Carr’s London Stop Smoking Clinic (which is located in our worldwide head office) are already looking forward to planning and hosting the conference again in 2013.

Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Team throughout the world – a group of people with a common objective; to cure the world of smoking.

Posted on 10:53 May 14, 2012 by John Dicey, Worldwide Director

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The Growing Worldwide Quit Smoking Team - England

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

We are so fortunate to have so many hugely motivated, highly dedicated, and extremely capable people within Allen Carr’s Easyway organisation across the world. Those people who find it hard to imagine finding it easy to stop smoking or feel that giving up smoking as opposed to being released from it isn’t possible for them can often be inspired to hear how our team around the world has been brought together. This is another in the series of features that look at the journeys undertaken by members of Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Therapist team; from being some of the most accomplished and active smokers on the planet to becoming happy non-smokers and world-leaders in the field of stopping smoking.

Mark Keen, Allen Carr’s Easyway Stop Smoking clinics in Lancashire,
Liverpool, Cumbria, and Newcastle writes:

Nowadays when I talk to my Allen Carr Easyway to Stop Smoking clients I hear a myriad of reasons given for why someone wants to stop smoking. So many, in fact, that I am now beginning to understand what Allen meant when he said that he learned something new about smoking every single day.
I started smoking because of a girl. Fiona O’Shea was a beautiful redhead who lured me into the smoking trap with promises of being in her gang and looking cool.
I didn’t stand a chance. Even though as a youngster I was firmly anti-smoking. This Celtic siren captured me hook, line and sinker and delivered me safely into the hands of the government and tobacco companies who then proceeded to rake off my hard earned cash for years to come.

I tried to stop smoking on many occasions. As a radio presenter I always thought is was a cool look as I was presenting my late night talk shows. Indeed, as I look over my photos from over the years I am surprised how many actually show me to be puffing away.

It wasn’t just at work – there are photographs of me standing striking a pose at a wedding, one of me apparently able to answer the call of nature whilst smoking at the same time, another taken in Kansas where I was apparently celebrating all my vices with a burger in one hand, a drink in the other and a packet of 20 American Honey Bees proudly in position. There is another showing me smoking in a tent!
As the years progressed I sometimes tried to kid myself that I didn’t smoke. I would consider myself to be a ‘social smoker’ – only smoking other people’s cigarettes, but eventually compulsion to make late night trips to the petrol station for cigarettes was too strong.

After many attempts to quit smoking using sheer willpower (usually at New Year) it was becoming harder to smoke, particularly at work as I could now (because of smoking bans) no longer broadcast from a studio filled with smoke. And one day the feeling of guilt washed over me as I stood outside watching my youngest child playing on his own inside my apartment. I was putting another cigarette in my mouth, but why? I hated the whole process of smoking.
I greeted Allen Carr’s book, recommended by a friend, with some scepticism. I wasn’t scared to read it, I just believed it was another quack cure peddled by a chancer.

However, the logic of Allen’s stop smoking method cannot be challenged and I found myself, much to my surprise, warming to his simple, no nonsense, sensible guidance out of the smoking maze. It WAS easy to stop smoking.
Needless to say, it changed my life.

A couple of years later I met a lady who mentioned that she had been to an Allen Carr stop smoking clinic recently and had been offered a training course as a therapist. Although I had not been involved with Allen Carr’s Easyway since quitting, I knew that this was my next challenge. My new non-smoking friend could not take up the training offer, but I could. And I did. Spending my life helping smokers become happy non-smokers is amazing.

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For more information about Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics and how to find it easy to stop smoking rather than feeling like you are giving up smoking click on your country’s flag at the top of this page.
Did you find it easy to stop smoking rather than feeling like you had quit smoking or sacrificed something? Perhaps you could help to spread the word?
Do you know of anyone who you would like to help stop smoking? Tell them about this feature and if they mention it when they book a session at any one of our stop smoking clinics across the world they can obtain a 10% discount (not valid in conjunction with any other offer or promotion).

Posted on 10:02 Apr 30, 2012 by John Dicey, Worldwide Director

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Stopping Smoking with the Allen Carr’s Easyway Method - Fabienne

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

It’s great to hear from so many people who use Allen Carr’s Easyway throughout the world. The endless pages of testimonials which are left on our website tell their own story (there are thousands and thousands of them). You can browse through them here

Having said that – it’s even more wonderful when we receive even more detailed information about those who stop smoking with us.

My name is Fabienne, I live in London, and I was a smoker from the age of 14 until I was 32. I did manage to stop on two occasions -when I was pregnant but resumed smoking each time when I stopped nursing them.

The dreadful teenage years:
When I was a teenager, I had very low self-esteem and I was not feeling good in my own skin. I didn’t have a huge amount of friends and you had to be cool and trendy not to be a target for bullies. I was certainly not cool in those days :-) A lot of the cool teens, (read thugs) used to hang around after school having a fag, my friend and I used to look at them longingly so we decided to give it a try!
So we tried… and it was terrible! I remember it was a Chesterfield and it was awful, my heart was in my mouth and I’m pretty sure I turned green but we persisted and eventually we got used to it and we came to actually enjoy it! I remember posing in the front of the mirror with a fag in my mouth thinking I looked sexy etc. It was part of the look I wanted to achieve in order to be accepted as a more mature girl.
At about 15 years old, when I couldn’t hide anymore the fact that I was smoking, I told the truth to my parents. They were really cross with me but what could they do? My mum was a smoker as well! She used to smoke Gauloise Caporal, the white one without a filter (yuck), and the worst thing is that when I was short of cigarettes I used to nick some from my mother when I was desperate. I used to throw tantrums because my mum didn’t want to drive me to the local “bureau de tabac”, and the nearest one was 4 miles away from the village where I used to live, (the deep, deep, deep middle of nowhere).
As if that was not bad enough, I made my little brother “taste” one cigarette to see his facial expression! The bugger liked it, he was 12 :-( and he became addicted very quickly. Thankfully, he stopped smoking almost 2 years ago.

The 20s:
I came to London when I was 21 years old and I was a very heavy smoker. You would think that because cigarettes were more expensive in England than France, it would motivate me to stop? NOPE. At the time I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar (Oh yeeah) and I was only earning £9,000 a year so not much at all. I was lucky enough to lodge at the hotel where the bar was. When I was not working I was partying hard as you do when you are in your 20’s. I was smoking between 20-40 cigarettes a day and I was also partying and drinking loads of alcohol.
Then I met my husband, then I became pregnant, I couldn’t bear the thought of smoking while being pregnant, I had the vision of a baby in my womb having a fag! So I quit cold turkey and did the same for my second pregnancy.

Then the 30s:
I was still smoking like there were no tomorrow; the only difference is that I was also drinking a lot too (I’ll get back to that later). When I should have taken the opportunity to be a happy non-smoker when I became pregnant, I resumed it almost as soon as I stopped nursing. I remember going out for the first time after my second daughter was born, I didn’t even think, I went straight to an off licence and bought a pack of 10. I thought to myself, “Oh go on, what’s the harm?” Its not like I can be addicted again, I can’t afford it! I just want to be me just for one evening! Hellllllo, did I just let the cigarette define me??? As in my teenage years, I just wanted a little confidence booster and the cigarette was the obvious choice to me.
I got addicted pretty fast again. I felt really bad because my eldest daughter often asked me what I was doing outside until one day she understood. At her school, they were saying that smokers were bad people etc…so I had a lot of pressure to quit.

On the top of smoking, I also became a heavy drinker. After my second daughter was born, I have suffered from PND so I was not having a fun time until I made some new friends at my eldest daughter’s school. They invited me to a night out then it became a regular thing and we had fun. My drinking began to increase, I could easily drink 1 bottle, 1 bottle and a half when I was out. I would end up completely drunk, on the verge of being sick…me a mother of 2 young children :-(
At home we used to enjoy a bottle of wine at weekends with my husband, this bottle was started on Friday night and often finished as late as Sunday, then I develop a habit. I was really stressed at this time and I didn’t need much of an excuse to reach for a drink after work while my husband was tending to my children’s needs. A glass of wine and a fag was my idea of heaven on earth! Only I could not have just one fag or one glass of wine. I ended up having 1 bottle to 2 bottles of wine a day.

It was probably the worst time of my life, I was really depressed as you can imagine. I couldn’t sleep well because I was crippled with guilt. I was telling myself, this is it, no more drink for me but I couldn’t stay away for long :-(. I was at loss of what to do; my addictions cost me a fortune and most importantly my health.

Last year, I stopped drinking for about 3 weeks then I went back to it because I thought I had it in control. Nope. So something had to be done.
My friend told me she wanted to stop smoking and that she was going to go to an Allen Carr seminar in order to stop smoking. I said, “Wow, I’m coming with you then, how much?” 220 pounds! Hmm ok maybe one day when I have 220 pounds to spare like you my dear (oh the irony)…So she went, and while she went, I read the Allen Carr book. I loved it and it talked to me but I didn’t stop smoking straightaway but I knew however that it was the method for me.

So I forked out the money for the seminar, and it changed my life. I knew from the moment that Colleen (one of the therapists at the Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic in London) started speaking that I was going to stop smoking. I just knew it. What she was saying made sense! It was a revelation. So when she said, “You’ll now go for your last cigarette, take the time to think to yourself that it is your last cigarette”, it was. I stopped smoking on the 30/04/11 @ 2.33pm on a very sunny day!
Now I hear you say, what about the drinking? Drinking without a cigarette doesn’t seem as much fun! Well it didn’t bother me! For a while I was thinking, at least you don’t smoke so you can at least have one vice. It was still too much though.

I knew that Allen Carr clinic had seminar for the drinking too but I was really sceptical, I thought that I couldn’t be lucky twice and also I think I didn’t want to let the drinking go. Imagine when I go to the pub, not smoking, not drinking? I was scared of being called an anti-social bore! I was scared of being rejected by my friends, of not being invited anymore. When I told my friends I had given up smoking they were so pleased for me, but when I told them I wanted to give up drinking, they were not so understanding. Anyway, my decision was taken and I booked myself for a seminar.

I went on the 12/11/11, it was the day before my birthday, I had a very nasty hung-over but Allen Carr with the help of Cris (another of the therapists at Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic in London) helped to get me out of the fog and I’ll be thankful for the rest of my life.
Both Colleen and Cris told me I was going to be fine and they were right – I’m fine, I feel great! I have never been happier!

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We never tire of hearing stories about how those who attend Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics or read the books stopped smoking. For information on how you can quit smoking easily – without having to suffer and feel like you’ve quit anything or feel like you’re giving up smoking – please feel very welcome to get in touch with your nearest Allen Carr’s Easyway stop smoking clinic.

Posted on 09:07 Apr 11, 2012 by John Dicey, Worldwide Director

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The Growing Worldwide Team - Singapore

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful team of people within Allen Carr’s Easyway organisation across the world. Smokers who want to find out how to stop smoking easily sometimes find it really hard to imagine that it is possible. They are so used to previous attempts to quit smoking ending up feeling like a huge never-ending battle that leaves them feeling miserable. In looking for a way to stop smoking it can often be inspiring for them to hear how our team around the world has been brought together. This is another installment in a series of features that look at the journeys taken by members of Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Therapist team; from being some of the most prolific smokers on the planet to becoming happy non-smokers and world-leaders in the field of stopping smoking.

Pam Oei, Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Singapore writes:

I remember my first cigarette at 11. I had stolen one of my father’s Dunhills and was horrified at how it tasted. I was completely stumped as to why people smoked at all.

When I was 17, I found myself hanging out with the “bad boys” of my school. And everyone knows that bad boys all smoke – those who played in a rock band especially. I started with Lucky Strikes. Rock musicians don’t do the “soft” menthols. I remember experimenting with different brands trying to find the “right fit”. And the right fit was always the brand that your friends were smoking at the time.

I did not expect to smoke for a further 17 years. I always thought I’d dabble in cigarettes for a few short years and then I’d decide it was enough and I would just stop and it would be easy. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Every time I tried to stop smoking, it felt like the world was coming to an end. In my last 8 smoking years, I must have tried 3 or 4 times a year to stop. I used nicotine patches, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, Zyban, pure will power – to no avail. And each failed attempt to quit smoking made me feel worse and worse about myself. I am a theatre actor and sometimes when I was performing in a musical, I wouldn’t be able to hit some notes and I knew it was totally due to my smoking. It was humiliating and degrading and yet I couldn’t stop myself.

In 2006, I was on my 3rd dose of Zyban AND still smoking, but secretly. I didn’t want to let my loved ones down by telling them I had started smoking again. One night, I was going through my brother’s ashtray, looking for a stub to smoke when I stopped in my tracks, realized how ridiculous the situation was and seriously did some reflection. I lay down on my bed and was horrified to count that I had been smoking for 17 years. I decided that I needed some help and went on the internet. That’s when I found Allen Carr. This name just kept popping up so I decided to give it a go. I was going to London for a holiday anyway and checked myself into Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic there.

I was excited when I left my session but also a little skeptical. A day went by, nothing. A week went by, still nothing. I was waiting for the craving to come back and bite me from behind but nothing happened. After a month went by, I was shocked at how easy it was to stop smoking. Just like that. After 17 years of hell, it just took one afternoon to cure me.

When I went back to Singapore, I recommended the book to all my smoking friends. When 10, yes TEN of my friends stopped smoking, I decided it was time to do something about it. That’s when I started making inquiries about being an Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking therapist. I really wanted to help smokers find it easy to stop smoking (like I did).

Today it’s wonderful to have been responsible for bringing Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking to Singapore and help other people stop smoking and I can’t tell you how fulfilling it is. It’s almost as fulfilling as living my life free from the clutches of nicotine and I thank Allen Carr all the time for this gift of freedom.

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Pam Oei runs Allen Carr’s Easyway stop smoking seminars in Singapore.

For more information about how to get help to stop smoking with Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics and how stop smoking easily rather than feeling like you have to give up smoking (and feel deprived) click on your country’s flag here.
Did you find it easy to stop smoking rather than feeling like you had to quit smoking or sacrifice something? Maybe you could help to spread the word?
Do you know of anyone who you would like to help stop smoking? Tell them about this feature and if they mention it when they book a session at any one of our stop smoking clinics across the world they can obtain a 10% discount (not valid in conjunction with any other offer or promotion).

Posted on 09:59 Mar 30, 2012 by John Dicey, Worldwide Director

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Amazing stories of people who quit smoking - Annika Valtonen, Finland

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

It’s wonderful to appreciate how many people use Allen Carr’s Easyway throughout the world – and there is not doubt – our endless pages of testimonials which are left on our website tell their own story (there are thousands and thousands of them). You can browse through them here.

Having said that – it’s even more wonderful when we receive more detailed information about those who stop smoking with us.

Here is Annika Voltenon’s story in her own words:

My name is Annika Valtonen and I’m 38 years old woman from Hämeenlinna, Finland. I started to smoke cigarettes when I was 10 years old. I thought it looked cool and that I looked more grown up if I smoked. I smoked for 28 years.
Please do not be scared by the first part of my story – I know when I smoked stories like mine used to make me turn away from the page – but there is a happy ending to mine. In 2003 doctors found tumour on my lung. I had surgery in January 2004 and the tumour was removed.
Of course – after that I realised that I had to stop smoking. I’m a mother and I didn’t want my kids to loose me too early (I lost my own mother very young). I started my process to stop smoking – by now I was smoking 20-30 cigarettes a day. I tried to stop with nicotine patches, nicotine inhalator, nicotine chewing gum, Champix/Chantix, and just plain, old fashioned willpower. On each occasion I failed to quit smoking and continued to smoke.
Then I heard about a book – my friend told me about it – the book was written by Allen Carr. I was ready to try anything so I bought the book and I read it. It made sense to me – yet still I was smoking. I was desperate. I felt like I would never stop smoking.
I was in really bad shape – even though I was young – I couldn’t walk very much anymore because I had such difficulty breathing. I was so scared.
Then I heard that Allen Carr’s Easyway Clinics were arriving in Finland. I was so happy. I signed up for the stop smoking seminar that same day.
The seminar was on 29th October 2011 and I haven’t smoked since that day :) And my life is so happy today.
After I quit smoking my life has change in many ways. I’m so relaxed now. I don’t stress about things so easy anymore. I have much more energy today than when I smoked. It’s much more easier to breathe because smoking doesn’t block my lungs.
I don’t have to plan my day around cigarettes anymore. Today I can do what I want and when I want and I don’t have to think when I need to smoke.
Getting rid of that fear that my kids were losing their mother because of tobacco was wonderful and liberating.
Today I have enough strength and energy to play with my kids everyday. And I’m happy.

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Annika attended Allen Carr’s Easyway Stop Smoking clinic in Helsinki, Finland

We never tire of hearing stories about how those who attend Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics or read the books stopped smoking. For information on how you can quit smoking easily – without having to suffer and feel like you’ve quit anything or feel like you need to give up smoking – contact your nearest clinic by clicking on your country’s flag.

Posted on 15:19 Mar 28, 2012 by John Dicey, Worldwide Director

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