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How to get my father to use the Allen Carr's Easyway stop smoking method

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

We received an interesting enquiry at Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic in London recently. A gentleman who had stopped smoking easily after attending one of our quit smoking seminars wrote to ask for advice regarding his father and how he might inspire him to stop smoking.

The writer said that while he was explaining how the stop smoking session seemed to work (to another family member) his father appeared to take some interest. The writer explained that he told his father and the family member that it was all very easy to stop smoking, that there were no scare tactics, or health lectures – in fact not a single mention of the C word! He explained that smokers are able to carry on smoking throughout the session until the end and how all the people on the course were all very happy. How it was almost miraculous in fact.

The writer’s father apparently already knows of several people who have also attended the Allen Carr’s London Stop Smoking Clinic successfully.

For Father’s Day each year the writer has purchased special “experience” gifts for his father including art exhibitions, musical extravaganzas at The Royal Albert Hall in London, and many other cultural expeditions which his father would otherwise never considered attending.

This year, for Father’s Day, he bought him a voucher to use at Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic in London. To his mind he felt there could be no greater gift than the chance to be set free from cigarettes.

Having printed off some information and placed it carefully inside his Father’s Day card along with the voucher – the writer said it actually made him feel very nervous – he was not sure how his father might react. Perhaps it was a step too far?

Apparently his father was very quiet when he received the gift. It took several weeks for him to confide in his son “About that present … I’ve no interest in it at all. Not one iota. It’s best if you just get your money back.”

And that was that.

Well – the writer was more than a little devastated and was seeking our advice on how to handle the situation.

He told us how his father has actually been stockpiling cigarettes for years. He apparently goes to Europe several times a year to buy cigarettes in their 1000s, because they’re much cheaper on the continent.

It obviously has to be a person’s own decision to give up smoking, but also obvious is the fact that most smokers will have already tried several (perhaps many) times and like most smokers, will have failed. Presumably the writer’s father feels resigned to the fact that he can’t/won’t give up. He’s obviously scared and prefers to keep his head in the sand.

Apparently the stockpile of cigarettes in his shed represents a significant investment in smoking and perhaps it is also some kind of mini victory – proud defiance.

The writer begs a great question – how can one encourage someone who actively does not want to attend the programme to do so?

Our answer has always been to live your life as a clear example of a happy non-smoker. Once smokers close to you see how relaxed and happy you are about not smoking – the hope is that it will inspire them to follow you to freedom. There is certainly a lot to be said for this tactic – but it takes patience.

Some might suggest raiding his shed-full of cigarettes while he is sleeping one night – leaving a ransom note nailed to the door “Attend Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic in London and your swag will be returned. You’ll be either a happy non-smoker and therefore have no need for the cigarettes any more (and you’ll make a killing when you sell them on) or the method will not have worked for you and the confiscated goods will be returned to you for your consumption. You really have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

Although I like this idea – it does rely on the father retaining a sense of humour and fun on the issue and given his intransigent stance to date – I fear that might be unlikely.

Explaining how easy Allen Carr’s method makes it to stop smoking is great – but it does sound like the writer has exhausted this avenue – especially as his father already knows former smokers who have quit smoking easily with the method.

Perhaps, aside from living life as a true example of a happy non-smoker, there is one final throw of the dice that I might suggest.

Perhaps a card containing words to the following effect:

“Dear Dad,

I am very sorry that you did not care for the Father’s Day gift that I brought for you. I appear to have misread your level of interest in the miraculous nature of my escape from smoking. The gift voucher I purchased for you cost £240 and no doubt you might find it hard to believe that I would spend such an amount on such a service. The amazing thing about Allen Carr’s Easyway method is that they offer a money back guarantee. If you attend 3 sessions within 3 months without cancelling or arriving late for any appointments and you fail to stop smoking – they refund their fee in full. They guarantee that not only will you stop smoking – but that you’ll find it easy to do so – again – if you do not they will refund the fee in full. There really is nothing to lose.

If you attend the sessions and find it easy to quit smoking – great. You can sell your stockpile of cigarettes and make some money to add to the money you’ll be saving in the future.

If you attend the sessions and fail to stop smoking – you get a crisp cheque from Allen Carr’s Easyway for £240 – that is my gift to you and you can spend it on whatever you like – even more cigarettes.

For my part of the bargain – if you attend the sessions – whether you stop smoking or not – I will never hassle you about your smoking again! You can smoke in peace for the rest of your life without any further comment from me on the matter.

It would be a terrible waste of £240 if you don’t give it a go – or at least attend just to get your money back.”

That would be my advice in this very difficult situation – all we need to do now is wait and see what happens next…….

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Readers please note. In order to improve our search engine ranking we are obliged to use all kinds of words or phrases which we tend to avoid as part of our programme. Terms such as giving up or quitting smoking or smoking habit all have to be used in our blog text in order to score points on our page ranking. Those who have used Allen Carr’s Easyway will appreciate why these phrases are so contrary to Allen Carr’s method – hence this explanation about why we are obliged to use them outside our clinic session rooms/book texts etc. It’s all part of the mad world of search engine optimisation!

Posted on 14:50 Jun 12, 2013 by John Dicey, Worldwide Director

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Another happy non-smoker from.... West Sussex, England

Full Name: Simon S from Pulborough, West Sussex, UK

Occupation: Business Manager

Have you tried to quit before and if so, which stop smoking methods have you tried? i have tried several times before. i have tried abstinence, patches, gum,inhalators and the longest any of these have work was three months

Briefly describe your thoughts on the method: i thought it was brilliant and for once i had an explanation about the addiction and it quashed all the arguments i had built up being smoker over time e.g. i enjoyed it

Approx date that you stopped smoking? 16/2/10 and i had smoked since the age of 11 = 22 years

Briefly describe the impact on your life of having stopped smoking: it has been wonderful. i recently became a father and although i never smoked in the house – i am glad that my daughter has never witnessed me smoking or has to deal with the smell.

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For more information about our method to stop smoking in the UK with Allen Carr’s Easyway, please contact your nearest stop smoking centre

Posted on 11:36 Apr 17, 2013

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A New Years Resolution To Last

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

I consider myself just about the luckiest man on the planet. I had the amazing good fortune to stumble across Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking method back in the late 1990s.

I should admit – the only thing I ever disagreed with Allen Carr about was his claim to have been the worse smoker on the planet – as an 80 -100 a day smoker (more at weekends) I considered myself King of The Smokers.

I was recently asked to speak about why Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking provides the opportunity for a New Years Resolution for a lifetime.

My first reaction to that title is that, back in my days as a smoker, it would have frightened the life out of me; a lifetime without smoking, although every smoker’s dream, is actually a goal that fills most smokers with utter dread.

Our repeated failed attempts to quit smoking over the years, that ended before they even started, or even worse, fell by the wayside after hours, days, or even months of torture and hell, have us convinced that any attempt to stop smoking is bound to involve pain and suffering, and end in ultimate humiliation when we finally cave in and go back to smoking.

If you’re a smoker, or a friend of a smoker, I have great news for you. It really doesn’t have to be like that! I’ll explain more about that later…

Do you have plans to stop smoking as a New Years Resolution? Good on you – if you follow Allen Carr’s simple steps, follow his simple instructions, then you are all set for freedom.

Try not to expect a repeat of whatever you’ve experienced when you’ve tried to stop smoking in the past. As I’ve mentioned – most of our previous attempts to stop smoking just reinforce the belief that it’s difficult, painful, or even impossible to get free.

Allen Carr addresses all other methods of stopping smoking collectively as THE WILLPOWER method. They all tend to focus on telling smokers what they already know. You don’t need anyone to tell you about the cost, the slavery, the health fears, and the stigma of being a smoker. If those factors were going to help people to stop smoking – there wouldn’t be a smoker left on the planet – we all know that stuff already.

I was an expert at stopping smoking on the Willpower method….or I suppose I should say “expert at NOT stopping smoking” on the willpower method!

Most of my attempts to stop smoking on New Year’s Day ended before Big Ben had chimed its 12th “BONG!”

No matter how determined I seemed a few hours earlier – I always ended up thinking “Oh well – it doesn’t really count until the morning – I’ll carry on smoking until I get to bed”.

The longest I managed to avoid smoking after waking up on New Year’s Day was a few measly hours….and that was only because it took that long to find a shop open on New Years Day!

I used to feel so useless and miserable. What a horrible start to the New Year. In the end – I’d given up even trying to give up as a new years resolution…why spoil the festive period by creating a feeling of doom and gloom.

It’s essential that you avoid that feeling – make sure you enjoy the festive season and don’t give stopping smoking a second thought. All you need to do – is decide when to start reading the book (why not start today), carry on smoking (yes I did say carry on smoking), and follow the instructions. You don’t need to stop smoking until you are absolutely ready – and I can assure you – by the end of the book you’ll be chomping at the bit to go through the ritual of smoking a final cigarette

…Not with a feeling of doom and gloom, not suffering from feelings of terrible deprivation, but instead finding it, not only easy to stop smoking, but thoroughly enjoyable and able to enjoy social occasions more, to handle stress better, and find it easy to relax and most importantly easy TO STAY STOPPED.

Once you understand how the smoking trap works and once you realise that the really nasty horrible symptoms you’ve had in the past when you tried to stop smoking are not caused by nicotine withdrawal
(which is actually just a mild, empty, insecure feeling) but caused by the immense mental and physical reaction to that initial feeling.

You have felt real physical feelings in the past – the fact is their cause is mainly psychological and not caused by nicotine withdrawal. That’s great news for you – it means all you have to do is “get your head right” and that’s what Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking method does.

If you have doubts about what I’m saying about the cause of the horrible physical feelings you’ve had in the past when you tried to stop smoking – and you don’t quite accept that the real pain and suffering was not caused by nicotine withdrawal – but by your brain’s reaction to nicotine withdrawal – think of this example for a moment.

Imagine a young child, a toddler, playing with an amazing toy they’ve been given on Christmas morning. Imagine the child’s parent calling him for lunch and the child’s reluctance to leave his toy and go and endure lunch with the rest of the family.

Now imagine the child’s parent – eventually fed up of waiting and calling – taking the toy away. What happens to the child next is a HUGE physical reaction; red face, bulging eyes, tears streaming down his face, a terrible piercing screaming noise coming out of the child’s mouth. These are real physical symptoms, not caused by any chemical, physical withdrawal from “the toy” but caused by a mental process.

I want the toy – I can’t have it – MEHHHHHHHHHHH – GRRRRRRRRRRR

This is exactly the same process a smoker goes through when they attempt to stop smoking using the willpower method.

It is caused by the smoker wanting a cigarette – not being allowed to have one – MEEEHHHHHH – GRRRRR! Do you see how that physical response is caused by the smoker feeling deprived.

The reason a smoker feels deprived is because they believe that they are getting some kind of pleasure, benefit, bonus, or support from cigarettes. Issue by issue – Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking reverses that brainwashing, therefore the desire to smoke is removed, and there is no feeling of deprivation.

That probably sounds too good to be true – but what have you got to lose? The book costs less than a couple of packets of cigarettes and takes only a few hours (or days if you prefer) to read.

Like the smokers who attend Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics throughout the UK and in more than 45 countries throughout the world – you carry on smoking until you feel ready to stop.

We celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Allen Carr’s discovery of Easyway in 2013 and we remain so confident in the method – that we still provide our money back guarantee to those smokers who attend our clinics – if they don’t stop smoking – their fee is refunded in full.

The truth is it’s easy to stop smoking when you know how and it takes just a handful of hours to achieve the correct frame of mind (effectively being trained to stop smoking while you carry on smoking).

Because there is no feeling that you are missing out when you stop smoking with Allen Carr’s Easyway – you can be sure that this New Years Resolution is not only one that will stand up and last the whole year but also something to enjoy and celebrate for the rest of your life.

It’s natural to be nervous – so If you need a little reassurance – please check out the thousands of testimonials on allencarr.com or on our Allen Carr Facebook page.

What better way can there be of beating the “January Blues” than finally getting free from cigarettes? I know money is probably the least of your reasons for wanting to stop smoking – but as a fantastic bonus – by this time next year you’ll have tucked away enough money (£2,000 for a pack-a-day smoker) for whatever you really want for Christmas.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Smoke-free year from everyone at Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking.

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For more information about how to get help to stop smoking with Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics, whether you smoke cigarettes, roll-up cigarettes, cigars, a pipe, e-cigs, or are addicted to nicotine gum/patches and how to stop smoking easily rather than feeling like you have to give up something – click on your country’s flag at the top of this page.

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 13:12 Jan 01, 2013 by John Dicey, Worldwide Director

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e-cig Goldrush

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

You certainly can’t blame smokers for their desperate search for a safer way of smoking. A search intensified by successive failed attempts to stop smoking. I remember my own miserable quest to become free from cigarettes that lasted nearly two decades. No wonder smokers are predisposed to the idea of “safer smoking” – it’s what pretty much every smoker on the planet has dreamed of.

It’s ironic that the tool they were given to get free of their addiction to nicotine (the use of nicotine patches, gum, etc) is again being pitched as their saviour from smoking – this time as an alternative to smoking intended to continue indefinitely rather than wean them off nicotine over a period of time.

It’s even more ironic that it’s many of the same characters in the medical and scientific establishment who once proclaimed that nicotine could be used to cure addiction to nicotine who now declare that taking more nicotine, more frequently, in larger doses, continuously is the next great advance in helping people to stop smoking. Allen Carr used to joke “What cure will they be suggesting for smoking next? A cigarette?”

Being able to reduce the terrible harm caused by smoking is a seductive proposition – the savings in human costs and healthcare costs alone make it so. But for a health policy so fastidiously bound to “evidenced based interventions” (so much so it has ignored anything to do with Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking for three decades) the lack of regulation, and the complete abandon with which e-cigarettes have been allowed to enter the mainstream retail markets, is more than a little troubling. The same trumpet blowers for nicotine patches and gum have now puckered up again to back e-cigarettes as having potential “medicinal” uses. This in spite of an alarming absence of scientific evidence regarding their short-term, medium-term, and long-term use.

We live in a world where otherwise intelligent people still dismiss claims that passive smoking is harmful in any way. Even now there are a significant number of high profile, apparently well educated, nicotine addicts who dismiss the issue entirely out of hand – so much so – they continue to smoke in their homes and cars in the company of children and other loved ones who don’t smoke.

This is the “end game” to a process of education about the harmful effects of smoking started decades ago by the late, great, Sir Richard Doll. It’s taken nigh on 60 years to get to the point today – where most people accept what he said. How many decades will it be before “Doll-like” research into the effects of e-cigarettes is completed, published, and accepted?

In most cases – it would be sensible to assume that someone switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes will actually dramatically increase the amount of nicotine they are ingesting. Those people who currently stand outside to smoke (therefore limiting the number of cigarettes they have) will now decide that they can “vape” anytime, anyplace, anywhere…perhaps even constantly – spurred on by the message accompanying e-cigs that they are “healthier” than regular cigarettes. No doubt they will learn to inhale deeper, for longer, more frequently – just as smokers of “light” cigarettes are proven to do. With some e-cigarettes it seems that the user is charged with responsibility for the amount of nicotine contained in each dose.

Given the comparatively low cost of e-cigs, the skewed “healthier” messaging about them, and the ability to vape pretty much anywhere – it’s a green light for a feeding frenzy of nicotine for those who adopt vaping. Who’s in charge of finding out whether any of this is safe or not?

Already that heady cocktail is corralling people towards e-cigs and alarmingly this is being supported handsomely by completely unregulated advertising. The industry is using glamorous images, sexiness, and the most salacious and seductive language to tease potential consumers into their clutches (yes – it is easy to forget that the product being pushed is a poisonous and highly addictive drug).

One has to fear for the users being duped into switching to a new delivery system for the drug to which they are addicted. How long will the prices be so competitive versus regular cigarettes? How long before the tax hikes on e-cigs as the realisation by the government that the revenue raising runaway train of addiction, far from running out of steam, is all set to gain greater and greater momentum? The fact that e-cigs appear to be the lesser of the evils (when judged alongside regular cigarettes) can only encourage already cash-strapped governments to pull out of any funding for the treatment of nicotine addiction, park a generation of smokers on nicotine taken via e-cigs, and laugh all the way to the bank as yet another generation of addicts are recruited to the conveyer belt of nicotine addiction. Of course this is all excellent tax revenue raising activity – there’s nothing quite like legalised addiction to make a Chancellor of The Exchequer rub his hands together with glee.

Do we foresee a time when vaping is commonplace in workplaces, cinemas, shopping centres, and schools? The “normalisation” of drug addiction? Employers are already scurrying around trying to establish a basis for banning vaping in the workplace. Are there grounds to do so? Once the floodgates are open – there’ll be no going back. I’ve just got used to my kids growing up in an environment where smoking is no longer considered “normal”. How sad to think that in due course we may be sliding back towards a world where we’re confronted again with people publicly feeding their addiction.

Having said that – there’s no guarantee that vaping is here to stay. It will be interesting to see if sales of e-cigarettes are sustained.

It is interesting that Big Tobacco hasn’t launched brands. What do they know that we don’t? They’ve certainly been very slow to the market – although they appear to be funding certain brands and the development of new brands (Nicoventures etc).

Big Tobacco must have tested e-cigs. Did they find:

a) that smokers just didn’t stick with them (sure they have an endless supply of focus groups they could rely on for feedback) so it simply wasn’t worth them investing their big brands in what may be a passing fad?

b) serious long term side effects (sure they have the finance and resources to conduct short term, medium term, and long term studies on the harm e-cigs do to health without any obligation to publicly release the data from the studies) so they simply decided to sit out the law suits this time around. Suppressing the harmful effects of an addictive drug once – and you end up shamed and “fined to kingdom come”. Do it twice and people are going to end up in jail. Given their shady history – are the health consequences of e-cig use simply too severe for Big Tobacco to ride this particular train…at this particular moment? Especially if there is any truth in a)…

Perhaps they’re ring-fencing their traditional brands to protect them from initial litigation or fall out from a growth in e-cigarette use. Perhaps they knew that a Marlboro or Benson & Hedges e-cig branded advertising campaigns wouldn’t get around the regulations in the same way that the new e-cig brands have done. Watch this space for Nicoventures et al…

Maybe there’s another reason…but until we have the answer to the question “Why aren’t Big Tobacco already in this market” the future of the e-cig and its users remains shrouded in smoke…or should I say… vapour.

The way e-cigarettes are being advertised in the UK at the moment would have you think that vitamin supplements were being sold rather than a highly addictive, poisonous drug!

All last week on TalkSport Radio (in the UK) a brand of e-cigs ran seemingly endless adverts declaring to any man, woman, or child listening that their product is “Smoking re-invented”.

Racontour in The Times ran no less than 16 full colour pages of “features” and adverts for e-cigarette brands. The wording used in the adverts defy belief…..and there is no doubt that in time, if left unregulated, they will be targeted at non-smokers, former smokers, and even more frightening, children.

“Just relax and take the time to enjoy this distinctive great tasting e-cigarette anywhere you want – at home, in the car, or the pub. Hassle –free.”

“Freedom to smoke”

“Introducing the e-cigarette for discerning consumers”

“Cherry flavour and menthol flavours”

“Smooth aromatic flavour inspired by the finest tobacco with undertones of sweet mocha”

“…offering a full-bodied lightly buttery taste that is truly the Gold Standard”

“Derived from the Vanilla Orchid of Madagascar, whose beauty is matched only by its flavour….will alert your senses with a sweet vanilla blast”

“Give someone you love the gift of freedom this Christmas”

Honestly – I haven’t invented the extracts listed above – they are taken from real adverts (some dressed up as editorial) for e-cigs in Racontour in The Times. The Times is almost falling over itself to get in on the action offering their readers an “exclusive” opportunity to order a particular brand (obviously the one for “discerning consumers”) at a discounted cost.

The adverts display their various flavours as if they were on a menu in Costa Coffee rather than from a company selling a poisonous and highly addictive product.

Newspaper, radio, and TV advertising departments are falling over themselves to grab a chunk of this whole new area of advertising spend. It’s not surprising really – given that it’s the toughest of times in the advertising industry. E-cigarettes offer a field day for the advert copywriters who are delivering their “try this – it’s harmless” message to men, women, and kids indiscriminately… the longer they are allowed to do so – the more recruits there’ll be to the next generation of addicts.

As if that wasn’t bad enough – sadly there will be more than a few former smokers who will be pulled back into addiction as a direct result of the alluring, “sexed-up”, irresponsible messaging in e-cigarette advertising.

We’re on the verge of a national calamity as smokers are being directed towards a means of maintaining their addiction, at an unknown cost to their health, as opposed to being given an effective means of escaping it.

Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking book costs about the same as a packet of cigarettes – Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics cost around 6 weeks worth of cigarettes (for a pack-a-day smoker) and offer a money back guarantee.

For more information about how to get help to stop smoking with Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics, whether you smoke cigarettes, roll-up cigarettes, cigars, a pipe, e-cigs, or are addicted to nicotine gum/patches and how to stop smoking (or vaping) easily rather than feeling like you have to give up something – click on your country’s flag at the top of this page.

Do you know of anyone who you would like to help stop smoking/vaping? 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 12:58 Dec 11, 2012 by John Dicey, Worldwide Director

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The Life & Times of an Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Therapist in the North of England

Mark Keen – 10 years as a happy non smoker.

I have been involved with Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking for around 8 years now. It’s been an interesting journey. Having used Allen’s stop smoking method myself I was champing at the bit when the possibility arose of training as an Allen Carr stop smoking therapist myself – what better way to earn a living than to help others out of the smoking trap!
I started my stop smoking therapist training back in 2005 under the careful and guiding eye of Rob Groves who is responsible for Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics in Manchester and Yorkshire. He was a hard task master. Every time I presented myself to him having learned how to present a new chunk of the quit smoking session, he would make me perform it to him whilst he looked at me with a combination of severity and questioning.
I learned later that many people attempt to become Allen Carr Easyway therapists but the training is hard and a vast majority fall by the wayside – Rob had a background in psychology and was deliberately trying to put me on edge. All with the best intentions of course.
I was not swayed from my goal of becoming an Allen Carr stop smoking specialist in the North of England. It was too late for that, I was already visualizing myself in a room of smokers as I imparted to them Allen’s instructions.
Nine months later I delivered my first session; to help people stop smoking easily using Allen Carr’s method. It was nerve wracking but I got through it, carried by adrenalin, I suspect. Every hour for the next day I telephoned Rob to see if any of the smokers had been in touch. I needn’t have worried…the sessions are not about the therapist, they are about the method.
I have lost count of how many clients I have seen since then but it is in the thousands. I did many sessions in Manchester and Leeds and then I had the calling to open up clinics in areas of the North West which were not already covered by Allen Carr’s Easyway.
As I live in Preston, the first of these new stop smoking centres was to be in the parts of Lancashire not yet covered. Finding a venue for sessions isn’t always ‘easy’ – it involves visiting a number of hotels, checking out the conference rooms, sussing out the parking availability, deciding on the accessibility of the hotel itself, and then, after all this, knocking down the Conference Manager’s ridiculous opening gambit on how much they want to charge you for the room! Having lots of smokers visit their hotel – who might not otherwise do so – is a great opportunity for hotels who are keen to attract new private and corporate customers – so we normally get a great deal.
But to me, the most important factor is the room in which the quit smoking therapy is going to be presented. It’s great for there to be natural light, not too small to be cramped, but not to be so big that it isn’t intimate, either. At the start of stop smoking sessions, whether there are 2 clients wanting to escape from cigarettes or 22 clients, I always make sure that I have memorised their names and that I have eye contact with every single one.
In Preston we have been using the Swallow Hotel in Samlesbury since 2005. The staff are worked hard on Sundays but are always friendly. Smokers enter the Bowland Suite concerned about their ability to quit smoking easily but leave 5 or so hours later – happy non-smokers. The room we use looks out to the gorgeous Trough of Bowland – there is plenty of light and it is strange, but comforting to think that many people have spent their last 5 hours as a smoker in that room.
Of course there are memorable clients. Some have wept tears of joy once they’ve put out their final cigarette – so relieved have they been to have escaped the smoking trap. One chap had clearly been bullied into attending by his partner and was very vocal in the first few minutes about how he knew it wasn’t going to work for him. A month later I was delivering a session to 21 of his employees, paid for by him. It’s amazing quit smoking stories like these that helps spread news of Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking – whether it is in Preston, Manchester, Newcastle, or Liverpool.
The second clinic I opened was Liverpool. I must confess it came as a surprise to me how noticeably genuine and down to earth Liverpudlians are. We do the quit smoking sessions in Knowsley, which, ironically, has one of the most concentrated smoking populations in the country. The Express by Holiday Inn has also been the host of many smokers’ last few hours succumbing to the weed.
It was during some stop smoking sessions in Liverpool that I noticed I had the odd client from the Isle of Man. During conversations with them it became obvious that there might be a demand for an Allen Carr Stop Smoking Session on the island. So this became my next new project. Having discussed it with the Allen Carr Easyway international directorate, I took a friend over to the island and did some marketing. The reaction was fantastic and we were fully booked for sessions for the remainder of that year. The people of the Isle of Man were queueing up to “give up” smoking.
Because of the financial links between the Isle of Man and Jersey there were soon ideas that we should do sessions in Jersey – there was some negotiation with the States of Jersey government but in the end they decided it would be in the interests of the smokers of Jersey if we were to hold our stop smoking sessions there. Guernsey also hosted several quit smoking sessions and apart from members of the public we have also had corporate clients in both bailiwicks.
However, there was more work to be done in the UK as we attempted to cover the whole country with the availability of Allen’s method. Allen Carr’s Easyway Cumbria was born with sessions to stop smoking in Carlisle and Seascale and then about two years ago I was given the opportunity of taking over the reins of the North East clinic, for which I was very grateful. I have to say, though, that my first job in Newcastle was to change the venue. Naming no names, on one bizarre occasion I had to start my session late because the hotel couldn’t actually open the door to the meeting room. Now we do the sessions at the very comfortable Novotel Hotel near Newcastle Airport.
I am passionate about taking the stop smoking sessions to new venues in new towns and cities in the North East. We have held sessions stop smoking courses in Newcastle and Middlesbrough but we are looking at sessions in Sunderland and maybe Durham. It will be great to help smokers in these areas stop smoking easily too. In Merseyside we have held sessions in the Wirral as well as Liverpool and we hope to develop that area, too. Cumbria is a nightmare county to cover – so few people over such a big area! However, as well as Carlisle we have held stop smoking groups in Seascale and we are also looking at Kendal and Penrith.
Over the years we see other stop smoking fads come and go but Allen Carr truly nailed the smoking problem when he identified it as a psychological issue above all else.

Whether you want to stop smoking easily in Manchester, Preston, Carlisle, or Newcastle, or you want to quit smoking in Liverpool or on the Isle of Man, we’re here to help.
To find your nearest Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic in the UK visit www.allencarrseasyway.co.uk

Posted on 12:28 Nov 01, 2012 by Mark Keen

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