HSE Talking Health and Wellbeing Podcast Episode 3, Tobacco Free Ireland

Image of a woman in a radio studio with headphones on with the words 'I got such great support I wanted to go back'

The third episode of the HSE Talking Health and Wellbeing Podcast is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and on the HSE Health and Wellbeing YouTube channel.

In this episode, hosted by Noreen Turley, Sarah Halpin tells us about her journey from smoker to ‘We Can Quit’ Community Facilitator with Empower in Fingal, where she is now helping others to stop smoking through the free HSE Quit supports. Sarah highlights that while quitting is not easy, motivation is key: “I gave up smoking because I wanted to give up smoking for my health and for my own wellbeing, the children were definitely a motivator but it’s very important that you give up smoking for yourself because it’s a very hard thing to do”.

We also hear from Dr. Paul Kavanagh, HSE’s Public Health Clinical Advisor on Tobacco, who shares his thoughts about the current smoking and vaping situation in Ireland and plans for a Tobacco Free Ireland. Dr. Kavanagh highlights things which the HSE and their partners need to now focus on, to make a real impact in this area. These include implementation of evidenced based programmes and continuing the focus on health inequalities: “Rather than doing something brand new, the first thing would be to focus on implementing and getting into practice the things that we already know works.”

For help to stop smoking and to see the full range of HSE supports go to Quit.ie.

Listen to and follow the HSE Talking Health and Wellbeing Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts to keep up to date with our latest episodes.

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