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 Welcome to Stop  Before YouStart©

Striving to be a major contributor in the reduction of smoking in young people.

                                          Part funded by

Millenium Trust     

Public Health Hub    

     

Delivered by       

  Stop Before You Start© (SBYS)

• In one year I lost both parents to smoking related lung cancer.
• Today around 150,000 young people still start to smoke every year this has to stop.
• Stop Before You Starts is striving to become a major contributor in reducing  the  uptake of smoking in young people;
• Achieved though narrative poetry being embedded into a complete unique education pack for schools both in the UK and (second phase) world wide.

A social enterprise – SBYS will serve young people ages 11-15. The focus of the program is to equip young people with the mind-set to say NO to smoking before they reach the age of 15 years crucially, in the early stages of habit.

Background

SBYS will be a ready made education package for schools, and youth organisations based around the real life experience of Sheila McGill who lost both parents due to smoking related cancer within a period of 12 months. Her personal account, expressed through narrative poetry, is being embedded into lesson plans including core and non core subjects for a complete cross curricular approach to smoking education.

Objectives

The primary objective is prevention, that is, to maintain the non smoking status of 11 year olds, using animated poetry in a unique education pack designed for secondary schools and taught at the schools convenience for example, a healthy living week, or linked to no smoking day.

Stop Before you start was created because of…

• The frustrations of watching two strong willed adults fail to stop smoking over many years
• Using to the good, the poetry that was an outpouring during this emotional period
• ‘Stop Before You Start’ is in fact my dad’s advice to young people today.
• Feeling the need to ‘do something’
• Statistics; According to which I should be a smoker I am not!
• Hindsight: My dad stopped smoking (a full two years), ten years prior to his death. I know he thought about that decision to start again
• choices

Strategy and Implementation

Stop Before You Start© is taking a proactive strategy in promoting its program within education as well as creating a strong anti – smoking message To accomplish goals, Stop Before You Start©  will liaise with smoking cessation agencies, anti – smoking campaigners, education policy makers, schools, youth projects and other relevant organisations.

At the moment approx 12-18% (depending on location) of 15 year olds have, in 4 years, gone from non smokers to smokers therefore, the current system is failing those young people. SBYS is a shift in focus and will utilise a highly personal and unique perspective to gain a positive outcome for young people who fail to receive the no smoking message from other sources; home, school etc.

Facts and Figures – Current Public Health Themes (budgets)

Stop Before You start (SBYS) fits particularly well with current public health strategy themes.

• 150,000 young people start smoking every year
• Less than 1% are smoking at age 11
• Currently treating smoking related illness costs the NHS an estimated 5 billion a year (British heart foundation study) or, £100 million every week.
• This figure does not include costs attributed to passive smoking or other conditions reported to be associated with smoking such as osteoporosis, stillbirths, infertility, and eye diseases.
• The London School of Eco-nomics researchers have stated ‘smoking cost businesses more than £2billion a year’. (2009)

Smoking is the single biggest avoidable cause of death and disease in theUK.

Unique

Currently smoking cessation is usually, not always, taught alongside drug awareness within PSHE (and can sometimes get lost in the bigger picture), SBYS will focus entirely on prevention and deliver relevant  information through the  animation of poetry written during the loss of both parents due to smoking related lung cancer.

 

Stop Before You Start©  is a growing social enterprise and has been born from a deep desire to make a difference.

 

 Invited Guest Poem, Animated by www.emilyandanne.co.uk Produced by Rob Speranza syfn

Thank you taking the time to visit Stop Before You Start© 

Striving to be a major contributor in reducing the uptake of smoking in Young People