Welcome – About the IMPACT Project

What is the IMPACT Project?

The aim of the IMPACT project is to raise awareness of the links between smoking and poor mental health and to encourage mental health practitioners to discuss these links. If you work with people who have lived experience of mental health issues, it’s often seen as a difficult conversation to have – but this discussion shouldn’t be about pushing people to quit, we just want you to talk more openly about it with the people you support and discuss what options are available if someone does want to take the next step.

Why should we talk about it?

We all know that smoking is bad for physical health, but the negative effects of smoking on mental health are less well known. The IMPACT project wants to change that.  We aim to increase your understanding of the links between smoking and mental ill health so you can confidently discuss it with the people you support.  We will give you guidance  on how you can do this, we will give you a framework [AID: Ask, Inform, Discuss] to help your discussion and we will give you key evidence  so you can be confident in what you say.

Who is the guidance for?

The IMPACT guidance is for anyone who works for community-based third sector mental health organisations. However, staff from other community-based services which support people with lived experience of mental health illness may also find it useful.

Please refer to our Events  page for details of any upcoming events or meetings regarding the IMPACT Project or smoking and mental health.