Okay. Guilty as charged. Some of the Quit Coaches here don’t have firsthand experience on quitting smoking. We admit that. But does that mean we can’t provide quality advice and support? Of course not! If anything, it provides us with another perspective; we know additional information about the world of quitting so that we can best serve our participants who want to quit smoking.

At a family gathering not too long ago, it came up that I work at a tobacco cessation company and that I have been privileged to help thousands of people quit smoking. My uncle, a former two-and-a-half-pack-a-day smoker, scoffed at me and said, “Psh. You’ve never smoked. What do you know about quitting?” He rolled his eyes, looked away with disappointment, and took a sip of his beer. He seemed to take it so personally, and this is someone who had been successfully quit for about two years at the time.

Cautiously, I asked him, “If you needed to see someone because you broke your foot, who would you prefer to see? Someone who has also broken their foot before, or someone who is trained, educated and has had much success with helping people with broken bones?”

His response was, “Well duh. The person with the training and education. I’d see the doctor instead of the other guy who broke his foot.” And with that, he saw my point.

True, not every single Quit Coach here has smoked a cigarette or has smoked regularly. But what all Quit Coaches do have is an incredible wealth of knowledge on the process of quitting. When you speak with a Quit Coach, former smoker or not, you are guaranteed to speak with someone who has a lot of experience in this field and knows what it’s like to deal with trials and successes of quitting smoking. Even if someone has not smoked a cigarette before, they may have battled other challenges in their life that gives them insight on quitting. Often Quit Coaches will draw on experiences like losing weight or quitting alcohol to help them relate to their participants who are quitting smoking. But at any rate, all of the Quit Coaches here are incredibly well trained on tobacco cessation. So even if you may not speak with someone who is a former smoker, you are guaranteed to speak with a Quit Coach who has the credentials and the know-how to help you successfully quit using tobacco.

What do you think? Quit Coaches, do you think your tobacco use history affects your ability to offer support to participants? How so? Smokers: How important is it to receive counsel from someone who knows what it’s like to quit?