We match the intensity of support to each person’s needs, reach the groups with the highest smoking rates and link into every part of your local system.
You get a service that flexes around each person, including those with the most complex needs, so fewer people drop out along the way.
We have delivered specialist stop smoking and tobacco-dependency services across England since 2016, in community, primary care, pharmacy, digital, mental health and substance-use settings. That experience shaped our tobacco and nicotine dependency framework: an evidence-based clinical core, with the intensity, duration, setting and approach of support adapting to what each person needs.
8,300+
Successful four-week quits supported by our stop smoking services in 2025.
8,300+
Through our specialist stop smoking services across England.
11
Offering stop smoking support, from Sunderland to Torbay.
2016
Specialist stop smoking and tobacco-dependency services.
Tobacco and nicotine dependency is shaped by more than the product someone uses or how much they use it. Dependence can be influenced by mental health, trauma, routines, relationships, environment, work, finances and previous attempts to change.
Our experience has shown that people do not move through change in the same way or at the same pace. Someone may be ready to stop completely, want to cut down first, need more intensive support, or return after a lapse. Their circumstances and level of need can also change during treatment.
That means personalisation has to go further than offering the same programme in different ways. The pathway itself needs to be able to change around the person.
Our tobacco and nicotine dependency framework adapts support to each person’s dependence, circumstances and progress.
Matching support to complexity. Not everyone needs the same level or intensity of support. We match treatment to the person’s dependence, circumstances, risks and wider needs, with the flexibility to step support up or down as these change.
Understanding what sustains dependency. We look beyond how much someone smokes or vapes to understand what is keeping their dependency going. By considering biological, psychological, social and environmental factors together, we can shape support around the causes and triggers that matter to the individual.
Recognising the role tobacco and nicotine can play. For some people, smoking or nicotine can become closely linked with coping, routine or managing distress. Our trauma-informed approach recognises the function that behaviour may be serving and helps people develop safer, more sustainable ways to meet those needs.
Supporting change as an ongoing process. We recognise that change is not always linear. People may quit, cut down, lapse, change their goal or need more support at different points, so we adapt treatment rather than treating a setback as the end of the journey.
My Story provides the golden thread through each person’s journey. From the first conversation, a consistent advisor builds an understanding of what matters to the individual, what sustains their tobacco or nicotine dependency, their previous attempts to change, and the circumstances, routines and pressures around them.
That understanding shapes one personalised plan, including the person’s goals, treatment approach, quit aids, frequency of contact, setting and level of support. Rather than asking people to fit a predetermined programme, the plan evolves as their confidence, circumstances and needs change.
Support can step up or down, move between quitting, cutting down and long-term vaping support, or place greater emphasis on relapse prevention. If someone lapses, changes direction or returns for support, their existing My Story can be revisited rather than asking them to repeat their history or start again.
Smoking rates are highest where health is poorest, so we focus our effort on the groups and places where quitting makes the biggest difference.
We plan outreach around the groups you prioritise, such as people in the most deprived areas, routine and manual workers, people with mental health needs, pregnant women and young people.
Advisors take support to foodbanks, supermarkets, community events and workplaces. In Sefton, outreach with Peel Ports took stop smoking support to routine and manual workers on site.
In Sunderland, blind and visually impaired smokers helped us redesign our information and referral routes. Elsewhere, 40 young people co-designed a vape-cessation pathway in their own words.
Highlights from ABL Wirral, with the year each figure relates to.
0+
People who have quit smoking with ABL Wirral since 2016 (reported January 2026).
0%
Down from 18.9% in 2015: one of the most significant sustained falls seen nationally (reported January 2026).
No.1
ABL Wirral was the number one stop smoking service in the country from 2021 to 2023 (Wirral Council). In October 2021, Smokefree Sefton was third.
3x
In 2019/20, ABL Wirral delivered 5,418 quits per 100,000 smokers: three times the national average (Public Health England).
More referrals from more places, and nobody lost between services.
We build referral routes with GP practices, pharmacies, hospital trusts and mental health and substance-use services. Smokefree Sefton received more than 10,500 referrals in 2025/26, working with partners including Mersey Care, Mersey and West Lancs NHS Trust and CGL.
When someone comes to us from another service, or needs support we don’t provide, we hand them over directly and with their consent, so nobody has to start again.
We work with partners to offer support when people are most open to it, such as during a hospital stay, after a new diagnosis or in pregnancy.
People can choose the type of support that works best for them and move between self-led, digital and advisor-led options as their needs change.
People who want to make changes independently can access practical tools to check their nicotine dependence, calculate what they spend, set and track quit or reduction goals, identify triggers and plan for cravings.
They can also use simple strategies to change routines, such as delaying the first cigarette, creating smoke- or vape-free periods or tracking use over time, and prepare for what to do if they lapse. Resources are available online and in accessible formats, with advisor or community support available if needed.
Stubit is our digital stop-smoking and vaping support app, available on Apple and Android. It gives people a flexible way to quit or cut down, with support they can use around everyday life.
Users can set and track goals, record smoke-free streaks, complete check-ins, manage cravings and follow personalised prompts and milestones. Eligible users can also request appropriate NRT or regulated vapes through the app. Stubit connects with My Story and provides a route into advisor-led support if someone needs more help.
A consistent Stop Smoking Advisor provides flexible, non-judgemental support whether someone is uncertain about change, cutting down, ready to quit or returning after relapse. Through My Story, they agree a personalised plan and choose face-to-face, telephone, online or blended support.
Support includes regular early contact, appropriate quit aids and ongoing review, with intensity and duration adapted where complexity, relapse risk or circumstances require it. Advisors can also take treatment into settings people already use through warm handovers, co-location, outreach and drop-ins, with appointments shaped around work, caring responsibilities and other practical barriers.
The treatment pathway can change too, reflecting the person’s goals, readiness, dependence and risk of relapse at different points in their journey.
People who are ready to stop agree a personalised quit date and receive NCSCT-aligned behavioural support alongside the most appropriate quit aid, which may include combination NRT, a regulated vape or licensed medication through GP or pharmacy routes.
At least weekly early-stage contact helps manage withdrawal, triggers, routines and product use, with four-week assessment and relapse-prevention support continuing towards 12 weeks and beyond where clinically appropriate.
Where stopping immediately is not realistic, structured harm reduction helps people reduce tobacco use, build control and confidence and work towards cessation where possible.
Together with their advisor, people identify smoking patterns and high-risk situations, set measurable reduction goals and use strategies such as delaying the first cigarette, increasing time between cigarettes, removing automatic smoking occasions and creating smoke-free periods. The goal is reviewed regularly, with reduction treated as progress rather than failure.
Adults who want to reduce or stop long-term vaping receive support shaped around their smoking history, dual use, nicotine strength, frequency, routines, motivation and risk of returning to smoking.
Depending on the person, this may involve stopping immediately, gradually reducing nicotine strength, increasing time between use or creating vape-free times and places. For dual users, stopping smoking takes priority; for former smokers, reduction can be slowed or paused if it increases tobacco-relapse risk.
Stubit gives people support between appointments and a way in for those who prefer not to pick up the phone. It links to their advisor and their My Story plan.
Tell us which groups you most want to reach and we’ll show you how we’d help more of them quit.
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