Ahead of the start of Stoptober 2026, a former nurse has told how she quit her smoking habit with the help of local support services. Kelsey Stansfield started smoking while working as an auxiliary nurse in A&E during the Covid-19 pandemic, as a way to take a break and see her colleagues.
Health concerns after catching Covid five times led her to consider quitting, but the timing wasn’t right. Early attempts to stop by going ‘cold turkey’ proved unsuccessful, and work environments kept her reaching for tobacco.
However, when she changed careers and became a funeral director, she didn’t want to smell of smoke around grieving families, and decided it was time to stop for good. She has now been smoke-free for a year, and says it has transformed her life.
Kelsey said: “[Working during covid] was such a stressful time, and I soon recognised that the only breaks my colleagues got were for cigarettes, so I started smoking too. It meant you could get off the premises, and they couldn’t pull you back into work. As we were so busy, this became the only way for me to have a break and see my friends.
“Because of the work and environment that I was in, I caught Covid five times. On one occasion I was very poorly with it, and my GP advised me to quit, but I wasn’t ready then. They said I wouldn’t get so ill if I wasn’t smoking and I realised that they were right, as it was affecting my respiratory system and my lungs. I was 23 years old and I couldn’t even get up the stairs at work.
“Outside of work, I worked as a Street Angel, going around the homeless community. My colleagues and those we were supporting, all smoked too, so it was hard to break the cycle. I tried to quit before, by going cold turkey, but it didn’t work. I didn’t use any products to help with cravings either”.
Stoptober beings on October 1 and lasts throughout the month. The annual focus month is a drive to get people to seek support to stop smoking. In Hull, the city’s Public Health team, and commissioned stop smoking services, SmokeFree Hull, are urging local smokers to use it as a springboard to stopping. Kelsey supports the message, citing support to quit as the reason she was finally able to stop. She also realised that as someone with ADHD, which was not diagnosed at the time, she had been using cigarettes to manage the condition.
She said: “My sister works for SmokeFree Hull, so I thought I’d give the service a go. [My support worker] was great, she would give me regular check-ins and was really good to talk to. She wasn’t pushy either, and would always keep our conversation person-centred. I also work at all hours, and so she would text me, and work around my shifts – it felt more on my terms, which is what worked best for me. If you’re thinking of stopping smoking, you should definitely go through the service. I tried to do it without help and it doesn’t work; you need that support.
“Since quitting I can breathe so much easier. I used to go to places and schedule my day around when I could have a cigarette, and I would freak out at airports, and always had to plan my life around when I could smoke.
“As a Funeral Director, I work closely with people when they are vulnerable and sometimes go into their homes, so I would always worry that I smelt of smoke, and that that would be all that they remembered from my service, which wasn’t what I wanted.
“I’ve also seen an improvement to my finances, as smoking is expensive at nearly £16 a packet. I used to have to ration my cigarettes, just to get by. I can now buy other things with this money, that I actually need”.
I also eat a lot better now that I’ve quit too, I have proper meals, whereas before I would just
Cllr Linda Chambers, Portfolio Holder for Public Health at Hull City Council, added: “Every smoker who manages to quit should be so proud of their strength and resilience. Stopping is the best thing to do for your health, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
“The support workers at SmokeFree Hull know that. They know people will have probably had many previous attempts. They know a quit journey isn’t easy, even with the right help. But they will stand by someone through all of that without judging.
“Stoptober is a great time to give quitting a try – if you can make it through the month, you’re five times more likely to quit for good. The important thing to know is that you’re never doing it alone; there’s so much help from SmokeFree Hull, whether you want quit aids like vapes, personal support, or both”.
If you’d like free support to quit, contact SmokeFree Hull on 01482 977617 or visit: www.changegrowlive.org/hull