For people with mental illness who smoke, stopping smoking will have the greatest impact on their health than any other behaviour change.
This briefing is aimed at those who work in a mental health setting and gives expert, concise guidance on how to deliver Very Brief Advice (VBA+) to patients who smoke.
People who have a serious mental illness are at greater risk of a range of medical conditions compared to the general population. The high rates of smoking in this population exacerbate these health inequalities. The greatest impact on the health of people with mental illness who smoke will come from the routine provision of smoking cessation support.
Date of last review: June 2025
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This briefing provides advice on supporting patients admitted to smokefree premises and maximising the chances of cessation, managing temporary abstinence and implementing and maintaining smokefree policies.
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COMING SOON! The guiding principles and best practice recommendations in this briefing have been drawn from published literature and clinical experience. They are designed to maximise opportunities, overcome barriers and meet the challenges encountered by people with severe mental illness (SMI) who smoke.
Supporting people with SMI to manage their tobacco dependence offers significant benefits, especially when individuals stop smoking long term. Although just as likely to want to stop smoking as people who do not have SMI, this patient group typically faces significant barriers and challenges to stopping.
This document is intended to support services to adapt, and practitioners to tailor, stop smoking support to improve outcomes for individuals with SMI.
This summary plus infographic describes the SCIMITAR+ trial led by the University of York. The study demonstrated that when people with severe mental ill health are provided with a bespoke smoking cessation intervention, smoking quit rates were doubled compared to those who received usual care.
The NCSCT collaborated in SCIMITAR+, being involved in the intervention design and staff training. We are also involved in SCEPTRE, a follow-up study also led by the University of York.
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