Bob is a case manager at a men's recovery home. He has been in recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction for 8 years, having come through the program himself. He completed a program to become a Certified Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor. Bob has one addiction left, he says: smoking. He has tried to quit in the past, but found it hard to do, especially at work. He wishes he had quit while he was in treatment.

Staff in Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Abuse Services (BSAS) programs are required to follow statewide guidelines on tobacco, assess clients as to their smoking status and desire to quit, and integrate information on tobacco into groups. If a client is interested in quitting tobacco use while in substance abuse treatment, staff must address this as part of treatment.

At first this was very difficult for Bob, and he felt like a hypocrite. However, after Bob's program received a 3-session in-service training from the TAPE Project staff, Bob and other staff felt more committed to address and treat tobacco based on the information they had received. Bob designed and led a group that looks at special health and relapse concerns for smokers in recovery from other addictions.

Bob became the program's first staff member to take advantage of free nicotine patches distributed by BSAS. Today he has been smoke-free for 10 months, the longest he has ever succeeded. Bob now leads both the tobacco education group and a support group for those in recovery from tobacco addiction.