Step 1: Track a normal week
Before you contact anyone, spend a few days noting when you smoke or vape and why: the first cigarette with coffee, the walk out of the office, the drive home, the evening on the porch. You don't need an app. A note on your phone is enough. This list becomes the starting point for any conversation with a provider.
Step 2: Notice where local rules already shape your day
Lawrence has a few overlapping rules, and they likely appear in your notes. Kansas law, K.S.A. 21-6110, prohibits smoking in enclosed public places, at public meetings, at building access points and in any place of employment, among other places. The city's Tobacco Free Parks Policy, adopted on January 12, 2016, does not allow tobacco products or smoking delivery devices, including e-cigarettes and vape pens, on Parks and Recreation lands such as parks, trails, pools and playgrounds. KU's tobacco policy covers faculty, staff, students and visitors on the Lawrence and Edwards campuses. Times when you already can't smoke or vape are useful to build on.
Step 3: Decide what you want
Be specific. Do you want to stop smoking, stop vaping, or both? Stop all at once on a set date, or cut down first? Is there an event you'd like to plan around, like the start of a semester or a new job? Write your answer in one or two sentences.
Step 4: Choose a format
The directory lists three kinds of independent providers:
1. One-on-one stop-smoking coaches, in person or by video. 2. Consulting hypnotists who offer hypnosis sessions. 3. Group programs that meet over several weeks.
Think about which you'd attend. A student with a shifting class schedule may prefer short video sessions. Someone who wants accountability may like a weekly group. Someone who values privacy may prefer one-on-one.
Step 5: Contact two or three providers
Ask each the same questions so you can compare:
- How many sessions do you plan, and over what period?
- Do you see people who vape, smoke, or both?
- Where do you meet, and is online an option?
- What are the fees, and what is your cancellation policy?
- How do you handle a slip partway through?
Notice whether they listen to your goal from Step 3 or push a single package.
Step 6: Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you have questions
Health questions are for a health professional, not a coach or hypnotist. If you have any, book that conversation separately. A provider listed here should be comfortable with you doing so.
Step 7: Set a date and prepare your surroundings
Pick a stop date that avoids your busiest week. Before it arrives, look again at your Step 1 notes and plan a swap for each moment: a different route out of the building, a walk in a park where tobacco isn't allowed anyway, a call to a friend on the drive home. Tell people close to you what you're doing and how they can help. Clear out lighters, ashtrays and spare vape cartridges from your car, bag and desk the night before, so the first morning doesn't start with a reminder in your pocket.
Step 8: Keep your appointments, including the hard weeks
The sessions you most want to skip are often the ones that matter. If you slip, tell your provider and pick back up rather than starting over from scratch. Ask them to help you adjust the plan rather than abandon it. Keep a short list of what set off each slip, since patterns often show up after a few weeks: a certain friend, a late shift, a stressful exam week. Your provider can use that list to change what you try next.
Step 9: Review after a month
Look back at your notes. Which moments got easier? Which still catch you? Bring that to your provider and decide together whether to continue, change formats or taper sessions. Some people switch from one-on-one to a group at this point, or the other way around. There's no fixed path, and changing course is part of planning, not a setback.
About this directory
We introduce Lawrence residents to independent stop-smoking coaches, consulting hypnotists and group programs. We don't run sessions or programs and don't check credentials, so ask your own questions and choose the provider you're comfortable with.