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New picture book supports people with learning disabilities to stop smoking this #Stoptober

25 Oct 24

Joe and Julie Stop Smoking is a new word-free picture book that supports people with a learning disability to give up smoking. 

HPFT colleagues co-authored the book, which was published by Books Beyond Words, a UK charity which empowers people with learning disabilities through accessible picture stories.

Front cover of the book Joe and Julie Stop Smoking

Nurse and researcher Anne Hunt and former lead for physical health at HPFT, explains how, when she set up the tobacco dependency programme at HPFT, she noticed there weren’t many accessible resources that talked about smoking cessation (and no information on vaping) for people with learning disabilities. So, she approached Books Beyond Words about creating a book.

Joe and Julie Stop Smoking is a word-free picture story designed to open conversations and understanding around the health risks of smoking, and how to quit, for people with learning disabilities. It was inspired by the story of a woman with a learning disability who had started smoking after being given a cigarette by a friend who would also smoke as they spent time together. She did not like smoking, or how it tasted or smelled, but nobody had ever spoken to her about giving up cigarettes. This book helps readers understand that smoking is bad for their health, how to stop, and what good things happen when they do. It will also help friends, family and healthcare workers to talk to people with learning disabilities about stopping smoking.

As the book has no words, instead using the shared language of pictures, it can also be helpful for people who do not speak English, or who have a cognitive impairment like dementia or an acquired brain injury. All Beyond Words books are co-created and extensively trialled with people with learning disabilities, to make sure the stories are relevant and easy to understand by a wide range of different people.

Beyond Words stories encourage people with and without learning disabilities to describe what they see in the pictures, telling the story in their own way, whilst drawing on their own experiences to explain what is happening. Increased understanding is empowering, enabling readers to contribute to decisions that affect their lives.

Peter Marriott, former Tobacco Dependency Manager at HPFT worked with Anne Hunt, former Physical Health lead at HPFT and Dr Lodge, a Consultant in Learning Disability Psychiatry at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and experts by experience to produce the book. The project was overseen by series editor Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins, Founder and Chair of Beyond Words and illustrated by artist Belinda Evans.

Joe and Julie Stop Smoking is available in paperback (for £12.50) and ebook (for £4.95) from the charity’s website. Guidance on how to use word free picture stories is included for anyone unfamiliar with their practical application.

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