We hope you enjoy the Summer 2023 edition of the quarterly newsletter from the Training & Education Program at the MaineHealth Center for Tobacco Independence. CTI provides education and training on evidence-based tobacco treatment to healthcare and behavioral health professionals in Maine on behalf of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services. Our goal is to improve access to high quality, best practice tobacco treatment and create a network of tobacco treatment specialists across the state.

Training Year Recap

During our 2022-2023 season, the CTI Training & Education Team interacted with over 1,000 people across the world through our extensive menu of offerings: six Essential Skills Trainings, two Intensive Skills Trainings (including our first in-person event since the start of the pandemic), the Annual Tobacco Treatment & Prevention Conference, ten webinars, and a variety of ad hoc trainings. 

A huge thank you to everyone who engaged with our programming over the past year. A special note of gratitude to our 2023 Tobacco Treatment & Prevention Annual Conference speakers including Stephen Andrew LCSW, LADC, CCS; Brian King, Ph.D., MPH; Edward Bender, DO, MPH; the Maine Youth Action Network; Amy Giles; Steven L. Bernstein, MD; and Valerie Yerger, ND.

Below are some highlights from event attendees over the past year:

• "You all are such a wealth of knowledge. Excellent material, speakers and information.”

– November 2022 Essential Skills participant

• “Well done!!! I have recommended CTI to colleagues in the past. I think I will be a little more vocal about CTI offerings in the future. You provided quality training for a very reasonable price.”

– January 2023 Intensive Skills participant

• “After the pandemic, I was worried about attending a 2-day in-person training but found it very valuable and I feel I learned more by being with others together in a training. It was so well facilitated and I would attend another in the future. A huge kudos to all of you for pulling together an interactive, fun and engaging three days of training!”

–April 2023 Intensive Skills participant

• "This conference was wonderful. All of the presenters were wonderful, too: skillful, knowledgeable and engaging." 

-June 2023 Annual Conference participant

• "Each of us showing up in different ways with different perspectives, skills and tools is what will make - is making - a difference."

-June 2023 Annual Conference participant

What's the Research?

“We’re always an afterthought”- Designing tobacco control campaigns for dissemination with and to LGBTQ +—serving community organizations: a thematic analysis

“Evidence-based health communication campaigns can support tobacco control and address tobacco-related inequities among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) populations. Community organizations focused on LGBTQ+ health (e.g., nonprofits, community centers, and community health centers) can be prime channels for delivering evidence-based health communication campaigns. However, it is unclear how to balance the goals of a) designing campaigns to support broad adoption/uptake and b) adaptation addressing the needs of diverse communities and contexts. As part of an effort to support “designing for dissemination,” we explored the key challenges and opportunities staff and leaders of LGBTQ+-serving community organizations encounter when adopting or adapting evidence-based health communication campaigns.”

Ramanadhan S, Salvia M, Hanby E, et al. “We’re always an afterthought”- Designing tobacco control campaigns for dissemination with and to LGBTQ +—serving community organizations: a thematic analysis. Cancer Causes Control (2023). doi: 10.1007/s10552-023-01706-x

Upcoming Webinar Presentation

Did you miss any of our webinars over the past year?

No problem!

Each recording is available on our website.

Please note that continuing education credits are only available to those who attended the webinars live.

Selected Resource

According to the

2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey:



• 11.3% (3.08 million) of middle and high school students reported current use (past 30 days) of any tobacco product 

• Approximately 3.7% (1.00 million) of all students reported currently smoking any combustible tobacco product

• 3.5% (960,000) reported current use of multiple (≥2) tobacco products 



• 16.0% of those identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual and 16.6% of those identifying as transgender reported current use (past 30 days) of any tobacco product (middle and high school)

Congratulations!

Our 2023 Gold Star Standards of Excellence awardees were honored at our Tobacco Treatment & Prevention Annual Conference earlier this month. Please join us in congratulating the below entities and individuals for their work in reducing smoke exposure in Maine.

Join Our Team!

The CTI team is expanding and we are hiring

Tobacco Treatment Specialists

for the Maine QuitLink!

Tobacco Treatment Specialists provide participant-focused behavior change services via the telephone to support participants' process to quit tobacco use while meeting established performance expectations. 

This position is 32 hours/week (working 4 days/week) and can be remote.

Interested individuals should visit MaineHealth.org/Careers and search “tobacco”

For more information about the Training & Education Program, visit:

Tobacco Cessation Training | Center for Tobacco Independence (ctimaine.org)