00:00Hi, my name is Richard Webster. I'm from Bradford. I've been stopped smoking now for two years in September. It
00:06just passed.
00:07I started smoking when I was only 12 years old and I was addicted from the very first cigarette that
00:12I inhaled.
00:14From then, I have struggled ever since to quit smoking. I've tried everything, numerous amounts of attempts, but this is
00:21the longest journey I've been on now since I've quit.
00:24I smoked for about 20 years. Most of us need something to get us going. This is what Stoptober is
00:30so good for, because we have in the back of our minds that we want to quit, but we don't
00:35really have a kind of reason to do it.
00:37January the 1st is another good one. So adding those, oh, this is a good day to stop smoking, I
00:42think just gets people started. And that's half the battle.
00:44When I was putting the app together, I often found that I would go back to smoking. Talking about and
00:50writing about, thinking about smoking just made me want to do it more.
00:55So a lot of the features that were in the app, like the missions and the progress indicators, came because
01:00I thought these are the things that would help me stop.
01:03And they did in February of 2013 and haven't smoked since.
01:08You can track how many cravings you're having. You can see the decrease in them cravings as well as you
01:13go along, which motivates you.
01:14You can see how much money you're saving, which quite quickly adds up.
01:18You can reach out to there with real people going through real struggles, the exact same things that you're going
01:22through.
01:23We're used by about 250,000 people every month in 200 countries around the world.
01:29Every five minutes, somebody says that they've stopped smoking because of smoke-free.
01:34And in total, I think we've helped over a million people to stop smoking for good.
01:39My main health benefits is being able to get out more and to be able to walk the dog and
01:45be able to do sports.
01:46I partake in martial arts and I have just seen a massive increase in my overall fitness and being able
01:55to keep up with my children as well.
01:57And the time I've saved from smoking going out every five minutes, that's turned into quality time with my son.
02:04When you are quitting, use all the support that's available to you because there is loads.
02:08There's face-to-face support. There's the support that we can provide in the app.
02:12There's medication. There's support from other people.
02:15Get serious about your quit. Use all the support that's available to you and keep going and you will do
02:21it.
02:21If it wasn't for that app, I would have probably picked up cigarettes again within that time.
02:27I know that because I've quit before and I've failed and you punish yourself afterwards.
02:35You regret it. As soon as you have that other drag of another cigarette, you think I'll just quit afterwards.
02:41But you don't. You pick it back up and it becomes a full-fledged habit again.
02:45You get a real sense of satisfaction, a real sense of pride within yourself when you get over the milestones.
02:52And every day is an achievement. They compound on each other.
02:55It does take a bit of time, but all the best things are worth waiting for.
