Janice Dupuis - Background

I was born in Ottawa Ontario and grew up in a family with four children. At 23 years of age I was married and began a few years of adventurous travel throughout Europe, the Middle East, Canada and the U.S. including Mexico. At 28 years of age I became a mom to my son who is now 26 years old. My husband (at the time), my son and I moved to Peterborough in 1981. I treasure the years I had bringing up my son, many of which were as a single parent.

Shortly after moving to Peterborough I began my 25 year career in community development, working with a wide variety of agencies and organizations. Specifically, I have identified many community social needs and initiated and developed programs to meet those needs. In my work, I have been a facilitator, counsellor, innovator, catalyst, supporter and advocate in many areas, including child abuse prevention, homelessness, social justice, substance abuse and tobacco addiction. During the past 25 years I have completed several professional development courses and trainings in counselling, most recently becoming certified as a Tobacco Addiction Counsellor. As well, my services include personal and professional coaching.

In the late 1990’s I initiated and facilitated a smoking cessation project funded by Health Canada and sponsored by the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Peterborough. In this project I created a unique approach to smoking cessation based on each individual’s style of change, degree of addiction and personal needs in facing the challenge of quitting smoking. I provided individual smoking cessation counselling and facilitated stop smoking support groups. Due to the project funding running out, this service to the community ended after 18 months of great success and demand for the service. I proceeded to work on contracts with community agencies and at the same time people continued to contact me for smoking cessation counselling.

Why This / Why Now?

Counselling has brought me the greatest sense of purposeful work and joy in the work area of my life. It is extremely rewarding to know that  one person to quitting smoking has the ripple effect of a pebble tossed in the water; the benefits radiate out beyond the individual to family, friends and contribute to a healthier community. I have chosen to launch this website to offer my services, expertise, support and compassion to people who are struggling with smoking addiction. I also believe that the time is right to offer smokers a wholistic way to stop smoking, which addresses all the elements of tobacco addiction and provides a customized approach to quitting, according to each person’s needs.

My Smoking Story

Both of my parents smoked and by the age of 17 I was smoking, as were my 3 siblings. We were 6 people in a nice suburban bungalow all smoking and quite oblivious to the toxicity of the air we lived and breathed in. This was the late 1960’s and it was quite normal and acceptable for everyone to be smoking. When I was 20 years old my father died from smoking at the age of 61. This was an unexpected, tragic personal and family loss, which has had a tremendous impact on all of my family’s lives. All of the family continued to smoke.

I was a regular 1 pack a day smoker for 11 years until the time I became pregnant with my son. I immediately stopped smoking and remained smoke-free until my son was about 6 years old. It is interesting to note that I was motivated to stop immediately for the sake of my baby’s health, but not my own. At that time I began to smoke again in as hidden a way as possible. I didn’t smoke a lot but began to smoke socially on weekends and then sneak the odd cigarette during the week. Smoking became primarily associated with having fun with friends. I remember feeling that there wouldn’t be any point in having a glass of wine or a cup of coffee with a friend if I couldn’t smoke at the same time. What would be the point? Smoking also became a way to take a little break here and there at home, so I would sneak my cigarette by the back door so as not to have any smoke in the house. For the next few years I tried many times to quit smoking without success. I wasn’t smoking a lot, as in my earlier smoking years, but I was very attached to smoking. I don’t know how many times I went to the store after dinner and bought a small package of 15 cigarettes. I would smoke two of them and then throw the package away in disgust, with even greater resolve to stop smoking immediately!

The desire to quit smoking and the huge challenge to actually do it was on my mind constantly throughout the few years leading up to quitting. A tremendous amount of emotional energy went into thinking about quitting, planning to quit, attempting to quit and relapsing, all of which became a vicious circle. I felt guilty all of the time. Here I was a loving mother who cherished my son and placed a very high value on creating a healthy home and lifestyle, yet could not stop smoking.

Finally and fortunately, I woke up one morning with an authentic and powerful motivation to stop smoking. I realized that if my son lost his mother and I lost my son because of my smoking, it would be the most unbearable thing to deal with and I couldn’t let that happen. This resolve was followed immediately by my son and I going to a friend’s country home where no one smoked. Having 2 weeks in a smoke-free environment solidified my decision to stop smoking. What began to sink into my consciousness was the fact that people could have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and enjoy them without smoking. What a revelation! As well, a very close friend of mine and smoking buddy had recently quit smoking. The combination of a) my personal motivation to quit b) a peer quitting smoking and c) spending time with non-smokers, culminated in my final stage of quitting. Was I tempted to smoke again upon my return to my familiar home surroundings? Absolutely! Two weeks after I returned I was at a social occasion (my Achilles heel) and did smoke one cigarette after dinner. Luckily for me I did not enjoy it. By this point the new me, the non-smoker, was far more appealing to my sense of self. I felt so free and truly did not want to go back to smoking. That was my last cigarette.

Thankfully, I have been smoke-free for about 18 years. During that time I have experienced some very difficult losses, including my mother, who also died from smoking. Life has been challenging and rewarding and I am very grateful that I have never returned to smoking as a way of enjoying myself or dealing with the stresses and uncertainties of life. I offer you my experience as a smoker and non-smoker, as I help you become a non-smoker. Being smoke-free is your natural state and one you can return to with motivation, a plan that works for you and personal support along the way.