Both my parents smoked. I was 9 when my father died of a stroke, and my mother died of Lymphoma when I was in my 30's.

Nothing unusual in this. All readers will know of someone who has battled a disease caused by smoking, and watched lives and whole generations changed by the havoc and misery it causes.

The prominent people get in the news if they get lung cancer or some other disease caused by their smoking addiction, whilst millions of other everyday smokers become just statistics as they go through unimaginable heroism and grief behind hospital doors.

But we are all affected by smoking, and my early, short experimental smoking quickly gave way to a desire to help others quit smoking.

About 15 years ago I was lucky enough to find out about a stop smoking course then called the Isis Stop Smoking Program that was developed by Paul Sulzberger and Michael Bates. I was highly impressed with the Stop Smoking courses they were running, and became involved.

I had never realized until then just how behavior patterns could be changed, how minds work, and what was needed to make it easy for people to take on board instructions, and yet come out of the experience as if they had achieved it all themselves.

Over the next few years I then gave presentations to staff groups, organized and ran many courses and with my team, helped thousands of people quit smoking, both in NZ and Australia.

After discussions with the founders of Isis, Michael Bates and Paul Sulzberger, I collaborated with them to further develop their original program into a new and easily accessible audio format called Quit for Good Stop Smoking Program.

My sincere wish was to make this method available to as many smokers as possible. And I can proudly say that the program has subsequently been taken up by over 35,000 people around the world. Many thought of themselves as "hopeless" cases, or were heavy smokers, but they successfully broke free of their smoking addiction with this method.

I congratulate you in taking the first step in searching for a solution to your smoking addiction. Amongst the first class resources available on this website, there's also a ton of free help to quit smoking.

I'd be positively delighted if we can contribute to a new smoke-free life for you or someone you know.

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Paul Sulzberger MA (Hons)

Paul first developed the original approach to the QUIT FOR GOOD course. It was through experimental work done in the Psychology Department of the University of Otago and it was then a live course called the Isis Stop Smoking Program.

Paul in the early testing stage used the program successfully on his colleagues and even on himself to kick his own 30-a-day habit!

Paul is still involved in the Quit for Good Course and is presently doing a PhD in the exciting area of linguistics. Learning a language, as with quitting smoking, involves similar cognitive processes.


Michael Bates PhD

Michael has spent over 20 years in public health, as a toxicologist and an epidemiologist, and became interested in smoking addiction because of his knowledge about preventable illness and premature death caused by tobacco.

He developed an early interest in psychology. He was fascinated by the way in which people's behavior could be improved to overcome personal challenges or improve their wellbeing.

Subsequently he became interested by Paul's work and was instrumental in further developing the original program into the format of these unique audio sessions.