Individuals with mental illness living independently in the community engage in unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as smoking cigarettes. The purpose of this project was to explore factors that may increase the likelihood of persons with mental illness to smoke cigarettes. From the six participants that were interviewed, themes such as relaxation, stress relief, clarity, energy, a good start to the day and social benefits emerged. The project also served as a lens into identifying barriers to quitting smoking for those with mental illness. In light of these findings, public education initiatives as well as smoking cessation programs could serve the mental health demographic by incorporating motivation, barriers and clients’ needs in their intervention protocols.
