SCaH Conference story

The idea for the inaugural Smoking Cessation and Health UK conference began in 2019, sparked by Heidi Croucher’s concern over the absence of a dedicated national forum for professionals working in smoking cessation and related health services. Despite the UK’s global leadership in tobacco control and its continued efforts to reduce smoking rates and the associated health burden, it’s evident that significant challenges remain.

To achieve the UK’s Smokefree 2030 goal—reducing smoking prevalence to just 5% of the population—we must deepen our engagement with diverse communities and elevate smoking cessation and prevention to a central position on the public health agenda. This requires harnessing every available resource, sharing best practices, and actively addressing inequalities in service provision.

Smoking Cessation and Health is a collaborative initiative that has united passionate individuals and professionals to shape this event and establish a lasting home for the smoking cessation community. We are deeply grateful to our informal steering board for their time, commitment, and unwavering support in helping grow the SCaH community for the benefit of all.

Heidi Croucher is the Founder and Lead Convenor of SCAH – this annual national conference that brings professionals together with an interest in smoking cessation to share the latest evidence based research and practices. Heidi has worked in tobacco control since 2015, running learning events and networking opportunities is what brought SCAH into fruition in 2019. Heidi has lead a number of smokefree pregnancy projects, and treating tobacco dependency programmes across the region’s Integrated Care System. In 2023, Heidi joined the national prevention team supporting the implementation of the Long Term Plan.

Martin Lever joined Heidi as the SCaH Joint Lead Convenor ahead of the 2023 conference. He has worked in tobacco control since 2006, designing and managing acute, community and mental health programmes. Presently, he is the Tobacco Control Lead at Birmingham City Council. A behaviour change clinical specialist, Martin has a strong interest in evolving the frontiers of smoking cessation practice and interventions, particularly when working with marginalised and deeply entrenched smokers. A freelance trainer, Martin has delivered smoking cessation training for practitioners on behalf of national organisations, including NHS England South West and the National Centre for Smoking Cessation Training (NCSCT).