With the pilot complete, the team at HMA has been sharing these successes with local organizations and health systems in hopes to gain traction and interest to expand the program throughout the black community. Two participants of the pilot expressed interest in eventually becoming facilitators to support others in quitting, just how they did. We will be sharing the program and it’s successful pilot with the DC Department of Health, as well as other facilitators to get them invested in this tailored curriculum.

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Lessons learned from this pilot program include:

• The role of trust in the facilitation process needs to be established from the onset. The more the facilitator can come to the group with a similar lived experience from the group the better.
• Active participation and sharing among all participants in the group was crucial. The participants shared many personal stories which fostered trust and comradery across the group.
• The theme of resiliency and family were salient for the participants, meaning that they saw themselves as survivors of many types of hardships and that smoking was a coping mechanism.
• Weight gain and stress were critical issues that came up often, so destressing exercises were highly valued by the participants.
• The participants were spiritual and insisted on praying before and after each session. Thus, for the ALA facilitator training we will provide tips on how to address diversity in faith practices.
• For faith-based settings, such as this one, the facilitators willingness to go to their church and sit with them to worship made a difference.
• The facilitator listening to participants share their stories without judgement every single time made for a safe space for them to share their experiences openly and was the core of building trust in the process and amongst each other.