About Us – Smoke Free

Our Team

David

Founder and CEO

PhD and MSc in app-delivered behavioural science. Decades of experience in tech entrepreneurship and self-development.

Ed

CTO

Exceptionally talented coder with the experience and ability to find elegant solutions for highly complex technical challenges.

Louise

Smoking cessation lead

20 years’ experience as a stop smoking guide to individuals and advisor to national and international public health bodies.

Kerry

Operations Manager

Leads our work with public health bodies in the ongoing mission to get our support provided for free for people who can’t afford it.

Adam

Senior software engineer

A wealth of experience and expertise in backend infrastructure development, data analysis and management.

Nasima

Social media and customer support

Helps solve any technical problems you're facing, leads our social media channels, runs our 35,000-strong Facebook group.

Our Philosophy

We believe that our job is to bring you the best possible stop smoking support. We do this by combining tried-and-tested techniques with new scientific findings and our expert understanding of change. We are always improving the tools we provide and will only recommend things we genuinely believe will help you succeed.

You’re the expert in you. We’ll offer you a range of tools and will encourage you to find the ones that work best. This, like stopping smoking, is a process. It is normal and okay if it takes time. Our task is to help you keep going. Or if you lapse, to get back on track and benefit from the experience.

We believe we’re teaching you a life skill. Learning how to stay smoke free gives you self-confidence and shows you how to resist temptation. Get good at that and you’ll feel the benefits in countless other parts of your life.

Our Advisors

Lisa, 14 years’ experience

I also work in an NHS hospital helping people in all aspects of health & wellbeing – including smoking cessation. Working on the app has given me the opportunity to help so many more people around the world.

Simon, 17 years’ experience

Stopping smoking is the best health decision you’ll ever make, and I feel lucky I get to be a part of that with you. I can’t wait to celebrate your success and help you through any tricky parts of your quit.

Bernice, 6 years’ experience

There’s no need to be shy, there are no silly questions; every question is important. Please feel confident to ask us anything, we are all here to support you.

Dushika 10 years’ experience

This job has always been my passion, helping smokers achieve their non-smoker identity. I love hearing about the benefits people enjoy from quitting and how well they are doing.

Caroline, 18 years’ experience

One of the most rewarding things about helping someone stop smoking is supporting them through the challenging times and celebrating successes together. I hope to be able to support you too.

Katy, 18 years’ experience

I feel empowered to help people stop smoking as this expensive habit is linked to so many preventable health problems. We are here to support you throughout your smoke free journey – it’s never too late to quit smoking!

Dayyanah, 11 years’ experience

Well done for making the decision to stop smoking! This is the best thing you can do for yourself and your family! Quitting smoking can be daunting and your journey might have its ups and downs but you can do this!

Julie, 17 years’ experience

I just love what I do. It’s so rewarding to guide someone through such a life changing event. I do enjoy working on the app because I can be there for you just when you need it. Please do let us help you.

Karen, 19 years’ experience

I love noticing people’s confidence grow when they realise they can succeed. If you can’t quit the first time, that’s ok, I understand dependence and the challenges it brings. I am here to help you through that too.

Sally, 12 years’ experience

I know with support you can give up smoking, and with our wealth of experience I am confident we can support you in your journey. Please don’t be shy when asking questions, we are here to support you.

Ruth, 17 years’ experience

I’ve worked in clinics, schools, hospitals and community settings. I spent many years working with pregnant ladies and their families. We are ready to chat, support and guide you whenever and wherever you are.

Michelle , 8 years’ experience

I have worked in healthcare for 26 years and just love helping people improve their health and make positive changes. It is great to provide stop smoking support through the app and help people achieve their goals.

Juliana, 12 years’ experience

I love seeing gradual progress and feeling that I’ve contributed to someone overcoming tobacco dependence and being smoke free. We’re all a great team with a lot of experience, ready to offer advice and support.

Lisa, 20 years’ experience

I’ve been really pleased to work on the app because it allows me to offer support when needed to people with a wide range of questions. I love seeing how empowered people feel when they kick the habit.

Fisayo, 7 years’ experience

I love my job seeing how stopping smoking positively transforms people’s confidence and approach to other life challenges. I hope to be able to support you too.

Belinda, 18 years’ experience

I love that stopping smoking has such positive benefits on health and lifestyle. There is no need to be shy, we are all human and here to help, support and advise you whilst you achieve your goal.

Jo, 14 years’ experience

I have a passion for health improvement and enjoy working with people to make healthy lifestyle changes and achieve new goals. I find working on the app so rewarding! I also love walking and spending time with my miniature dachshunds.

Our mission

Our mission is to help people change their behaviour for good.

A lot of what we do these days makes us happy now, but stores up problems for later. Smoking is perhaps the biggest example of this, but there are many others: our diet, how active we are, what drugs we take, how much alcohol we consume, and more.

It’s a big problem. The diseases that result from alcohol, inactivity, diet and smoking are responsible for nearly three quarters of all deaths each year. That’s 41m people annually and doesn’t include all the many more people who get seriously ill.

The good news is that because these are all diseases of behaviour, changing them is possible. About 50,000 people quit smoking every day, for example.

Even so, most attempts to change our behaviour aren’t maintained for long. Most diets fail, most exercise regimes aren’t kept, dry January stops in Feb and around 95% of quit attempts fail unless support is used.

What’s needed are better tools to help people change and our mission is to build them. We do this by trying different approaches and keeping what works. If something new helps, great, it stays. If it doesn’t, no problem, we’ll try something else. This process, repeated continually, is how we create an ever better app.

It’s a simple process but coming up with and building different tools is no simple task. Your support gives us the resources we need and your data helps us determine what’s working. For which we are very grateful.

Scientific Committee

Prof Robert West

University College London (UCL)

Robert has an exceptionally deep understanding of smoking cessation and behaviour change. His work has been used by governments to shape policies and is at the centre of how stop smoking support is delivered in the UK, a world-leading country in tobacco control. His PRIME theory of motivation, which elegantly describes how motivation fluctuates, is one of the psychological foundations on which the app is built.

Prof Jamie Brown

UCL

Digital behaviour change is a growing area of interest for scientists, but few know the field better than Jamie. He is Professor of Behavioural Science at UCL, leads a major tobacco and alcohol research group and co-wrote the “Theory of Addiction” with Robert West. A book whose understanding of addiction and its component parts, has been highly influential in helping us build a better app.

Prof Felix Naughton

University of East Anglia

Felix’s research focusses on stop smoking apps. He’s studied them in-depth and built one that helps people quit in a really nice way (‘Quit Sense’ sends tailored support and advice when you get to locations you used to smoke). Felix is on top of the latest findings when it comes to digital health and helps us stay up-to-date with the science in this rapidly growing field.

Dr Olga Perski

UCL

Olga’s research encompasses two really interesting areas for us: app engagement and just-in-time interventions. Creating a more engaging app is critical because all the behavioural science in the world won’t do much if the app isn’t used. We are also really keen to learn how we can deliver the right kind of help, right when you need it; and the new area of just-in-time interventions is very exciting for that.

Conflict of Interest

Our policies

We do not engage with companies associated with - or who receive funding or backing from - the tobacco industry or organisations that are related to them.

Our scientific advisors are completely independent and have no financial interest in the app.

Quit for Good

Our Quit for Good programme helps people in low income countries stop smoking.

Buy or donate to the app and we’ll give these quitters the Pro features on your behalf. We’ll also provide technical support and help them learn how to get the most from the app.

Together we can help thousands of people quit smoking for good.