Smoking is a tough behavior to change, no doubt about it. So professionals who despair of persuading their clients – or patients, or students – to kick the habit may want to attend a workshop aimed at improving their skills. Health care providers, counselors, teachers and others who interact regularly with tobacco users of any age are encouraged to participate.

Tobacco Intervention Basic Skills Training, offered by the Partnership for a Tobacco-Free Maine, doesn’t have a snappy name, but its goal is to rekindle confidence that a few well-placed words can shore up a smoker’s resolve to give up the tobacco habit.

“There’s a kind of pervasive hopelessness,” about convincing people to stop using tobacco, according to training manager Fred Wolff of the Center for Tobacco Independence, which is affiliated with MaineHealth in Portland.

Wolff said tobacco users and the professionals who help them need to be reminded that tobacco addiction is a treatable illness, that repeated attempts to quit actually increase the likelihood of success, and that there are proven medications to support efforts to stop using tobacco.

The two-part training includes an online component that must be completed before the half-day in-person workshop. Workshops start at 8 a.m. and are scheduled as follows:

. Dec. 2, at the Black Bear Inn, Orono.

. March 4, 2009, at the Penobscot Bay YMCA, Rockport.

. April 1, 2009, at the Wyndham Portland Airport Hotel, South Portland.

The cost of the entire two-part training, including access to the online component, breakfast, snacks, CEU certificates and all training materials, is $50. Early registration is encouraged because of limited class size.

To register or for additional information contact Becky Hendrix at 207-662-5224 or tobaccotrng@mmc.org.