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 July 2023 

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Your home of lifestyle medicine news

HEADLINE NEWS

Wow, there’s been a hive of BSLM and Lifestyle Medicine activity over the last month and we’re so grateful for the interest and passion coming from our Membership.  It is becoming evident that we are no longer just starting the conversation, but leading the way.  

In the last few months, we have been so fortunate to have BSLM, and LM, represented at many events from local protected learning times to international conferences and thank all of our representatives* for their time and commitment.  We’ve shared some feedback and insight below, from some of our recent events.  

*Speaker opportunities vary from volunteer to+ paid.  Opportunities will be shared with membership as appropriate, with consideration given to special interest, geography, etc. Preference is given to those who are accredited in lifestyle medicine. Register your interest here.
 

Croatian Lifestyle Medicine Society

Dr’s Lawson and Quin represented BSLM at the first Croatian Lifestyle Medicine Congress at the beginning of June. It was attended by over 100 Lifestyle Medicine practitioners, with representatives form General Practice, Sports Medicine, Physiotherapy, Dentistry, Oncology, and many other disciplines. It was appropriate, therefore, that the Department of Kinesiology at Zagreb University hosted the event.

The Croatian language does not rank amongst our many skills at BSLM, so both Rob and Fraser were graciously allowed to deliver in English. We needn’t have worried, however, as the audience got a subtle joke about speaker time keeping made by Fraser (many speakers exceeded their 20-minute slot by decades!). On the other hand, they just didn’t find Rob’s jokes funny at all.

The event was well organised, provided excellent catering, breakout sessions, and wonderful networking opportunities. We made some great contacts, particularly with International consultancy McKinsey, who we are now talking to about economic analysis of the benefits of Lifestyle Medicine, as well as other options for ELMC and WLMO.

Congratulations to Dr Anera Lazic and her team at the Croatian Lifestyle Medicine Association for all their hard work in delivering an excellent first event. We can only sympathise with her during the event, as we know how stressful it is to organise a conference here at BSLM!
 

World Lifestyle Medicine Organisation (WLMO) Update

As WLMO Executive Director, Fraser Quin represented the General Assembly and President of that organisation at the recent Croatian Lifestyle Medicine Congress in Zagreb, 6-8th June. It was an opportunity, following last months announcement of the establishment of WLMO, to start to spread the word internationally about what WLMO stands for. The presentation focused on education, and more importantly its equitable spread globally, collaboration and the recognition of diversity, and democracy.

BSLM have been the driving force of the development of WLMO, and what is of paramount importance to us is that no one organisation should be able to control the direction of travel of WLMO, or coerce other member organisations down a particular route. To that end each member of the general assembly, of which BSLM is one, has an equal vote irrespective of size of membership or bank balance. Our vote has the same status as that of Ireland, for example, even though we are significantly bigger.

The Executive Committee, the administrative and operational arm of WLMO, has agreed on five Task Forces, to take the work of WLMO forwards over the next 18 months. These are:

1. Education, Training and Accreditation 
Team coordinator: Susan Benigas, USA

2. Communications and Public Affairs 
Team coordinator: Alicja Baska, Poland

3. International Development of Lifestyle Medicine
Team coordinator: Rob Lawson, Europe

4. Grants and Funds 
Team coordinator: Fraser Quin, UK

5. Research and Quality Improvement 
Team coordinator: Samandika Saparamadu, Sri Lanka

The Executive Committee is represented by a member from each of Europe, USA, South America, Australasia, and Africa, again to ensure global representation and diversity. In attendance are also President Ife Monye – Nigeria, and Vice Presidents Padmaja Patel -USA, and Rabbanie Tariq – India. VP Tariq was appointed as Chair of the Executive Committee. Truly an international collaboration.

We anticipate that membership of WLMO, currently at 20 countries, will rapidly grow to beyond 30. If you would like any more information about WLMO, or to become involved in Task Forces, please contact us at office@bslm.org.uk.
 

In this month's Newsletter...

Other Lifestyle Medicine Articles, Studies or Events

The 9th International Summit on Nutrition and Health - Saturday 15th July

Summer School: Nutritional Psychiatry & Culinary Medicine - 2 Day Intensive

LATEST NEWS AT BSLM

BSLM at the WONCA European Conference

Dr Kate Woolley (Clinical Director BSLM Learning Academy) and Dr Charlotte Salter (European Lifestyle Medicine Council and Norwegian Lifestyle Medicine Association) presented at the WONCA Europe conference in June 2023, to help bring our message to a wider audience.

We facilitated a joint workshop with the WONCA LM SIG, with over 100 attendees and gave a dedicated short presentation introducing our organisations and the BSLM LMCA qualification. The energy and enthusiasm was amazing!

The First International Conference of the Mediterranean Lifestyle Medicine Institute

The first International Conference of the Mediterranean Lifestyle Medicine Institute was held on the Greek Island of Leros, one of the Dodecanese islands and close to Kos, the birthplace of Hippocrates.

Among the invited guests were physicians, academics and leaders in Lifestyle Medicine from 19 countries.  They had been working towards defining the traditional Mediterranean Lifestyle for 8 months, sifting through the literature and scientific evidence, both from ancient times and up to the current day.
Under the olive trees in the garden of the conference hotel, in Socratic style, the final plan came together and the wording of the definition finally agreed.  It will be published soon.

The conference programme incorporated experiential learning - cooking lessons, dance lessons, a visit to herb gardens, a historical tour of the island and naturally other physical activities such as swimming and e-biking.

The outcomes of this work and future works will be published in due course.

We are delighted to tell you that the European LM Council and BSLM were among active members of the conference. 

UCLan Nature Therapy Summit - June 2023

BSLM connected Dr Dunni Adeniyi to Summit organiser, Matthew Whall.  Dunni was delighted to have had the opportunity and said:

“It was a pleasure being able to share my knowledge and facilitate the workshop. 
I spoke about Behaviour change and after speaking about some models for behaviour change, there were group discussions about change of 2 selected behaviours using the model of their choice. The collaborative input was profound and insightful for the participants.

As an international speaker, this is something I really enjoy doing. It was also nice seeing what others are working on for the improvement of health and wellbeing for themselves and their clients/ patients from a lifestyle medicine perspective.”
 

The Institute of Health Promotion and Education 60th Anniversary Reception at the House of Commons - June 2023

Michelle Turner, our BSLM Nurse Rep, attended the IHPE 60th anniversary event at the House of Commons recently:

"I was pleased to be invited to the IHPE 60th anniversary event at the HOC. The event was focused on celebrating the success of the IHPE, reflecting on inequalities, achievements through IHPE work and the role of future health promotion and a setting based approach over next decades.

Speakers included MP Karen Buck, Dr Jeanelle de Grucnhy from OHID, Dr Abdul Razag, and Prof Mark Dooris. I was fortunate to speak with  a number of IHPE members.

Public Health lecturer Anne Whitcombe about compassion in health care, inequalities and the possibility of collaborative working between BSLM and IHPE on an inequalities position statement.

I spoke with Jenny Edwards CBE Health policy lead for MIndfulness initiative, who has written the position statement for Mindfulness(1) and was stakeholder in the NICE new guidelines on the management and treatment of depression in adults.

My main takeaways from this day:
●    Community involvement- we need to involve and work along side our communities.
●    Collaboration, we need to connect services both within and outside NHS, develop shared vision.
●    See this time of crisis as an opportunity to make changes and bring hope."
 

FEATURED BSLM EVENTS

Head to the dedicated BSLM events page for the full list of upcoming events

BSLM July Webinar

BSLM members can register for July's monthly webinar series which takes place on Tuesday 18th July at 7pm.

We have two fantastic speakers this month, Dr Richard Pile and Dr Idrees Mughal (Dr Idz). Richard will be talking about the NHS Lifestyle Medicine programme and the importance of practising lifestyle medicine as individuals, and as a society, if we are to lead fulfilling lives.  Dr Idz will be explaining some of the key red flags to watch out for in misleading health information online, to help you spot this and better inform yourselves and your patients.

Swim England and Good Boost Webinar

On 4th July we held a webinar hosted by Swim England and Good Boost to help members (and beyond), understand and overcome, the barriers to swimming as medicine.

Whilst it was sad to see the numbers of people who currently cannot swim unaided, or feel that swimming isn't accessible to them, it was most reassuring looking at the statistics showing how many non-swimmers, feel that swimming CAN become an option for them over the next 12 months.  We just know that BSLM Members are perfectly positioned to support and drive these numbers, both for prevention, and for those living with long-term chronic illness, across all diverse communities in the UK.  

The recording of this webinar will soon be made available, so please keep an eye on our previous events page!

Future Events

‘Talk the Walk’ – Aberlady (Luffness) | August 15th 

‘Talk the Walk’ – Holyrood Park | August 30th 

NHS NETWORKS

National BAME Health & Care Awards 2023

Celebrating the unsung heroes of the NHS and specialist BAME services - Nominations Open!

Face-to-face health checks increase

NHS Health Check helps to prevent heart attacks and strokes, and is currently a face-to-face check up for adults in England aged 40-70.

Multidisciplinary teams in general practice

This report lists recommendations on how to improve experiences of multidisciplinary teams within general practice amongst populations who experience health inequalities and frequent users of primary care services.

Email us - office@bslm.org.uk