Upcoming workshops
Performance coaching in clinical practice – creating an impact in every consultation
Designed for GPs, practice nurses, allied health practitioners and practice personnel, learn how to maximise your time and impact facilitating health behaviour change in your patients.
This very practical, hands-on workshop will give you the confidence to immediately implement the knowledge and skills taught.
Shared Medical Appointments (SMA) workshop for practitioners & facilitators
A quantum leap forward in chronic disease management and treatment – designed for GPs, practice nurses, allied health practitioners and practice personnel.
Learn how to conduct Shared Medical Appointments and optionally, complete followup assessment and peer review to become an ASLM Certified SMA Facilitator.
See you in Auckland!
Super early bird registrations are now open for Lifestyle Medicine 2019 in Auckland!
Lifestyle Medicine 2019 will feature ‘Innovation & Intervention, Environment & Equity’ as the overarching theme.
Want to know what to expect? Watch the video to see a Lifestyle Medicine conference in action. And check out the previous conference program and extraordinary line-up of speakers!
We look forward to seeing you in Auckland in June!
Be part of a bigger change
The Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM) is a multidisciplinary society working towards improved prevention, management, and treatment of chronic, complex and lifestyle-related conditions. ‘Lifestyle-related’ includes environmental, societal, behavioural and other factors. Lifestyle Medicine is a rapidly growing discipline with numerous colleges and societies around the world and many more countries starting up.
ASLM members include GPs and medical specialists, allied health practitioners, public health professionals, educators and researchers. In practical terms, Lifestyle Medicine involves a range of professionals working together to address physical inactivity, poor diet or nutrition, smoking, alcohol overconsumption, chronic stress, anxiety, poor or inadequate sleep, social isolation, loss of culture and identity, exposures to toxins, and other influences of society and environment.
Importantly, Lifestyle Medicine is both a discipline, and a movement for change. We advocate for innovation in clinical practice and prevention, in particular addressing the drivers of chronic disease, health equity and environmental sustainability. Areas of focus include reversing type 2 diabetes, weight loss and management, Shared Medical Appointments, largely plant-based whole food nutrition, reducing sugar consumption, and of course reducing harm from alcohol overuse.
Be part of a bigger change and join the Lifestyle Medicine movement. You’ll feel at home in our energetic, resourceful and creative multidisciplinary society.
Stay in the loop
Board certification 2019 open
ASLM is delighted to announce our next board certification exam will be held on Monday 10 June, immediately following Lifestyle Medicine 2019 (7-9 June) in Auckland, New Zealand. Read more about Certification.
Board certification is also a significant step towards Fellowship of the society (FASLM). The ASLM Fellowship is the first fully multidisciplinary fellowship in Australasia, open to all full members of the society, eg: medical practitioners, dietitians, exercise physiologists, psychologists, educators, researchers/scientists and public health professionals. More about the Fellowship.
Or visit our Education page for an overview of continuing professional development and educational pathways in Lifestyle Medicine.
Shared Medical Appointments
Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs), also called ‘Group Visits’, are a revolutionary way of managing chronic disease in primary care. They are “A series of consecutive individual medical consultations in a supportive group setting where all can listen, interact, and learn.” A SMA is both an individual consultation and a group education session.
SMAs involve a doctor, a facilitator (usually an allied health professional) who directs the 60 to 90 minute session and manages group dynamics, and 6 to 12 patients at a time. If you’re frustrated with the limitations of 1:1 consulting, SMAs are for you – and for your patients.
Become a Registered SMA Facilitator by attending a one day training course and followup assessment. ASLM provides an ongoing support structure for GPs and Facilitators trained in the SMA protocol.
Featured articles
‘Eat whole foods, mostly plant-based’: What does this actually mean?
This simple, yet effective mantra is derived from Michael Pollan’s best-selling book In Defence of Food1 (the original quote [...]
Client-Centred Practice and Health Efficacy
Being client-centred means the health practitioner views the client as a whole person who has beliefs, values, relationships and [...]
Brain & Biome
Held on Friday 17 August 2018 at the Brisbane Sofitel
Featuring Dr Joanna McMillan, as seen on ABC Catalyst’s ‘Gut Revolution’, and seven leading presenters in neuroscience, psychoneuroendocrinology, nutrigenomics, positive psychology and microbiology. This special evening featured lightning Ted-style talks, panel discussion and Q&A with the audience.
An eating plan for people & planet
A guide for improving health and the environment in the modern world based on recent scientific findings relating to the body’s evolved reaction to certain foods.
NGO of the Year
ASLM named NGO of the Year at Prime Awards
In recognition of excellence in improving the health of Australians, ASLM was awarded NGO of the Year at the 2018 PRIME Awards. The purpose of the NGO of the Year award is “to recognise the huge contribution that non-government organisations (NGOs) make to the quality of Australian healthcare” with a key criteria being “to improve the lives of Australian patients”.
Lifestyle Medicine
Lifestyle Medicine bridges the gap between health promotion and conventional medicine and promotes a multidisciplinary, whole system approach. As a discipline, Lifestyle Medicine sits at the intersection of medicine, healthcare and health policy addressing the behavioural, social, environmental, socioeconomic, political and other factors impacting on health and wellbeing.
About ASLM
ASLM advocates for Lifestyle Medicine and provides education, training and professional development for doctors, allied health practitioners, public health professionals, researchers and educators in Lifestyle Medicine. Similarly, ASLM has a mission to educate and inform members of the public how to prevent and better manage and treat chronic and lifestyle-related conditions.
Become a member
We warmly invite you to be part of an energetic, resourceful and creative multidisciplinary society advancing Lifestyle Medicine. Get access to the latest information and resources, and participate in an active, supportive community of health professionals focused on improving the health and wellbeing of Australians and New Zealanders.
IMgateway for ASLM members
ASLM is proud to announce UnityHealth as a Society partner. As a result of this partnership, ASLM members currently receive complimentary access to IMgateway, a subscription database service valued at $300 p.a.
IMgateway is the leading Australian, integrative medicine database of over 700 monographs, featuring Australia’s most comprehensive interactions checker containing traffic light reports on over 1,000 herb-drug, supplement-drug, and food-drug interactions (in partnership with the School of Pharmacy, University of Sydney), practitioner monographs, patient information sheets and information on the leading practitioner only products.
Thanks to UnityHealth for supporting Lifestyle Medicine.
Organisations we work with
The latest
Type 2 diabetes and nutrition
The relationship between diabetes and nutrition is often oversimplified and equated with an excess of ‘sugar’ or glucose in [...]
What is Lifestyle Medicine and how do I get it from my GP?
For many centuries medical treatment has been sought mostly for “acute” problems – acute means an illness with trauma, [...]
Plant-based diets as therapy: Do they work, and if so, why?
The aim of this article is to present evidence for the use of plant-based diets as therapy, so that [...]
The Truth About Food: New book by Dr David L. Katz
Founder and President of the True Health Initiative, and one of the worlds’ leading authorities on Lifestyle Medicine, health [...]