Restore Lifestyle MedicineRestoring health and hope

Restoring health and hope

Restore Lifestyle Medicine is a clinical practice and health education platform led by Dr Anthea Fofo Klufio. We work with individuals, families and faith communities in the United Kingdom and Ghana to prevent, manage and, where the evidence supports it, reverse long-term conditions.

Request a place in a group Understand our approach

Our health education programme is provided free of charge. Our priority is to serve communities that existing provision reaches least well, including Black African and Caribbean populations, migrants, and people facing barriers of language, cost or confidence.

Restore Lifestyle Medicine: an open book with a stethoscope and rising music notes

An integrated service

Clinical care, education and community in one place

Care that is spread across several unconnected platforms is difficult to follow and easy to fall out of. Everything we offer sits within a single environment, so that questions are answered, conversations can be traced, and no one is left waiting for a reply that never arrives.

Virtual group consultations

A longer clinical appointment attended alongside others living with the same condition.

Chronic disease clinics

Structured review and management for diabetes, hypertension, obesity and respiratory disease.

Podcasts and music

Conversations on health, faith and culture, published as both audio and video.

Community forum

A single moderated space for questions between appointments.

Faith community partnerships

Teaching programmes, screening days and health champion training delivered with congregations.

Advocacy and research

Evidence gathered directly from communities whose health needs are consistently overlooked.

Our approach

Medicine that begins with the whole person

Most long-term illness in adults is shaped by the conditions of daily life: what we eat, how we move, how well we sleep, how much pressure we carry and how connected we are to other people. Conventional consultations rarely allow the time to address any of this properly. Ten minutes is enough to adjust a prescription. It is rarely enough to change a life.

Lifestyle medicine is an established clinical discipline that treats the causes of chronic disease alongside its symptoms. It is evidence based, delivered by qualified clinicians, and increasingly recognised within the NHS and internationally. For some patients it reduces the medication they need. For others it slows progression, improves day to day function, or restores confidence that had been lost.

It is important to be clear about what it is not. Lifestyle medicine does not replace your GP, your hospital consultant or your prescribed treatment. It is not an alternative therapy and it makes no claim to cure. We will always encourage you to continue with the care you already receive, and with your permission we will write to your practice so that everyone involved is working from the same information.

What we add is time, structure, and the company of other people who understand the condition from the inside.

Evidence based

Every recommendation is grounded in published clinical evidence, not in trend or anecdote.

Culturally grounded

Dietary and activity advice is built around West African and Caribbean food and family life.

Alongside your GP

We complement existing care and share written summaries with your practice on request.

Open to everyone

Our Christian identity is stated openly. Participation in prayer is always optional and care is never conditional on belief.

Dr Anthea Fofo Klufio

Clinical lead

Dr Anthea Fofo Klufio

MBChB, MSc Paediatrics, MRCGP, Lifestyle Medicine Specialist

Dr Klufio is a general practitioner and lifestyle medicine specialist. She qualified in medicine, completed a master's degree in paediatrics, and holds membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners. She has spent her clinical career in the National Health Service, much of it caring for patients whose long-term conditions had been managed one prescription at a time, without anyone having the time to ask what was driving them.

Her practice is built on a different question: what would it take for this person to recover, and who needs to be standing around them for that to be possible. That question leads naturally outward, from the consulting room to the household, the congregation and the wider community, which is why this service is organised as a platform rather than a clinic list.

She is Ghanaian and Christian, and she does not treat those as separate from her medicine. Gospel music and dance form part of how she understands wellbeing, as expression, as movement and as a means of restoring people to one another. That conviction is reflected in the logo, in the programme, and in the communities this work is designed to serve.

Clinical care is most effective when it reaches into the places where people actually live: their kitchens, their families and their congregations.

The framework

Seven areas we work on together

Six of these are the recognised pillars of lifestyle medicine, applied in every consultation. The seventh reflects who we are and what many of the people we serve already draw strength from.

Nutrition

We begin with the food you actually eat, including jollof, fufu, ackee and Sunday rice, rather than a standard diet sheet written for a different kitchen. Practical changes to preparation, portion and frequency achieve far more than advice people cannot follow.

Physical activity

Movement that fits your body, your age and your week. For many of the people we serve that has always meant dancing, and there is good evidence that sustained, enjoyable activity outperforms prescribed exercise nobody keeps up.

Sleep

Shift work, night feeds, pain and worry all erode rest, and poor sleep worsens blood pressure, blood sugar and mood. We look carefully at what is taking your sleep before considering anything pharmacological.

Stress and mental wellbeing

Financial pressure, insecure work, caring responsibilities, and obligations to family both here and abroad. Naming that load accurately is the first step towards carrying it differently, and towards recognising when specialist support is needed.

Harmful substances

Alcohol and tobacco, and also the unregulated herbal remedies widely sold within our communities, some of which carry real risk to the liver and kidneys and interact with prescribed medication.

Social connection

Isolation is a measurable risk factor for illness and for early death. Our group format is deliberate: it is clinical care and social contact at the same time, which is part of why it works.

Faith and spiritual wellbeing

Prayer, praise and scripture, for those who want them, alongside the recognition that meaning and belonging affect recovery. No one is required to hold any belief in order to be cared for here.

Who we see

Conditions we support

Groups are organised by condition rather than by location, so that everyone in the room recognises the situation being discussed.

Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes

Blood glucose control, medication review, and structured support for those working towards remission.

Hypertension

Blood pressure management and wider cardiovascular risk, including the raised risk carried by African and Caribbean populations.

Weight and metabolic health

Sustainable change addressing food, movement, sleep and stress together rather than in isolation.

Asthma and COPD

Symptom control, inhaler technique, exacerbation planning and the effect of housing and air quality.

Menopause

Symptom management, bone and heart health, and frank discussion of a subject many women have had to navigate alone.

Stress, sleep and low mood

Practical support, with onward referral to talking therapy where that is the right course.

Multiple long-term conditions

For those managing several diagnoses at once, where the interaction between them is often the real difficulty.

Prevention and family risk

For people with a strong family history who are well now and intend to remain so.

Our principal service

Virtual group consultations

A group consultation is a genuine clinical appointment, attended alongside eight to twelve other people living with the same condition. Each person receives their own review. Everyone also benefits from hearing the reviews of others, which is where much of the value lies.

The model is well established in the NHS and internationally, and the reasoning behind it is straightforward. In a standard appointment a patient might receive ten minutes of clinical attention. In a group consultation lasting ninety minutes, each person receives direct attention and also hears ninety minutes of relevant discussion. Questions that one person hesitates to ask are usually asked by someone else within the first half hour.

Participants consistently report two things. The first is that they understand their condition better, because they have heard it explained several times in several ways. The second is that they feel less alone with it, which for many people is the more significant of the two.

Sessions are led by Dr Klufio and supported by a facilitator who manages the room, keeps time and ensures that quieter participants are not overlooked. Anything requiring private discussion, examination or a change to prescribed medication is handled separately and individually afterwards.

Format at a glance

  • Group sizeEight to twelve participants
  • DurationApproximately ninety minutes
  • Led byDr Klufio, with a trained facilitator
  • Delivered onA secure video platform, joined by a single link
  • You will needA phone, tablet or computer and a quiet place to sit
  • CostNo charge
  • AfterwardsA written summary and an individual plan

How a session works

  1. Request a place

    Tell us which condition you would like a group for and roughly when you are available. We will confirm a date once the group is formed.

  2. Complete your pre-session review

    A few days beforehand we ask for your recent readings, such as blood pressure, weight or blood glucose, together with a short account of how you have been. This means the session itself is spent in discussion rather than in data collection.

  3. Join the session

    You will receive a single link. The facilitator admits participants, explains how the session will run, and confirms that everyone understands the confidentiality undertaking.

  4. Receive your review

    Dr Klufio works through each participant's results in turn, explaining what they mean and what to do next. You may contribute as much or as little as you wish.

  5. Leave with a written plan

    Your individual plan and the general teaching notes are sent afterwards. Anything private, clinical or requiring examination is arranged as a separate one to one appointment.

Participation and privacy

We are often asked whether faces can be hidden. They can. You may keep your camera switched off, join by audio only, or appear under a first name or initials alone.

It is worth understanding the trade-off. The format works in large part because participants recognise themselves in one another, and that recognition is stronger when faces are visible. A session held entirely without video remains clinically useful, but it takes noticeably longer for a group to settle.

Most groups arrive at a middle position: cameras on for the introduction and the teaching, and off during a participant's own review if that is preferred. You may change your mind at any point, and no one will be asked to justify the choice.

Confidentiality

Every participant agrees, before joining, that nothing shared within the session will be repeated outside it. Sessions are not recorded unless every person present consents in advance, and any recording is used only for the purpose agreed at the time.

Clinical records are held securely and separately from the discussion itself. Where information needs to be shared with your own GP or another clinician, we ask your permission first, except in the rare circumstances where the law requires otherwise.

Request a place

Tell us what you are living with and we will contact you when the next group for that condition is being formed. There is no charge, and requesting a place places you under no obligation.

Does this replace my own GP?

No. Group consultations sit alongside your existing care and are not a substitute for your GP or any hospital team. We will encourage you to keep your regular appointments, and with your permission we will share a written summary with your practice.

What if I do not want to speak in front of others?

You are never required to speak. Many participants listen throughout their first session and contribute later once they feel comfortable. The facilitator will check in with you privately by message if you prefer.

May I bring a family member?

Yes. A partner, an adult child or whoever supports you at home is welcome to attend with you. Please tell us in advance so that the group is aware.

Can I take part from Ghana or elsewhere abroad?

Yes, for health education and general guidance. Anything involving prescribing or a formal clinical decision must follow the regulations of the country you are in, and we will tell you plainly where that boundary falls in your situation.

What if I need an interpreter or other support?

Tell us when you request a place. We will do what we can to arrange language support, and our sign language programme is being developed for Deaf members of our communities.

What happens to my information?

It is used only to arrange your care and is never sold or shared for marketing. Clinical information is held securely under UK data protection law, and you may ask at any time to see what we hold or to have it deleted.

Your details will be used only to contact you about a group consultation. They are never shared or sold.

Services

Clinics and consultancy

Some of what follows is operating now and some is still being established. We would rather state that clearly than let anyone discover it after making an appointment.

Lifestyle Medicine Consultancy

Available now

Advisory and teaching work for churches, community organisations, charities and employers seeking to improve the health of the people they serve. Programmes are designed around the particular community rather than delivered from a standard template.

  • Health weeks, teaching evenings and screening days
  • Training for lay health champions within a congregation or organisation
  • Programme design, delivery and evaluation
  • Speaking engagements on lifestyle medicine, chronic disease and health inequity

Chronic disease management clinics

Groups forming

Structured review and management of long-term conditions, delivered principally in groups with individual follow-up where clinically appropriate. Currently virtual, and in person once premises in Ghana are established.

  • Diabetes, hypertension, weight and metabolic health, and respiratory conditions
  • Medication review in conjunction with a pharmacist
  • Onward referral within the multidisciplinary network
  • Written summaries shared with your own GP with your consent

Restore Slimming Clinic

In development

A medically supervised weight management service for those who want structured, individual support alongside the free group programme. This will be a paid service and is intended to help sustain the free work.

  • Not yet open for appointments
  • Registration with the Care Quality Commission will be completed before any patient is seen
  • Register your interest and we will notify you when it opens

Private prescribing service for visitors

In development

A service for people visiting the United Kingdom, and for relatives of those living here, who have exhausted or left behind regular medication and have no straightforward route to obtaining more. This is a genuine gap in provision and we intend to address it properly rather than quickly.

  • Not yet accepting patients
  • Requires Care Quality Commission registration and full prescribing governance before launch
  • Will operate within General Medical Council prescribing guidance at all times

Multidisciplinary network

The colleagues we work alongside

A single doctor cannot reverse a chronic condition. These are the practitioners we refer to, most of whom work across both the United Kingdom and Ghana, which allows continuity for patients and families who move between the two.

Pharmacist

Medication review, interactions, adherence, and clear explanation of what each prescription is doing.

Nutritionist and dietitian

Dietary planning built around West African and Caribbean cooking rather than around substitutes for it.

Diabetes specialist nurse

Insulin management, monitoring technique and the practical demands of daily control.

Respiratory specialist

Asthma, COPD and emphysema, including inhaler technique and exacerbation planning.

Talking therapist

Support for anxiety, low mood, grief and the particular strains of migration and separation from family.

Health coach

Continuity between appointments, helping to translate a plan into something that survives an ordinary week.

Physical activity coach

Movement programmes appropriate to age, ability and existing conditions.

Social psychologist

Understanding how communities form health beliefs and what genuinely shifts them.

Praise and prayer team

Available on request to those who wish it, and never assumed or applied without invitation.

Partnership

Working with churches and community organisations

Faith communities already gather the people that health services struggle to reach, and they gather them weekly, willingly and in trust. Working through them is not a marketing strategy. It is the most direct route to the households where change actually has to happen.

Health weeks and screening days

A structured programme delivered on your premises or online, typically including blood pressure and glucose checks, teaching sessions and individual signposting for anyone whose results require follow-up.

Teaching series

A sequence of sessions on a single theme, such as diabetes, heart health or menopause, designed to be delivered within the rhythm of congregational life rather than alongside it.

Health champion training

Training for members of your community to become a first point of contact for health questions, with clear guidance on what they can help with and when to refer onward.

Programme design

For organisations with a specific population in mind, we will help design and evaluate something appropriate rather than adapting a generic package.

Media and education

Podcasts, music and teaching

Four strands, published as both audio and video so that they can be listened to during a commute or watched together in a group. The first season is in production and the planned programme is set out below.

Conversations with clinicians, pastors and people living with long-term conditions, addressing subjects that are widely experienced and rarely discussed openly.

Sugar in the soup

How type 2 diabetes became so common in our kitchens, and what can be changed without abandoning the food itself.

Episode one

Blood pressure and the pressure of life

Hypertension, shift work, discrimination and sleep, discussed with a cardiologist and a pastor.

Episode two

The medication you did not take

Why people stop their treatment, and how clinicians might ask about it without provoking shame.

Episode three

What the herbal remedy did

Unregulated supplements and traditional preparations, their interactions with prescribed medicine, and how to ask about them honestly.

Episode four

Dying well, here or at home

Palliative care, family expectation, and the conversations families postpone until it is too late to have them.

Episode five

Community

Somewhere to bring the smaller question

Between appointments people need a place to ask the question that does not warrant a consultation but will not go away. Our forum exists for exactly that, moderated so that answers come from the clinical team rather than from an internet search.

The forum

Condition specific groups, a general discussion area and an optional prayer room. Moderated daily by the team, with a clear commitment that nothing potentially dangerous is left unanswered.

Open virtual gatherings

Monthly sessions combining teaching, testimony and music, open to anyone, with the opportunity to put a question to the clinical team without arranging an appointment.

Newsletter

A monthly summary of new episodes, upcoming groups and community events.

Ask to be added

Giving the vulnerable a voice The purpose of our advocacy work

Health inequity is not an abstraction. It is a woman who waited three years for a diagnosis, a man who cannot afford the journey to his appointment, and a family whose first language nobody at the practice speaks.

We gather evidence of this directly, through structured surveys, through the forum and through what participants tell us in group sessions. That evidence is anonymised and presented to those who commission, design and evaluate services, so that decisions are informed by the people they affect rather than about them.

Nothing is shared without consent, and no individual is identifiable in anything we publish. Participation is entirely voluntary and declining has no effect whatsoever on the care anyone receives.

If you work in commissioning, public health, academia or the voluntary sector and would like to collaborate, or if you have an experience that ought to be on record, we would like to hear from you.

Take part in the advocacy work

United Kingdom and Ghana

Two countries, one community

Many of the families we serve live across two countries at once. Medication is carried in suitcases, advice is relayed by telephone, and a diagnosis made in London becomes the responsibility of a relative in Accra. Services designed for one country alone rarely account for this.

Our work is therefore deliberately structured across both. Education and community activity are open to participants in either country. Practitioners within our network hold experience in both systems. Premises in Ghana are planned so that in person care, teaching and screening can be offered directly, and the clinic name is being registered there before it is used commercially.

Clinical boundaries are observed carefully. Prescribing and formal clinical decisions follow the regulations of the country in which the patient is present, and we will always tell you plainly what we can and cannot do from where we are.

Contact

Get in touch

Three routes in, depending on why you have come.

I would like help with my health

Request a place in a group consultation, or simply describe your situation and we will point you towards something useful, whether that is with us or elsewhere.

Request a place

My church or organisation needs this

Health weeks, teaching series, screening days and health champion training, designed around your community.

info@relimedics.com

I am a practitioner who would like to contribute

We continue to build the multidisciplinary network across the United Kingdom and Ghana, particularly among pharmacists, dietitians, therapists and coaches.

info@relimedics.com