Steps to create a health promoting clinic
A clinic can do much more than “fix problems”. It can become a living laboratory where patients and staff practice healthier living together – a health promoting clinic that uses lifestyle behaviours as a core therapeutic tool in hypertension, diabetes, and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Why a health promoting clinic?
Family doctors see people where life actually happens – in their neighborhood, with their real constraints, families, and cultures. A health promoting clinic uses this vantage point to help patients gain control over their health through everyday choices about movement, food, sleep, stress, and relationships.
Globally, there is growing evidence that structured lifestyle interventions delivered in primary care improve cardiometabolic risk factors and quality of life and should be integrated into routine care rather than offered as “add‑ons”.
What is a health promoting clinic?
A health promoting clinic is one that actively supports healthier lifestyles for both the team and its patients. There is no single model; each clinic builds its own version based on its population, resources, and local opportunities, in line with context‑sensitive health promotion in primary care.
Getting started and engaging the team
The starting point is to understand “where we are now”: What is working in our clinic that promotes healthy lifestyle? Any previous successful (or not) projects? Our current strengths and the main lifestyle challenges in the population. A brief self‑assessment helps identify what kind of “healthy clinic” fits best for us.
Teams then:
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Map existing resources (health fund programs, local walking routes, community groups, dietitians, physiotherapists, etc.).
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Choose one focused lifestyle theme to start with, based on staff motivation and patient needs.
Using SMART planning, the chosen theme is turned into concrete objectives, steps, timelines, and division of roles, with small pilots, frequent feedback, and openness to adjustment built in from the start. Early and genuine staff engagement is crucial, supported by ready‑made interactive materials to “spark” interest, surface ideas, and create internal motivation.
Suggested actions include identifying a local “enthusiast” to lead the process, involving dietitians and other allied professionals from the beginning, and creating shared activities such as morning walks, healthy shared meals, brief “energy breaks,” lectures on health-related issues, and tools to support patients with health behavior change, or reflective Balint‑type groups in larger practices.
Making change visible – and culturally sensitive
Health promotion becomes tangible when the environment and routines change. Clinics are encouraged to make waiting areas informative and inviting, integrate brief lifestyle messages into daily encounters with ready‑to‑use materials, and run simple projects such as “Walk with a Doc,” cooking workshops, or children’s health days that connect the clinic with its community.
Physician‑led walking programs like “Walk with a Doc” show how simple, community‑based interventions can increase physical activity, social connection, and engagement, and have been implemented successfully in diverse settings, including by medical students.
In a multicultural setting, “one size fits all” does not work, so there is a need to include principles for cultural adaptation. These strategies mirror international cultural‑competence frameworks that emphasize interpreters, cultural mediators, workforce diversity, and tailored communication as key to equitable health promotion in primary care.
Learning, sustaining, and sharing
Once a project is running, the emphasis shifts to learning and sustainability. Teams are encouraged to reflect on what helped them succeed, which barriers they met, and how to refine their model and share “lessons learned” with others.
Tools available to WONCA Europe members
At NextGenU Lifestyle Medicine free online course (Module 10), you can find further explanations and tools to support the implementation of this project.
Summary
The path to health change begins with a small step, but with consistency, professional guidance, and community involvement—anyone can create a healthier future.
Structured, evidence-based lifestyle interventions in primary care and community settings have been shown to improve blood pressure, lipid profiles, body weight, and reduce the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular events.
Your patients and staff will thank you for leading this initiative, which has the power to transform their health and quality of life.
Good luck, and if you need any assistance or advice, don't hesitate to connect
Lilach Malatskey, chair; Snezana Knezevic, member.
WE Lifestyle Medicine SIG