Facilitator Finder
Please find our CHIP Facilitators who offer the CHIP programme in the UK.
Hilda Barrett
Jacinta Jackson
I am a GP who has a keen interest in lifestyle medicine and a passion to develop this further as I really see it as a key solution for those who want to prevent and reverse chronic disease and to living a healthy, purposeful long life. I have a gentle approach as I know that making change is not easy but I hope that with support everyone can do it! I also am a qualified 200hr yoga teacher and love to do this in my spare time .
Jen West
Health and Wellbeing. Lifestyle Medicine.
What is it? Can it help me? How does it work if I feel ill?
As a GP for many years I have always offered lifestyle advice to my patients. But it was a one-liner at the end of a consultation. ‘Lose weight,’ I would say. Or ‘Take more exercise’. There were not many people who returned to see me with their lives turned around.
Discovering the Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) and working through the course with others has been a revelation to me. People really can change things for the better- reverse diabetes, control high blood pressure, lose weight, build a new life after bereavement.
‘It can’t be that easy…’
But it is possible; CHIP starts with simple actions, improving diet, sleeping more, exercising. And by connecting with others, building friendships, and forgiving both ourselves and others.
Your CHIP group will be there from the beginning to the end of your CHIP course. You will make new friends. Learn new recipes. And laugh (and maybe cry) as we go through the course together. Your CHIP facilitator will believe in you until you believe in yourself.
Come and join us on the journey.
Chris Freer
Chris Freer has a diploma in hypnotherapy NLP Practitioner Transformation therapist.
I have lived with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis for 20 years. In the beginning it was a struggle however I trusted in the drugs prescribed for me to control and slow the progression of this condition unfortunately they did not work. 6 years after my diagnosis I received the news I was secondary progressive and there were no drugs available to halt the progress.
That’s when I discovered a lifestyle approach and took back control over my health, I am proud to be a CHIP facilitator because it has all the elements, I used to reverse my own chronic condition, CHIP leads the way for you to create your best health.
Reeta Karamchandani
My Lifestyle Medicine Journey
Having completed my GP training in 2006, I knew I was suitably placed to help make a change in the community. But, something was amiss.
Many family members’ friends and patients were being diagnosed with diabetes, many family members who had diabetes suddenly passed away due to a heart attack (MI).
I then discovered what I was so desperately looking for – ‘Lifestyle Medicine’ and ‘BSLM’. Having completed the Lifestyle Medicine Diploma in 2018, then Culinary Coaching in 2019, I was equipped with the knowledge and skills of health coaching based on the principals of motivational interviewing.
In my quest to equip myself with tools to apply the knowledge, I found CHIP. CHIP empowers you with practical tools to apply the knowledge at an individual and community level. CHIP has also helped influence policy makers and offered a platform for peers to share our vision.
David Dawson
David Dawson MB BS MRCP
I am a GP based in North Yorkshire. My background is in expedition and tropical medicine.
I’ve supported several Kilimanjaro expeditions as medic and found it really rewarding to help participants to achieve their goal.
I believe that lifestyle medicine is the key to enabling people to take control of their health and achieve their targets.
Valerie Benfield
Valerie is an experienced fitness instructor with a personal passion to see people live their best lives for longer. Having experienced firsthand the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, escaping a minor stroke at the age of 34 with no lasting side effects she will be your champion and greatest encourager to see you experience the ultimate lifestyle and process all the powerful education CHIP provides.
Pam Brown
Dr Pam Brown, GP with an interest in lifestyle medicine, diabetes and obesity, Swansea.
I am passionate about helping to empower people to make lifestyle changes and live healthier lives.
Elsie Friel
I have been working in dietetics for the last 20 years but have been specialising in diabetes for nearly 15 years. My clinical interests include diabetes, sports nutrition and nutrition for fertility. I am a DAFNE and DEMSOND educator. I have a post graduate certificate in sports nutrition from Coventry University and a masters degree in clinical research from the University of East-Anglia. I am a firm believer that whole-food plant based diet are amongst the best diets for the prevention and management of diabetes as well as other long term health conditions such as obesity and depression. I love the fact that CHIP encourages a plant-based diet within its holistic approach to health and lifestyle management and I am very excited to be part of the CHIP programme in the UK.
Richard De-Heer
I have been a General Practitioner since 2019 and I am passionate about finding ways to incorporate lifestyle medicine into my consultations. The Complete health improvement programme (CHIP) is a great example of a structured and evidence based way to do this.
Shireen Kassam
Shireen is a Consultant Haematologist at King’s College Hospital, London with a specialist interest in lymphoma. She is passionate about promoting plant-based nutrition for the prevention and reversal of chronic disease. Shireen also works at Winchester University where she provides the UK’s first University course on plant-based nutrition.
Shireen discovered the power of plant-based nutrition in 2013 and has since immersed herself in the science of nutrition and health, including completing the eCornell certification in plant-based nutrition. She is a board-certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician and a certified CHIP (Complete Health Improvement Program) practitioner. Shireen hopes to use CHIP as part of a cancer survivorship programme
Shireen founded Plant-based health professionals UK in 2017, a non-profit membership organisation that provides evidence-based education on plant-based nutrition. In January 2021, Shireen co-founded and launched the UK’s first regulated, online, plant-based lifestyle medicine healthcare service, Plant Based Health Online.