Social Prescribing USA Newsletter September 2023

This newsletter aims to be the Social Prescribing USA Public Town Square - a central place to catalyze our growing movement. We’ll share insights from the network, philosophy on advancing the movement, and act as an idea factory of insights. This newsletter is co-created with the brave leaders shaping this practice nationally.

Feature story: Release today of Arts on Prescription Field Guide

The Arts on Prescription field guide, brought to you by Tasha Golden, Mass Cultural Council, and UF CAM, is a research-supported roadmap to creating SP initiatives in any community. It will serve as an excellent resource for those of us working to advance social prescribing and bring new programs to fruition. It is well-referenced, has illustrative examples, provides a solid framework for program development, and will be a valuable tool. It also includes a great appendix, which includes potential SP funders. Please distribute this widely.

🔗 Download, explore and share the field guide today: https://bit.ly/ArtsOnPrescriptionFieldGuide

Events & Invitations

Early stages for planning a convening in Tucson around SP. Staff at U of AZ Health Sciences, is working to generate a group of funders to fund a statewide pilot project and is in the early stages of planning a convening to share information about SP. The two groups engaged so far and will be hosting are the Arizona Commission on the Arts & the Flinn Foundation.

Insights & Shout Outs

Harvard D-Lab Notable Award Recipient for D-Lab design collaboration with SP USA and UF CAM. Design for Social Prescribing: Bridging Silos for Health Promotion The Design Lab at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (D-Lab) collaborated with the UF Center of Arts and Medicine and Social Prescribing USA to undertake this six-month project, which was divided into three phases and leveraged design knowledge to expand and accelerate the adoption of SP initiatives in the US.

UJA New York Pilot - This Long Island, NY-based pilot is a collaboration between UJA Federation NY with Sepi Djavaheri and a large geriatric and palliative care team at Northwell Health. The program, which started in 2021, is designed to support aging adults who do not live in care facilities, assisted living, or nursing homes, and who struggle with loneliness. To achieve this, the program supports part-time Connection Specialists who work at five JCCs in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. These Connection Specialists facilitate access to various local programs and services to reduce isolation among community members.

Shout out to Lennie Knowlton, who led our last Community of Practice. Lennie presented about her program, Project Connection, and a bigger-picture vision for developing social prescribing programs. We did some brainstorming in smaller groups and brought back our pearls. Thank you!!

Research & Media

Finding a common thread for SP for research, policy, and practice. Establishing Internationally Accepted Conceptual and Operational Definitions of Social Prescribing Through Expert Consensus: A Delphi Study This foundational work offers a common thread – a shared sense of what social prescribing is - to foster a common understanding of this concept.

Ed Sheeran as a social prescriber! Ed Sheeran surprises students at Middleton High School with free concert tickets, guitars

Review describes types of SP models to address non-medical needs for co-design and decision-making. Models of social prescribing to address non-medical needs in adults: a scoping review. It concluded that there is significant variability in SP approaches internationally. SP programs can be summarised as including six planning stages and six program processes. It provides guidance for decision-makers regarding what to consider when designing SP programs.

Article describing the power of volunteerism to address depression, To ease my depression, I volunteered to help dying people. Includes Community of Practice member, expert and author Stephen Post.

Reach out to us if you have anything you’d like included in our next newsletter!

Until next time,

Social Prescribing USA team