Social Prescribing USA Newsletter August 2024

This newsletter is the Social Prescribing USA Public Town Square - a central place to catalyze our growing movement in the U.S.  We share insights from the network, important events, philosophy on advancing the movement, important articles, plus provide updates on the rapidly growing social prescribing community.  We will be shifting to a new newsletter format soon!

Have things to share in our newsletter? Contact info@socialprescribingusa.com.

Please forward to others to sign up for our newsletter.

Highlights:

We are looking ahead to an exciting Fall of events and programs for the growing social prescribing movement in the U.S.

Social Health Event - SF Bay Area (Sept. 5, 6PM)

Social Prescribing USA continues its public programming efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area in September with a special program focused on “social health.” Please join us in Marin County for an important conversation on the importance of social connections and relationships with three leaders in the field:

Kasley Killam, Author, The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health is the Missing Key to Living Long, Healthier and Happier

Kat Vellos, Author, We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships.

Julia Hotz, Author,The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging.

If you are in the Bay Area and wish to attend, please use this LINK. Subscribers of this newsletter can use the code Social for a $5 discount on tickets.

First Social Prescribing Conference in North America (September 26-27)

Come to the first in person global social prescribing conference in North America! Come join Social Prescribing USA and your colleagues from across the globe in Toronto, September 26-27, 2024. Our Co-founder, Dr. Alan Siegel, will be one of the keynotes for Global Perspectives on Social Prescribing, joining leads from Canada, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, and the UK. We are considering having a reception for U.S. participants, so let us know if you are attending at info@socialprescribingusa.com

Registration and more information. SP USA colleagues can use the code PROUHKZVZDO for $50 off an attendee ticket. Check out the Schedule here.

Free Webinar Series Starting in October

Social Prescribing USA will offer its first in a series of quarterly free webinar series October 8, 2024 12-1 PM PST to raise awareness and promote social prescribing practices in the U.S. The topic of the October 8 webinar will be “An Introduction to Social Prescribing”. More details and registration information coming soon! Thank you to members of our Community of Practice who have created these webinars!

Social Prescribing USA’s new Health Professionals Social Prescribing Champions group!

Goal: Educate and empower healthcare professionals to advocate for social prescribing and increase awareness both within their fields and the general public while promoting clinical excellence, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

If you would like to join this group or know others who might, please fill in this form or forward to others who might be interested. The form is also on the SPUSA website on the ‘Get Involved’ tab.

Highlighted Program:

Have you met our friends at Open Source Wellness?  They address chronic disease, mental health challenges, and social isolation via their trauma-informed, culturally-adaptive model called "Community As Medicine."   Partnering with FQHCs, Food as Medicine programs, YMCAs, and other clinical/community organizations, they support patients with one universal prescription: MOVE (physical activity), NOURISH (healthy meals), CONNECT (social connection), and BE (stress reduction and rest).   Open Source Wellness also provides training for individuals who want to become board-certified health & wellness coaches via their accredited program - the next "Community As Medicine Health Coach Training Program" launches August 17! 

Articles/Media:

Connecting through nature: A systematic review of the effectiveness of nature-based social prescribing practices to combat loneliness. Ashby Lavelle Sachs et al. Landscape and Urban Planning. Volume 248. August 2024. Systematic review of nature-based SP specifically looking at loneliness (and other outcomes).

Podcast episode on occupational therapy and social prescribing featuring Ivory Rose, OTD.The Uncommon OT Series. Patricia Motus. 7/29/24.

From movement to motivation: a proposed framework to understand the antidepressant effect of exercise. Translational Psychiatry. E.J. Hird et al. July 24, 2024. A new article notes that new research on the specific anti-depressive effects of exercise can lead to the development of "novel intervention strategies, in particular personalized intervention and social prescribing."

How Your Relationships Affect Your Health. Greater Good Magazine. Jill Suttie. July 24, 2024. The piece, which quotes social health expert, Kasley Killam, MPH and others, describes the growing recogniton that the strength of our connection to others is as critical to overall well-being as mental and physical health.

Social prescribing: why purpose is good for your health. July 23, 2024. Great new piece by the BBC, which provides an overview of how service and volunteerism, along wth other social behaviors, can boost health.

A Dose of Inspiration: Why Doctors Are Prescribing Museum Visits. By: Peter Yeung. July 15, 2024. A great post from Reasons to be Cheerful on museum prescriptions!

Robert Putnam Knows Why You’re Lonely, The interview with the great Harvard University scholar and civic engagment pioneer, Robert Putnam, is on a range of topics, including his new documentary, Join or Die Film, which focuses on social connection/social participation and personal and community health.

New Horizons in Medicine: Why Art, Service, and Nature Might Be What the Doctor Orders. Next Big Idea Club. Julia Hotz. July 10, 2024. Jules summarizes the ideas in her new book on social prescribing..

Massachusetts starts country's first arts prescription program for physical and behavioral health. July 5, 2024. WBUR. Mass. Cultural Council, the state's arts agency, has teamed up with health care provider Art Pharmacy, to offer art-based social prescribing to represent the nation's first statewide arts prescription solution.

How much should doctors focus on the social determinants of health? YouGov. Bryn Healy. July 02, 2024. Powerful survey evidence showing the support for social prescribing across all demographics in the U.S.

10 Happiness Practices a Doctor Prescribes to His Patients. Greater Good Magazine. Leif Hass, MD. 12/22/21. An article from Greater Good’s Medical Director about his approach to prescribing non-medical prescriptions.

Books/Films

We arre thrilled to see that the Join or Die Film, a documentary based in part on the life and research of arvard University professor Dr. Robert Putnam, can now be seen in select theaters!! If you go, pay attention to the end of the documentary when a call is made to embrace social prescribing in the U.S.!

"The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health Is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and Happier," by Kasley Killam. This book has been everywhere this Summer, including this summary in Fortune: The mental health industry is booming. Next up? Social health innovation. Kasley Killam. Fortune. June 18, 2024.

Tools:

Social Prescribing Around the World. 6/16/2024. New annual report from the National Academy for Social Prescribing about social prescribing efforts around the world. SPUSA is mentioned in the section on the U.S. for our work with campus organizations to promote the field among the next generation of health professionals, and other U.S. efforts are also included. 

How to use social prescribing to support Population Health Management A guide for Primary Care Networks. National Academy of Social Prescribing (NASP). 3/12/24.

Social prescribing can be an effective part of Population Health Management.These guides support Integrated Care Systems (ICS) and Primary Care Networks (PCN) in their approach to population health management. Read the guides for:

Click to download the Integrated Care Systems (ICS) guide:

Click here to download the Primary Care Networks ( PCN) guide:

Calendar:

August 7, 2024 CA for the Arts is launching a FREE Arts & Health Webinar Series on August 7th, August 21st, September 4th, and September 18th.  Join this insightful webinar to get insight on how arts engagement enhances physical and mental wellbeing! Learn about the therapeutic benefits of arts participation, community-based research, and social prescribing. Register here. 

September 26-27, 2024. Canada Institute of Social Prescribing. Toronto, Canada. See links above.

October 8, 2024. 12-1 PM PST Social Prescribing USA Webinar - An Introduction to Social Prescribing. will offer its first in a series of quarterly free webinar series to raise awareness and promote social prescribing practices in the U.S. The topic of the October 8 webinar will be “An Introduction to Social Prescribing”. More details and registration information coming soon!

Wednesday, October 9, 2024 12-1:00 PM EST. Ontario Society of Occupational Therapists 1-hour webinar about social prescribing. Cost is free for members. $25 CAD for non-members.

National Organization for Arts in Health (NOAH) Con October 23-25, 2024. Houston, Texas, Virtual Day November 12 https://thenoah.net/2024-conference/

November 9-12, 2024. OT Association of California Annual Conference . Pasadena, CA. Ivory Rose will be presenting about SP on Nov. 10 for a breakout session. Sponsorship spots are still available.