Social Prescribing USA Newsletter

November, 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.

Loneliness is finally appreciated for its importance, both nationally and globally. On November 15, the WHO made loneliness a global health priority with a new Commission on Social Connection, and Dr. Jeremy Nobel released his new book on loneliness, Project Unlonely. It is very encouraging to see social prescribing being highlighted in the national press and now in the literature for physicians. Social Prescribing USA has been invited into the conversations around making this work sustainable and funded within the U.S. healthcare system, most recently at the NY Federal Reserve Bank. We need the research to show proof of concept in the U.S. - and the University of Florida is scoping the 25+ pilots around the county. These are promising times for social prescribing, and we want you to be part of this social movement! See more details below, and please subscribe if you haven’t to keep up with the moving parts. And please pass on this email to others who should be part of this growing network.

Alan Siegel MD and Dan Morse

Feature story: Social Prescribing hits the mainstream medical press - the AMA!

Yesterday was a landmark in social prescribing with an article in the AMA Journal of Ethics - What Are “Social Prescriptions” and How Should They Be Integrated Into Care Plans? While the topic has been highlighted in lay national press, physicians must learn about these powerful tools - and help advocate for their implementation. We ask all of you to link to this story to give credibility to this work.

If you know doctors or other providers who believe in social prescribing and want to learn more, please have them email us (and subscribe) at socialprescribingusa@gmail.com. We are building a national network to help advocate and implement from within our healthcare systems.

Another online medical journal, MDLinx, recently highlighted the work of Dr. Alan Siegel and UCSF loneliness researcher and geriatrician Dr. Ashwin Kotwal in their article Take a hike! ‘Social prescriptions’ offer a medication alternative.

Release of the book ‘Project Unlonely’ by Jeremy Nobel 

Excellent new book on loneliness from Harvard Public Health physician and Founder for the Foundation for Art & Healing. It provides ‘insight into our new world of loneliness that offers solace, hope, and solutions.’

The Foundation for Social Connection and the U.S. Surgeon General bring loneliness into the spotlight at major conference

By: Adam Hirshfelder

In mid-October, more than 200 experts in social connection and civic engagement gathered at Harvard University to discuss and celebrate on the national stage that the movement to highlight the critical importance of social connection has come of age.

Attendees at the conference included the Foundation for Social Connection, Building Connected Communities, Healthy Places by Design, Harvard University’s Human Flourishing Program, and many others from a range of disciplines, including public health, philanthropy, civic design, medicine, and state and city government. Together, we discussed ways to address loneliness, social isolation and boost social connections among all citizens. There was a palpable sense of focus and excitement that experts around the country were embracing the importance of social connection from both health and civic benefit standpoints. In between sessions featuring experts such as the U.S. Surgeon General and Julianne Holt-Lunstad and Dr. Robert Putnam, experts from around the country discussed how they could collaborate and network with each other on efforts to boost social connection. The conference concluded with visits to select Boston organizations that are fostering social connection. 

There was a sense among the attendees that the movement was at an important inflection point and that the coming months would bring further attention to the importance of boosting social connection across the country, and the critical work all of us must do to take advantage of this unique moment. 

The gathering received essential support from the Einhorn Collaborative. 

Why we need change!

A riveting article comparing two sisters with the same disease and the difference in their experiences of health care in the U.S. and Portugal (with its National Health Service).

A Tale of Two Sisters, Two Countries, and their Health Systems

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

Until next time,

Social Prescribing USA team