A Guide to Social Prescribing
This guide has been written to give people a good understanding about the world of social prescribing – the definition of, what it means for you and the group you are involved in and where to find out more or ask for support.
It has been put together by Jenny Reddell, Community Health Officer at Lancaster District CVS (LDCVS).
Jenny is also the LDCVS Hub Link worker and manages the Lancaster District Digital Directory of Health & Wellbeing Services.
The National Academy for Social Prescribing gives a brilliant overview, but in a nutshell:
Social prescribing connects people to non-medical support to address issues and unmet needs.
This could involve a Social Prescribing Link Worker or an equivalent role:
- Helping someone who is isolated join a befriending group, an art class or a community gardening project, based on what works for them.
- Connecting someone struggling with financial stress to a service that helps with managing debt or claiming benefits.
- Supporting someone with dementia to join a dementia choir, enabling them to maintain a sense of social connection.
- Working with someone with high blood pressure to take up a form of exercise that they’re comfortable with.
Social prescribing can help change the circumstances that can make people unwell. It can empower people to manage existing health problems, to get the right benefits or get back into employment. It can help people to connect and to grow in confidence.
You may have read the above description and discovered that your group are already offering social prescribing without giving it that label.
People volunteer and access community groups for so many personal reasons and many will be to benefit their own health and wellbeing.
Some people within your group may have found you themselves by looking for a personal interest or special place, or they have may found you through a friend, a neighbour, or via a poster in another community space. By attending the group they are improving their own health and wellbeing and giving themselves a well-earned social prescription. During their first few weeks, they will have required somebody in the group to welcome them, talk about what they are looking for, and help them find their feet.
Others may find it difficult to find your group without more help. They may lack confidence to attend on their own or struggle with anxiety when facing new things, or they may have a physical health condition that means they need a group to be accessible in a certain way. They may require 1-2-1 support from their carer to attend. These people will also need a welcome to the group and some form of support in the first few weeks.
Different groups can provide different levels of social prescribing support to people.
Formal referral pathway – supporting people with more complex needs
Some groups are ideal for those that have more complex needs and for those that are earlier on in their own journey to independently getting involved in their community.
These groups usually have paid staff who are trained in working with people with complex needs and are backed up with robust policies and procedures and support systems for those staff.
These kinds of groups will normally have a formal referral pathway; anyone wishing to join the group will fill in either a self-referral form or be referred by another person and submit personal details about their needs and why they are seeking help so that the staff can support them in the most effective way.
Often such groups will have limits on the number of people they work with at any one time to ensure small groups and safe working practices. Usually, people can attend for a set number of weeks or sessions, and they will also carry out evaluations with people using wellbeing scales to monitor how they are getting on.
During the time a person is with the group as well as learning practical skills in whatever the group specialises in (e.g. gardening/cooking/art), they could also develop key life skills such as planning, teamwork, public speaking, health and safety, confidence building and time-keeping.
At the end of a person’s time with the group the staff member will work with the individual to find something they can move on to that will continue to benefit their health and wellbeing.
No formal referral pathway – our group is open to all
Many groups are open to anyone joining, as long as people can contribute to the group’s aims and work well and safely with others.
In many cases these groups do not require any kind of paperwork to be completed, they simply make information about when and where they meet publicly available and people can come and go as they please.
In this case groups will not have any information about who comes through their door prior to meeting, they will also not necessarily find anything out about people as they attend.
These groups still provide fantastic social prescribing opportunities for people.
Becoming involved will improve participants’ health and wellbeing regardless of whether there is a formal entry route.
No matter how formal your social prescribing offer, it is a good idea for staff and volunteers to undergo some level of training to help them work safely with people. It is everyone’s responsibility to look after each other and the following courses could be a useful starting point for all:
- First Aid
- Mental Health First Aid
- Safeguarding
It is important for Social Prescribing Link Workers to understand how your group works, how people get involved, what kind of activity the group delivers, and what level of support can be offered to new participants. This will help them make good recommendations to the people they are supporting.
Your group could also benefit from being involved in broader networking meetings in the Lancaster district. These provide a place to share information, ask advice from people doing similar things and gain good practice. Our local ICC (Integrated Care Community) online meetings are great places to start.
Case Study 1
A person visits the GP because they are recently bereaved and finding it hard to leave the house and cope. The GP suggest they meet with a social prescriber, who chats to the person and discovers they love gardening and walking but have lost all motivation for doing this on their own. They live around the corner from the Glebe Gardens in Heysham but didn’t know there was an active Friends of Group looking after the garden.
The social prescriber suggests they try volunteering with the group. The person seems interested but due to how they are feeling they don’t feel able to go along on their own or without meeting a member of the group to find out more first. The social prescriber asks permission to share their contact details with a member of the Friends of Group. They then ask the Friends Of group member to give the person a call to tell them more about the group and meet them at the gate the first time they attend and make them feel welcome.
Case Study 2
An 18-year-old visits the doctor as they are struggling with their mental health. They are feeling highly anxious and struggling to leave the house, keep up with friends and move forward with their life. The GP suggests they meet with a Social Prescriber.
The Social Prescriber chats to the young person and discovers they always feel better when they are outside. They live in Lancaster with their parents.
The social prescriber tells them about “The Bay – a Blueprint for Recovery”, a nature and wellbeing project that runs weekly sessions for small groups at Half Moon Bay in Heysham. The social prescriber shows the young person photos on Facebook of the kinds of things the group does, also the kinds of people that have attended the group in the past (it’s a real mix of ages). The young person is interested and so the social prescriber completes a referral there and then.
The young person then goes through the process of joining the group – meeting with the staff member on a 1-2-1 basis and visiting the site. Within a couple of weeks, the young person has started with the group and is really enjoying it. The project is structured around the 5 Ways to Wellbeing, and it is this structure and the feeling of being part of something that really helps the young person to gain confidence, build resilience and improve their wellbeing.
The project is time limited and after 12 sessions the staff member will support the young person to find something else to do that will keep them feeling well and moving them forward. Perhaps they will be ready to join another local group now they feel more confident and have learnt some new practical skills.
Case Study 3
A mum has recently moved to Heysham and is actively looking for a job that fits in around school pick up and drop off. She is also feeling lonely and a bit lost so visits her GP for some help. The GP suggests they meet with a Social Prescriber.
The social prescriber chats with the mum and finds out they really like walking and being outside but they are reluctant to commit to volunteering for a group or signing up to a programme as they might get a job any day. The mum is very confident and likes chatting to people. The social prescriber tells the mum about the people that help to maintain Sunny Slopes in Heysham, adding that there is no formal volunteering just people doing their bit.
The social prescriber suggests that the mum takes a walk along Sunny Slopes and if she happens across the people carrying out the work, stop for a chat to find out more.
The mum is very interested in this and decides to give this a try. She walks along Sunny Slopes for a couple of days before she spots the people working, they welcome her when she stops to chat and asks if she can offer any help.
Hopefully you now have a good understanding about social prescribing and how you and the group you are involved in may want to get involved.
The following checklist of questions can help to identify how ready you are. LDCVS can help you work through these questions and offer support to address any needs you feel you may have.
- What is your understanding of Social Prescribing?
- What Social Prescribing projects and initiatives are you aware of locally?
- How do you believe your project or initiative may benefit people’s health and wellbeing?
- Can you briefly describe your project and any possible health and wellbeing benefits it may have?
- How would you describe your social prescribing approach within your project and organisation?
- What qualities do you and your organisation have that support people to get involved? Think about access, equality and diversity awareness, your values, and what you may have to offer in terms of listening or supporting people to find their own skills and interests.
- How confident do you feel about working with people who may have additional health needs or complex health needs that may affect their ability to become fully involved?
- What support may you need? What support do you already have access to?
These questions help identify what additional support or training you may need to support people who may need more help to join your group.
Jenny Reddell, Lancaster District CVS
Send Jenny an email at [email protected]
For information about Jenny’s Link Worker role, eligibility criteria and how to refer, visit our referral page.
NHS Social Prescribing teams
There are teams of social prescribers for each of the three Primary Care Networks across our district.
Bay Medical Practice – Morecambe Bay Social Prescribing Team
Lancaster Medical Practice & Queen Square – Lancaster Social Prescribing Team
Carnforth Social Prescribing Team & Wellbeing Hub
Integrated Care Community Facebook Pages
Lancaster Integrated Care Community