WHAT ARE SOCIAL PRESCRIPTIONS?
Holistic, social prescriptions can have a huge benefit on people’s health and wellbeing.
There is no silver bullet to mental health.
Medication and talking therapies are traditional first lines of support. These treatments can be effective but do not suit many young people.
In any case, a large proportion of young people fail to meet the threshold to be seen by CYMHS, have to wait months for an appointment or fail to engage with the treatment on offer.
This gap in provision creates an opportunity for an alternative approach.
Most mental health conditions are caused by social and environmental factors. It makes sense that support that embraces holistic, social approaches should play a part in the solution. These approaches are known as social prescriptions.
Social prescribing is about getting people to discover or rediscover a sense of joy and purpose and help them reconnect with life affirming activities, the community and ultimately themselves.
For many young people, accessing holistic, community-based social programmes can be less daunting than the sometimes uncomfortable setting of a therapy room.
Social prescribing is one of the key components of the NHS Comprehensive Model of Personalised Care and is a mechanism for delivering personalised care and community-based support in the NHS Long Term Plan.
NHS England is committed to building the infrastructure for social prescribing across the primary care sector by investing in link workers who signpost people to other community, social or charitable organisations in their area.
For this to work, voluntary organisations need to have the capability to support the social prescribing provision but as yet there is no coordinated plan to do so.
The social prescribing model in the UK is more developed for adults than children but still immature.
NHS England is committed to building the infrastructure for social prescribing across the primary care sector by investing in link workers who signpost people to other community, social or charitable organisations in their area.
For this to work, voluntary organisations need to have the capability to support the social prescribing provision but as yet there is no coordinated plan to do so.
The social prescribing model in the UK is more developed for adults than children but still immature.
WHAT WE FUND
We support charities with a proven track record of delivering innovative programmes to help young people experiencing poor mental health.
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