Six years ago, the same year the UK became the first nation to appoint a Minister of Loneliness, I found myself pacing outside of a Marks and Spencers, waiting to meet my interview subjects: people wh...
The role of social prescribing in relieving suffering
England's citizens are suffering. Hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns as well as the more recent cost of living crisis, made worse by the war in Ukraine, systemic shocks are...
The Link Worker Manifesto
We may be familiar with the idea of a manifesto in the world of politics. In the art world manifestos are a well-understood way of articulating the beliefs and intentions of a particular movement. In ...
Connecting the cultural social prescribing workforce
The cultural social prescribing workforce comprises a complex, cross-sector mix of professionals including link workers, artists, and clinicians; it sees a wide range of people with different speciali...
Personalised Care Interprofessional Education Framework
Do you ever stop and wonder how social prescribing actually makes a difference to people's lives? Well, educators are currently doing just that by challenging the existing 'pathogenic' models that are...
Homeshare: a sustainable approach for social prescribing
What is Homesharing all about? Similar to social prescribing, homeshare fits across the wider health and social care banner, and akin to social prescribing, homeshare also emerged in the UK back in th...
Social prescribing: why I’m flying the flag in medical school
People on the whole are quite complex. In medicine we tend to see a snapshot of a tired, ill patient and then fight against the ticking clock to match them with whatever medicine, treatment or referra...
A mile in your own shoes
Thirty years ago, I ran an outdoor education charity in Brighton. Young people, mostly from very disadvantaged backgrounds, came with us on day trips and camps to have a go at rock climbing, canoeing ...
Developing a national consensus for teaching Social Prescribing within UK medical schools
The Social Prescribing Student Champion Scheme (1) has delivered a total of 68 informal peer-assisted learning teaching sessions on Social Prescribing (SP) across 25 UK medical schools during 2017-201...
Emancipating ourselves from the tyranny of proof
"Social prescription is probably one of the most evaluated policy changes of the 21st century". Those words from Chris Dayson of Sheffield Hallam University should be written on the heart of every hea...
Moving forward: Our aspirations for research and social prescribing
I am writing this on the eve of the 1st International Social Prescribing Network research conference. Since Michael Dixon and I, with colleagues, set up the Social Prescribing Network in November 2015...