Today (Thursday 14 March) is Social Prescribing Day, an annual celebration of the people, organisations and communities who support people’s health and wellbeing.
Social prescribing is about providing non-medical practical and emotional support for issues such as loneliness, debt, stress, and wellbeing.
It often begins with a referral from a GP, hospital, charity or other organisation to a social prescribing link worker.
Link workers listen to people and try to understand their situation, and what matters to them. They connect them to organisations and information that can help.
There are also other people in the community, including charity workers, youth workers or faith leaders, who can identify individuals who might need support and help them connect to relevant activities, groups or services.
At Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT), we work closely with charities, volunteers and people in the community to support people’s overall health and wellbeing.
Our patients are involved in many different types of social projects to support their mental health.
For example, we have allotment projects people to improve their wellbeing by enjoying the outdoors and growing their own produce.
Open Arts is a community arts and mental health programme, managed within the EPUT Charity Fund.
It supports people with their recovery, develops their confidence, self-esteem and self-identity, and helps them feel part of their wider community.
Open Arts runs courses, workshops and events led by professional artists and supported by volunteers.
The project offers an opportunity to learn new art skills and techniques within a safe and supportive environment. Groups are run in community based venues, and people can be referred by a mental health professional, or they can self-refer.
Our Southend Rough Sleepers Team and Rough Sleepers Initiative mental health navigators work with people who are rough sleeping or in temporary accommodation.
They work with charities, housing providers, councils, drug and alcohol services and specialists across mental and physical health services to make sure people have food, housing, and access to wider support.
To acknowledge the day we spoke to Matron Pippa Crocket, who works at Clifton Lodge care home.
Pippa works alongside activities coordinator Sandie Woolford to organise monthly events for their residents to help them socialise and engage with other patients.
She said: “The events we organise and hold for the residents and their families are really important and creates a fun social environment for them to enjoy each other’s company.
“Throughout the year we have monthly entertainment where singers come in and perform. We have dance evenings, pet therapy days, church services and a hairdresser that comes every couple of weeks.
“It just offers our residents an alternative than sitting around and really bonds them. They always have such a good time.
“Last year we had a great time celebrating the King’s Coronation and the year before it was the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. We always look and plan ahead and make sure we have plenty to do.”