AoP spreads its wings and goes global

Social prescribing is gaining momentum around the world. More and more communities and municipalities are showing interest in testing and setting up their own social prescribing programmes. Promoting health through engagement with arts and culture – or other non-clinical or non-therapeutic services and activities offered in communities – holds enormous potential as an innovative and cost-effective way to improve the mental wellbeing of their citizens.

The greater the number and range of social prescribing approaches and related services that a community or city could offer*, the greater the need to share ideas and information and to network with other experienced communities, cities and programme coordinators who can provide support and guidance. To pool support and advice and to share and secure evidence- and research-based knowledge, leading organisations and experts from around the world have formed the International Social Prescribing Community of Practice (external link), involving leaders and people implementing social prescribing on every continent and in over 32 countries, including the US and Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia.

We, the Interreg BSR project Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region, are proud to be a new member of this global network and to contribute our expertise and experience from seven Arts on Prescription pilot programmes in Denmark, Germany, Poland, Latvia and Sweden. The International Social Prescribing Community of Practice is led by the UK’s National Academy of Social Prescribing (NASP), which has also launched the International Evidence Collaborative (IEC) (external link) with a range of core academic partners to understand and advance research on social prescribing in the UK and abroad. As well as exchange of experts and experienced stakeholders in the field of social prescribing, the network also offers free and regular webinars, online resources and learning visits for interested parties. If you would like to find out more about the network, receive the newsletter or become a member, please visit the NASP website (external link).

Another opportunity for professional exchange and networking, particularly from the German-speaking countries of Austria, Switzerland and Germany, is offered by the Kompetenznetzwerk Social Prescribing (external link). Organised by the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (external link), this competence network unites more than 150 members from science, medical and psychosocial care centers, health and social insurance as well as politics and administration to jointly promote social prescribing in their countries. A first important goal of the competence network is to develop German-language equivalents for all important terms of social prescription. Our German project partners, the Department of Health, Women and Consumer Protection of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and the vhs Bremen Adult Education Center/Ministry of Culture, have recently joined this network in order to share experiences from our AoP pilot programmes and to further promote the integration of social prescribing programmes into national healthcare systems.

*Do you want to learn more about social prescribing? Read our news article for more information and valuable links. You can also watch a short introductory video (2:37 min) produced by NASP on the social prescribing approach here (external link to youtube).

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