SPRING's in bloom!
/There's been quite a lot of talk about 'social prescribing' in the last few years and this trend has continued with a welcome article in the Herald on the SPRING social prescribing project, which highlights some of the benefits of community-led approaches to health.
Social prescribing is a method of working with people to identify non-medical, community-based, sources of support for them. This includes things like outdoor activity exercise programmes or social clubs - services often delivered by community-led organisations already working in local communities.
SPRING is a project funded in Scotland and Northern Ireland which is supporting community-led health organisations to better link primary medical care to community-based resources.Social prescribers are working with referred individuals to link them with local resources ranging from stress management services to community groups offering peer-support.
A cross-border partnership, the Social Prescribing Project is being led by Scottish Communities for Health and Wellbeing (SCHW) and the Northern Ireland Healthy Living Centre Alliance (HLCA). The National Lottery Community Fund is providing £3m to fund ten community-led health organisations in Scotland £40,000 per year for at least three years to develop the project and to host social prescribers. CHEX's parent organisation, Scottish Community Development Centre, was commissioned to develop the business plan presented to The National Lottery Community Fund as part of the funding bid.
