How would you feel if your GP prescribed painting classes rather than penicillin?

How would you feel if your GP prescribed dancing rather than drugs? Painting classes rather than penicillin? This isn’t a far-fetched fantasy – ‘social prescriptions’ are now a reality.

Many things affect our health and wellbeing, including stress, worry, isolation and depression. Some issues can be helped with medicine but not all. And this is where social prescribing comes in.

In October 2019, the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) was launched to promote and facilitate social prescriptions. Their website explains what this is: “Social prescribing connects people to practical and emotional community support, through social prescribing link workers, who are based in GP practices and take referrals from all local agencies… it helps people get more control over their healthcare, to manage their needs and in a way that suits them.”

These link workers work with patients to draw up an individually tailored plan that will get them involved in new activities and hobbies. This can range from joining community groups, taking up a new sport or learning a new activity, such as gardening, tai chi or drawing.

The Royal College of Occupational Therapists wrote a paper earlier this year (March 2021) on social prescribing in which they said it “…should be viewed as an accompaniment to, and not a replacement for, medical interventions. It also has a role in prevention and health promotion.”

The pandemic and continuing issues around Covid have shown that our mental wellbeing has taken a battering and tackling that issue is more important than ever. NHS England aims to increase the number of link workers from around the current level of 1,300 to more than 4,000 by 2023 to enable even more referrals.

Good Housekeeping (September 2021) had a really interesting article which not only explored social prescriptions but also looked at the power of hobbies. In particular, “flow activities, ones where you lose all track of time – are brilliant for our mental health. You’re so engaged in the moment that the rest of the world melts away, often taking your stress and worry with it. It gives you respite from the busyness of your life.”

The article referenced two studies: one that found that people with hobbies tend to have lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, lower blood pressure and even a smaller waist circumference. The other research, ‘The healing power of art’, showed that expressing yourself through creative activities can help ease anxiety and depression.

Hobbies cover a wide range of activities, not all of them could perhaps be described as ‘creative’. The Good Housekeeping article suggests eight hobbies we could have a go at, among them bird watching and cycling. But whatever the activity, the important thing is doing something purely for yourself, allowing yourself to recharge your batteries. You don’t have to be good at it – although practice does tend to improve your skill level – it’s how it makes you feel that is important.

You’ll often hear people say something ‘should be on the National Health’. Well, it appears that being creative is! And we’re delighted to hear it and hope that social prescribing becomes even more popular. We’re huge advocates of the creative process. For us, creativity is a mindset, not just an action, that can benefit individuals, families, even organisations. And anything that promotes a stronger, healthier mental wellbeing can only be a good thing.

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