In 2015, I was asked to join a research team at the University of East London who were evaluating a local social prescribing pathway. Back then, social prescribing was an isolated ‘common sense’ intervention practiced by a few passionate individuals and I had never heard of it. I had a choice of more familiar research projects that I could take on, but once the basic premise was explained to me, I immediately understood the potential of social prescribing as a holistic health intervention.
Little did I know then what an exciting and career-changing journey I was about to embark on. One evaluation led to another as social prescribing projects began to spring up everywhere, but a sense of frustration had begun to set in. It was clear to us that for those who experienced it, social prescribing could be literally life-changing, but it was hard to capture these experiences using traditional evaluation methods. By now, I had become a passionate advocate of social prescribing and I began to find more creative ways of trying to get the message across to sceptical health professionals, including creating video learning tools of individual experiences.
I became a founding steering group member of the national Social Prescribing Network (SPN), an organisation set up to bring health professionals, researchers and community organisations together for the first time to create a platform of shared learning and future initiatives.
It was an exciting time and following a sold-out King’s Fund conference in 2018, the steering group presented a vision of social prescribing for the future to an all-parliamentary committee at the House of Commons. In 2019 our work came to fruition as the NHS announced their commitment to rolling out social prescribing nationally. This led to a commission from NHS England to develop and deliver a new Level 3 qualification in social prescribing – and here I am.
The upscale of social prescribing into the NHS has not been without its challenges, but I am still a firm believer in the value of the unique space it occupies as a person-centred health intervention.
As an accredited psychotherapist and an experienced supervisor, I have a particular interest in the role of the social prescribing link worker (SPLW), and its overlap with counselling and coaching skills. Having worked myself with many complex client presentations, I very much appreciate the challenges SPLWs face on a daily basis, particularly those related to mental health. The complexity of their work often goes unappreciated, and in my research and publications I have advocated for more support and training for those in this demanding role.
I still very much enjoy delivering the training (I also teach on a counselling and psychotherapy MA qualification) and it has been a privilege to support the journey of so many SPLWs – you are doing amazing work!