Social prescribing

Domain V · Systemic, relational, group & community

What it is

Social prescribing is not a psychotherapy and has no founder-authored treatment manual. It is a referral pathway and service model: a clinician or other agency refers a person to a link worker (in England, a social prescribing link worker, SPLW), who holds a person-centred conversation about "what…

Format

• Model 1, signposting or information prescription: the person is given information about options.
• Pathway phases (individual level).

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Service-level phases (WHO version). Seven implementation steps, possibly iterative: situation analysis; core implementation team; workplan with logic model and sustainability plan; mapping community resources; getting everyone (referrers, community organisations, link workers) on board; link worker training; monitoring and evaluation. Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles are recommended for refinement.
• Delivery requirements (England). No licence or certification is needed to use the term; within NHS primary care networks, SPLWs complete an induction, mandatory Health Education England e-learning and Personalised Care Institute training, have a named GP supervisor and monthly non-managerial clinical supervision, and evidence competence against the NHS England competency framework and portfolio.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Stale directories; schedule regular updates.
• Missing "declined" codes, which hide unmet need.
• Measurement crowding out the conversation; administer briefly and explain why.
• Workloads exceeding the 200 to 250 caseload guide; emotional strain from complex cases.
• Anxiety, transport and cost barriers. Working when the person attends the first session.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.