Social Prescribing

An introduction for physical activity providers and lead organisations

Active Lancashire recognises that a range of factors influence health. Getting people moving more is a really important method of improving population health, but there are others too.

Social prescribing looks at the whole individual, considering many different contributors to their health, such as social connectedness, money/finance, mental wellbeing and increasingly, physical activity. Social prescribers then (or Link Workers), can serve as a really useful means of identifying and engaging inactive individuals, as well as a source of attendees for your sessions. However, while those running activities that promote movement will help to improve attendees health in one respect, Link Workers can connect the same participants with additional services that can improve their wellbeing in other ways. Therefore, there are huge benefits for Link Workers and physical activity providers working together, as they can more fully meet the needs of their attendees and support one another in the pursuit of their goals (e.g. lifestyle change, health promotion and improved fitness levels).

This area of work, led by Ben Fatimilehin at Active Lancashire, has produced a menu of reports, guides and materials to introduce physical activity providers to social prescribing, and help them to start thinking about how they might get ‘social prescribing ready’, before taking steps to connect with Link Workers and receive referrals.

Click on the button below to find out more about social prescribing, how you can help new attendees feel comfortable when they attend your session, how to overcome barriers to participation and the benefits of having conversations with participants to help shape your activities. 

What is Social Prescribing? Click here to access learning and resources.