Report | Living Our Best Life Project Report: Trialling Social Prescribing in the City of Knox. The Community Houses Association of the Outer-eastern Suburbs (CHAOS).
Published: 2020
Brief Summary:
Fitzgerald, L (2020). Living Our Best Life Project Report: Trialling Social Prescribing in the City of Knox. The Community Houses Association of the Outer-eastern Suburbs (CHAOS).
The Living our best life project was funded as an Ageing Innovation Challenge 2019. It sought to trial a model of social prescribing inspired by the work of Mendip Health Connections and the Bromley by Bow Centre in the United Kingdom.
Social prescribing is the practice where health professionals provide a referral for a patient to be linked into social services and activities to address the social determinant contributing to poor health and loneliness.
The Community Houses Association of the Outer-eastern Suburbs, in partnership with the Temple Society Australia, committed to trial a model of social prescribing that featured trained
volunteers in the linking process.
The project involved designing, testing and evaluating the model with thirty-six participants, including twenty formal referrals. These participants were connected into a range of
community activities with positive feedback from all stakeholders. Participants reported improved feelings of wellbeing and social connectedness with some describing it as “life changing”
This is now an ongoing social prescribing service.
Who is this for?
People aged 65 and older in the City of Knox
What is the aim?
Undertake a co-design process with health professionals, other stakeholders and the target cohort to develop a sustainable service model of social prescribing Test the model of social prescribing, based on volunteer community connectors, with people aged 65 and older in the City of Knox to identify implementation considerations and opportunities for improvement Measure the impact of the social prescribing process for participants to see if it has reduced loneliness and/or improved health and wellbeing
Results/Outcomes:
Participants reported improved feelings of wellbeing and social connectedness with some describing it as “life changing”.
Feedback results from participants, connectors and referrers are included in the report.
Participant stories and lessons learned are also included in the report.