Service Summary | North Richmond Community Health Social Prescribing Program
Published:
Location:
Richmond VictoriaService Status:
Ongoing serviceBrief Summary:
As part of the Community Empowerment and Development (CED) Program at North Richmond Community Health, the ‘5 steps to Connection’ is a social prescribing program
North Richmond Community Health (NRCH) is located in Richmond Victoria, 3km from the CBD. It is based on the Richmond Housing Estate (RHE), which is the
largest high rise public housing estate in Australia, with 5 towers and over 1000 2&3 bedroom apartments.
Following our large scale COVID response, we codesigned a new program with local community, and extensive stakeholder consultation, that seeks to address the social
determinants of health-The Community Empowerment and Development (CED) Program.
We run a Community Hub on the RHE, which we activate with a range of programs codesigned with community, for community, to strategically address some of the challenges
they face. Our team is predominantly employed in cross cultural/lived experience roles, and the majority of community that live here are refugees and migrants, with over 30% aged 60
years+.
Our Social Prescribing Program is unique in its provision of culturally safe programs, and allows our Program to ‘prescribe’ activities that are run by our team, as well as prescribe
activities that are lead by partner organisations also operating on the RHE. This ensures strong quality control, and provides opportunities for us to refine programs to meet the
needs of attendees.
More info at https://nrch.com.au/services/ced/
Who is this for?
People aged 18 and over who are assessed by their GP as being lonely, isolated, or have a chronic disease that may benefit from a non-medical prescription of activity.
Results/Outcomes:
Pilot Program.
Strong evaluation framework using Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) and chronic disease measurements where relevant (BP, girth, weight, HbA1c).
-To connect participants to non- clinical Programs, activities & events in their local Community to improve health & wellbeing through social connections utilising strong
evidence base of Social Prescribing.
-Consult and partner with valued stakeholders to support a sustainable model.
-Utilise evidence base to design, implement, deliver and evaluate a pilot social prescribing program at North Richmond Community Health, resulting in a recommendation.
-Adopt co-design and consumer engagement principles to direct the program development
-To utilise the established relationships we have with the NRCH GP’s, to ensure strong uptake and reduce impact on GP’s for issues relating to isolation, loneliness and chronic
disease.