Wallace C, Farmer J, White C, McCosker A. Collaboration with Community Connectors to Improve Primary Care Access for Hardly Reached People: A Case Comparison of Rural Ireland and Australia. BMC Health Serv Res 2020; 20:172. https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1186/s12913-020-4984-2

Journal Articles (Australian)
Primary health care, Access to health care, Boundary spanning, Community connectors, Community health workers

Thomas T, Baker J, Massey D, D’Appio D, Aggar C. Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomised Trial of Social Prescribing of Forest Therapy for Quality of Life and Biopsychosocial Wellbeing in Community-Living Australian Adults with Mental Illness: Protocol. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020; 17(23):9076. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17239076

Journal Articles (Australian)
mental disorders; loneliness; social isolation; quality of life; community services; social support; nature therapy; mindfulness

Seed N, Osowicki J, Milenkovski S, Tayao D, Bond L, Thornton L, et al.. Social Prescribing in Practice: Implementation in the Australian Setting. Int J Integrated Care 2020; 20(S1): 58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.s4058

Journal Articles (Australian)
trial; link worker; primary care; community asset mapping; pilot; lessons learned

Islam MM. Social Prescribing—An Effort to Apply a Common Knowledge: Impelling Forces and Challenges. Front Public Health 2020; 8: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.515469

Journal Articles (Australian)
social prescribing, non-medical care, referral to social services, social determinants of health, link worker, community referral

Calleja EA, Buttery AK. Time for Social Prescribing to Heart Foundation Walking. Heart Lung Circ 2020; 31(6): P903. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlc.2022.04.002

Journal Articles (Australian)
Personal Walking Plans; National Heart Foundation; Physical Activity; Prevention;

Aggar, C., Caruana, T., Thomas, T., & Baker, J. R. (2020). Social prescribing as an intervention for people with work-related injuries and psychosocial difficulties in Australia. Advances in Health and Behavior, 3(1), 101-111. https://doi.org/10.25082/AHB.2020.01.001

Journal Articles (Australian)
psychosocial support systems, occupational injuries, return to work, social participation, self-management

Wallace C, Farmer J, McCosker A. Boundary spanning practices of community connectors for engaging ‘hardly reached’ people in health services, Social Sci Med 2019; 232:366-73.

Journal Articles (Australian)
Community connectors; boundary spanning; social prescribing roles

LiveUp: funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. LiveUp is a site focused on helping people over 65 stay independent through healthy ageing. Provides healthy ageing guide and resources, personalised advice and suggested products, services and support in local area or online, includes information on ConnectUp online community, Village Hubs.

Other (Tools And Resources)

Connected Au is an organisation working to combat isolation and loneliness in at-risk populations. Provide connection, community, friendship. There are two programs to ensure that vulnerable people can access connection, community and companionship in a safe and monitored way.

Other (Tools And Resources)

Community Connector Framework and Model: Carolyn Wallace, Community Connector Framework,

The Community Connector Framework provides practitioners with a way to understand and talk about why some people are hardly reached by services and why collaborating with community connectors is one way of addressing this problem. There are four elements of the Community Connector Framework

Framework

Engaging With Community Connectors: Carolyn Wallace YouTube.
Insights from a workshop at the IAP2 Conference October 2019.

Communication and Promotion Material
Community connectors; boundary spanning; social prescribing roles

Great potential can be unlocked if people from health and community services find and connect with their local connectors.
This video provides some examples of what connectors do, why they do it and their views on being more connected with health services.
Based on research funded by the Australian Research Training Program

Communication and Promotion Material
Community connectors; boundary spanning; social prescribing roles

Nepean Blue Mountains PHN (NBMPHN) Health Connectors (long version captions) YouTube

This video discusses the role of the Health Connectors within the Improving Social Connections for Older People initiative

Communication and Promotion Material

Nepean Blue Mountains PHN (NBMPHN) Social Isolation (2021) VIDEO: Community Connector Points– YouTube

This video explains the community connector points within the Improving Social Connectedness for Older People initiative of Nepean Blue Mountains Primary Health Network

Communication and Promotion Material

Sharman LS, Hayes S, Chua D, Haslam C, Cruwys T, Jetten J, Haslam A, McNamara N, Baker JR, Johnson T, Dingle GA. (2023). Report on the 18-month evaluation of social prescribing in Queensland. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland.

This report provides a summary of the findings from an 18-month evaluation of social prescribing. The research was conducted across five sites in Queensland through the University of Queensland.

Report
social prescribing evaluation; loneliness; wellbeing; physical health; longitudinal analysis; link worker

Widening Participation in Creative Activities for Older Adults: A Report on a Symposium Held in Australia

English HJ, Kelly M, Dingle GA, Karayanidis F, Davidson JW. (2023). Widening Participation in Creative Activities for Older Adults: A Report on a Symposium Held in Australia. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 23(3). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v23i3.3899

Report
creative ageing; ageing research; co-creation; sustainability

Thompson C, Morris D and Bird S (2022) Evaluation of the Improving Social Connectedness of Older Australians project pilot: Informing future policy considerations. Centre for Health Service Development, Australian Health Services Research Institute, University of Wollongong.

This report draws on findings and lessons learned through the Australian Government funded evaluation of the Improving Social Connectedness of Older Australians (ISCOA) pilot. It summarises what has worked in the

Report
Evaluation; Social Prescribing; Older Adults

North Richmond Community Health share a participant story from the social prescribing program

Participant Story

Castlemaine Community House Castlemaine share five participant stories

Participant Story

A participant in the Living Our Best Life by Community Houses Association of the Outer Eastern Suburbs (CHAOS) shares part of his experience

Participant Story