Mission, History & Impact
We are committed to the belief that health is not only the absence of disease but the ability to explore, enjoy, and belong to our communities. Informed by research on the health impact of social connection — often facilitated through engagement with the arts, nature, movement, and service (volunteering)— we believe in integrated approaches to care.
As such, we are champions of social prescribing and believe deeply in the health professional’s duty to treat not only a patient’s immediate symptoms but to facilitate the patient’s wellbeing in their broader environment. By helping patients learn about and build healthy lifestyle habits, and by facilitating their engagement with the community resources that support them, we see social prescribing as a critically important component of preventative and curative care.
Social prescribing must be built on a framework of health equity, which includes appropriate services and interventions to be individualized to the person's needs.
Mission statement
Summary
Health is not only the absence of disease but the ability to explore, enjoy, and belong to our communities
We have four primary objectives: to educate, to advocate, to facilitate, and to lead.
Quick Links
Our work supports four primary objectives:
To educate. Social prescribing is a relatively new model of healthcare delivery for most countries, and we are committed to serving as a trustworthy source of information as it becomes part of the mainstream. We are eager to share research and information with the public in accurate and approachable ways.
To advocate. Ultimately, we strive for accessible social prescription for every American, and achieving this goal will include policy advocacy at state and local levels, as well as advocacy within healthcare systems.
To facilitate. While we are the first unified organization of social prescribing in the United States, many individual providers, hospitals, and community organizations have long been working to promote similar outcomes; we are humbled by the widespread expertise and enthusiasm for this mission. Our goal, then, is to serve as a facilitator for knowledge sharing and innovation between experts, through the Community of Practice, the Health Professional Champions group, through webinars and events, and through a culture of collaboration.
To lead. We have tremendous confidence in the ability of the United States to serve as a global leader in innovative, cost-effective, compassionate healthcare delivery. By actively participating in global conversations of social prescribing, and by working to promote consistency and clarity in the United States’ own approach to social prescribing, we are eager to inspire an equally thorough approach to social prescribing around the world.
As champions of the importance of connection not only for patients but also for healthcare providers, Social Prescribing USA has prioritized community-building in its own operations, both domestically and with a global cohort of social prescribing advocates.
History
2024
Keynote Address, Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing Conference
Dr. Alan Siegel represents Social Prescribing USA at the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing conference and delivers the keynote address.
Strategic Planning Process Begins
Dr. Alan Siegel becomes Executive Director and Founding Director Dan Morse shifts to a role on the Strategic Planning Advisory Team.
Health Professional Champion Group Established
The group is formed to empower health professionals to advocate for social prescribing in their health systems and local governments
Global Social Prescribing Day Celebration
Social Prescribing USA joins global celebrations of social prescribing with its own live and virtual events.
2023
Community of Practice Established
Designed to help social prescribing practitioners easily share ideas and best practices with one another, our Community of Practice meets for the first time in October 2023.
California Healthcare Foundation Grant
We are awarded a grant to develop a framework for creating a social prescribing program in Contra Costa Health (a county health system for the underserved)
Initiative & Evidence Tracking Begins
We kick off formal projects to identify social prescribing projects of any scale within the US and to build a dynamic research library of news, media, and academic coverage of social prescribing.
2022
Founding, Social Prescribing USA
Social Prescribing USA is launched by Dan Morse, Dr. Alan Siegel, and Delia Beck as a volunteer effort by a passionate, interdisciplinary team. Work begins to research, map, and facilitate ongoing social prescribing work within the US.
2020
Social Prescribing Conversations
Interested in addressing loneliness in the United States, social entrepreneur Dan Morse begins to explore whether social prescribing could spread to the US from other countries, including the United Kingdom. Dan starts happy hours to bring together stakeholders from across the spectrum to initiate these conversations.
Join us in tracking our impact and contribution to the expansion of equitable access to social prescribing within the United States.
Impact tracking
1500+
Newsletter subscribers (200% increase July 2024 - present)
50+
Members of the Health Professional Champions group
250+
Members of the Community of Practice *400% increase July 2024-present)
8+
States with social prescribing pilots