Blog
2024- Social Prescribing’s Incredible Year
2024 was an incredible year for social prescribing in the United States, and Social Prescribing USA was honored to help grow the movement, boost mainstream awareness of the practice, and help set the stage for an even bigger 2025! Quite simply, social prescribing’s moment has arrived in the U.S., and we couldn’t be more excited about everything we have achieved along with our community.
Highlights:
Worked with The New York Times on its first big article on social prescribing
Grew our Community of Practice of social prescribing practitioners by 400%
Launched a new Health Professional Social Prescribing Champion Group
Expanded our team of medical and public health experts
Supported (with our Community of Practice) the first U.S. celebration of International Social Prescribing Day with a virtual webinar and in-person event
Introduced a quarterly webinar series on key topics in social prescribing
Represented the U.S. at the 1st social prescribing conference in North America
Hosted a book launch for the first U.S. book on social prescribing
Organized a forum on the importance of social health
Provided monthly newsletters to keep pace of the field, with 1,500+ subscribers
Compiled ongoing resources for the field on our upgraded website
Built our social media presence on Linkedin, Facebook, X and, now, Instagram!
Through our growing digital platform, we h\ave chronicled the growth of social prescribing in the U.S. this year, including these seminal achievements:
Massachusetts becoming the first U.S. state to invest in a statewide arts prescription program with Art Pharmacy
New Jersey Performing Arts Center received funding from the NEA to expand its arts prescribing work with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ
High visibility articles in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard School of Public Health, Scientific American, Slate, and more.
Across the political spectrum, public officials promoted social prescribing as a key tool in addressing chronic disease, including in Tennessee and Montana.
18 politically diverse U.S. cities participated in a historic ‘Arts for Everybody’ celebration, mobilizing around the healing value of arts and culture
San Mateo County (CA) becoming the first county in the nation to declare loneliness a public health emergency, with social prescribing on its agenda.
Social Prescribing USA has even bigger plans for 2025 and beyond: a mapping project, toolkits, new digital resources, and gatherings where social prescribing leaders can meet to share best practices and plan for advancing this movement.
Please support our efforts so 2025 can be even more impactful for the social prescrbing movement and thousands more Americans can receive life changing social prescriptions. Thank you!