By Kendall Worth
Note to Readers: further down in this BLOG post I share with you some news of my Own that I am excited about.
About a month or so, ago, I had the opportunity to meet with Cheryl Jeffers-Johnson and Maya Williams. of the Community Health Team (CHT) here in Halifax. I wanted to interview them for my BLOG, after they told me about the various programs (all relating to health Promotion) the Community team offers.
#1 - Can you tell me in general a-bit your work at the Community Health Team and why the Community Health Team is important to the community?
They are wellness navigators. They do one on one navigator appointments. They offer wellness programs like “take charge of your stress” plus “exploring emotions”. They do community work like connecting with community organizations.
#2 – Despite limited finances, what are some ways that people who are living on income assistance can address their wellness through programs and services at CHT?
- All their programs and services are free. They are part of Nova Scotia Health
- Navigation appointments help people connect with supports and resources that are free/lower cost.
- They are connected to a community of organizations like the family resource centres, and food banks, so they can refer to us and we can refer to them.
#3 - Two of the solutions I promote on my blog are social prescriptions and social prescribing. As employees of the community health team, do you see the need for these solutions?
They take a holistic view of people's health and help people connect with resources outside of the medical system. Health includes access to the the medical systems plus financial resources like food security resources, parenting resources, and mental health resources. Many of the people they see for navigation appointments are looking for community social connections and benefit from hearing about opportunities in our community that they may not have known about. In addition, they offer support to make a plan or set a goal to get to health.
#4 In one of our discussions we talked about how I should think about attending an upcoming national conference on Social Prescribing, if I could get funding to go. Can you tell me a bit more about this conference and why you think I should attend?
The Community Health team is considering whether I should go. This is because of the work I am doing with All Together Link.
#5 - Is there anything else you want to address about Community Health Team supporting my my BLOG on the issues of Social Prescriptions and Social Prescribing, or poverty?
All about how you describe your wellbeing. They strive to offer safe, welcoming, and non-judgmental spaces.
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I talk a lot about Social Prescribing on my BLOG and throughout my writing, I point out how Social Prescribing can act as one solution to Social Isolation. Social prescribing fits into the social determninants of health – income, housing, food security etc. and the original idea of Social Prescribing was to interest health care practitioners in the ways that their patients could improve their health through prescriptions for a walk, or to meet a friend, or any other solution to determinants of health that were (are) not being met. . I often Introduce the idea of a Social Prescription Program. This link, includes proposed solutions that I include within the topic of Social Prescribing.
During my Interview with Cheryl and Maya we pretty much agreed that the work of the Community Health Teams is very much related to Social Prescribing.
The ideas in the links above, were part of my conversations with Maya and Cheryl. However, as part of the news I bring you in this post, is that in my conversation with them, they suggested that I should attend an upcoming Social Prescribing Conference taking place in September 2024.
The community health team wrote a letter of support which I display below.
How do I feel about this?
I just want to say that I very much doubt, I will actually be going to this conference. However, I am interested and seeking sponsorship as it will be interesting to see what happens in other parts of Canada for Social Prescribing. I felt Honoured to have been asked to go to this Conference, but at the Same time A-bit Nervous. If I was to go; I may even learn some new ideas about the subject to bring to Nova Scotia.
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