My Vision: What a Social Prescription /Social Precribing Organization can look like and how it can work in Halifax Nova Scotia!
By Kendall Worth
First, a bit of background about the title of this post. Since my attendance at the Social Prescribing Conference in Toronto, and thinking about my experience with the short-lived All Together Link , first known as Mitigating Social Isolation Project, and considering how things could have been different with the Project. There were 2 things that I learned at the conference that stuck with me, and these ideas are services that users of a Social Prescribing/Social Prescription Organization here in Halifax could benefit from.
While attending the Conference in Toronto, I got to thinking about how our large, local population of people living in poverty, who depend on places like soup kitchens, and talking to to the people they see when standing in line at their food banks to have an affordable ay to get out and see people and socialize int heir personal life.
This Any weekend on Welfare post talks about what weekends can be like when you do not get invites to go visit Friends and Families members on weekends, and when you do not have Money for things like Going Shopping, going to the Movies, Bars, Ect. Also This post and with this post Part#2 Both Build the case even more about social anxiety here in Halifax, and both posts talk about what how the community I advocate for has to deal with that anxiety that is caused through no fault no their own. All of the Above links Explain even more, in one way or another, why this is needed in Halifax.
What I learned that would be a Benefit to include in a Halifax Organization of Social Prescribing, included the following:
#1 - I realized that Peer Support can be more than Mental Health Support. There was a speaker on one of the Panels who made points about how if an organization wanted to provide peer support, workers should do things like:
- Friend check-ins with Lonely People who are lonely Themselves -- that Can be an example of Peer Support. Here in Halifax Nova Scotia, we do have a couple of Local Mental health Not for profits who have Peer Support Services. These organizations include the Healthy Minds Cooperative and Self Help Connection. However, for the Peer Support Workers who work in those organizations, their Strict focus is Mental Health.
- I learned that in some other Jurisdictions, the Social Prescribing Organizations have peer support that does general friend check-ins with those who need it.
- Say if someone who was a client accessing Social Prescriptions, wanted to learn something new, a Peer support worker might be able to teach.
Anyway a peer support should always be non professional and unlike Doctors, Nurses, Social Workers, Ect the Peer Support Workers knowledge comes from lived Experience!
I Choose this photo because this displays difficlut advise for people to follow, if they do not have freidns they can call. Having Peer support Workers who can behave as friends, as part of their Job, is the Solution.
#2 - At the Conference, I also learned that in other Jurisdictions there is help with Person-Centred Care. Here in Halifax, we do have a high population of aging people. Also, the fact that Halifax has a population of younger people with Social Anxiety is a factor. And let's not forget the large population of people living in poverty. At the Conference, there was a lot of talk about how younger people with Social Anxiety benefit from the Person-Centred Care opportunities that are offered through Social prescribing organizations, in other jurisdictions. In fact, at the Conference some of the speakers spoke about how in the Jurisdictions they were visiting Toronto from, their Social Prescribing Organization started as an opportunity just for Seniors, and then they opened up the program to younger people with Social Anxiety.
Anyway here in Halifax, there is an argument that can be made for why the Proposed organization needs to be open to all ages.
Let me offer more reasons why A Social prescribing Organization needs to be open up to all ages. It is all about the fact that here in Halifax, in addition to having a large population of Aging Seniors, we also have a younger population of people living in poverty who could benefit from a Model of Connecting with people. Many of our younger people living in poverty have also experienced Disconnection from Supports for various Reasons.
One of the Speakers at the conference suggested thinking of reasons for social exclusion beyond income and medical reasons. Main #1 issue I hear people living on income assistance experience here in Halifax is Friendships with people they were friends with before going on Income Assistance have ended. Better off people have ended their friendships with the income assistance recipient because of their Beliefs in the welfare stigma. This why the Halifax Model of Social Prescriptions needs to include free Social Events where People can connect and Socialize.
Taking a walk in park is good for Anxiety, the question is go alone or is it better to have friends to go for that walk with? A Social Prescription Organization can provide Opportunity for someone to make those Friends to take that Walk with.
Some other issues that are related to the Need of a Social Prescribing Organization/A Social Prescription Organization should include:
When people living in poverty complain about living Socially isolated lives, they get asked by other if they are part of any Social Groups? The Question here is many of these people are also on Income Assistance, How can they be part of Social Groups, when money to do things that Social Groups do, is not in their Budget. They get $972.00 to live on and 60% of income Assistance started May 2024 gets an extra $300 Disability Supplement. Still after rent and Bills are paid, there is nothing left in their Budgets to be Social.To Prove my point Further about my Proposed Halifax Social Prescriptions/Social Prescribing, I want to take a moment here to go back to my December 11, 2022 BLOG post. There is a lot in this post that backs up my case for the need to bring Social Prescribing to some in Halifax. This link includes a swot analysis. Below I providing an updated Version of that SWOT Analysis to include things that I have learned along the way and at the Conference.
- My Experience I had Gained from my Involvement of the Mitigating Social Isolation Project AKA All Together Link from
- Networking
- Getting other Organizations who help people living in poverty (Ex Food banks and Soup Kitchens) to use was proven to be a Potential weakness throughout the Existence of All Together Link.
- People Could run into Difficult situations with making Social Contacts/Friends within the groups we are trying to Create.
- Throughout the Existence of All Together Link getting a Community of Friends to come together was proven to be somewhat of a Weakness.
- Some people, living in poverty, will not show up at organized event/social gatherings unless they know that food is going to be offered. The organization may not always be able to offer food depending on the operating Budget.
- If we can get funding from the Correct Sources, may paid peer Support Workers can be hired to work at a Brand new Social Prescription/Social Prescribing Organization. These Peer Support will provide Support other then Mental health.
- The existence of a Social Prescription/Social Prescribing Organization can promote Safe Getting out and Socializing with people. For one example of what I am talking about I invite you as the Reader to see my Sober Bar Idea I talked about in some of my other unrelated BLOG posts.
- Pursuing this overall plan, gives program directors/staff/volunteers a chance to work with the general public, in particular the community of people living in Poverty, and the Disability Rights Community.
- Demonstrating to the community of people living in poverty/mental health consumers, that there are Better off People who do not believe in the stigma about them.
- This Organization could provide an opportunity for students studying social work at Dalhousie to gain work experience.
- To create opportunity for people who have things in common to come together and meet.
- Creation of new social experiences for the people the program would serve.
- For people living in poverty to have other opportunities in their personal lives, besides standing in line at the Food-Bank and Attending the Soup-Kitchens / Drop-ins for getting out and socializing with people.
- Some people living in poverty call the Food Banks and Soup Kitchens their way of getting out and socializing with people. That may be all the socializing that those folks need or want.
- Some disability Communities already have organized Social Networks.
- If you mix the Community of People living in Poverty and the Financially Better off community together, there may be problems, because some people believe the stigma attached to welfare recipients like:
- Welfare encourages people to not work.
- Welfare recipients can milk the system indefinitely.
- Undocumented immigrants abuse the welfare system.
- The welfare system is full of loopholes that get exploited at the taxpayers’ expense.
- Most welfare recipients are single mom or single men with mental health issues.
- People who depend are just too lazy and do not want to work for a living.
- People on welfare are uneducated.
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