In a November BLOG post, I promised to provide an update on conversations about the need for a Social Prescription Program / Social Prescribing Organization in Halifax.
Current and long-standing readers know that much of my advocacy work is focused on the need to increase the benefits and support provided to recipients of Income Assistance, if only to cover the dramatic increases in the cost of rent, utilities and groceries we have all experienced.
However, what I advocate for is not limited to economic and financial issues. I have also been making the case that social isolation is a HUGE barrier for low-income households and income assistance recipients. This is why I have also been an active advocate for introducing in Halifax a Social Prescription approach, through a dedicated government program or non-profit organization.
In September, I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Toronto on this very topic and I wrote a BLOG about this experience upon my return.
To recap, the Conference defined “social prescription (SP) as an approach to health care and well-being that addresses not only physical health and economic well-being, but social factors that impact well-being, such as loneliness and isolation, and the need for personal growth, creativity and community connection. Social prescribing programs and organizations help to bridge the gap between what is needed and what is available, and promote both individual and community health.”
Just to be clear, I was well aware of the issue of social isolation in my community before the Conference.
In fact, it was almost six years ago, in this article that I first addressed the need for some sort of social prescription program in Halifax. Back then, I did not have all the technical language, but I knew from my own difficult experience of social relations and friendships that connecting with others in a meaningful way was an important element of personal health and well-being.
It is clear that social isolation is a HUGE obstacle for people in my community struggling to live healthy lives. I have written about the challenges of maintaining friendships for those living with mental health issues as well as invisible disabilities. I have also addressed here and here how the roots of social isolation are often financial in nature and the result of inadequate income.
I have also discussed here and here how mental health and social anxieties complicate friendships and social relations. This means that even the simplest social invitation or occasion (“Hey, let’s meet for coffee next week!”) can become very problematic.
When Income Assistance recipients go to appointments with doctors or other professionals such as psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers or counsellors, and express concern about their lack of social engagements and relations, they are often asked “Are you not part of any social groups? Surely you meet people in the community?”
People then have to explain that 'Yes, we do meet lots of people as we stand in line at a food bank or while we share a table at a soup kitchen.' But this is NOT the same as a group of friends coming together to socialise.
In all our lives, daily circumstances may oblige us into gatherings of people: commuters crowd together on a bus to get to a particular destination, and people sit next to each other in a room waiting for to see a doctor.
But these people are NOT friends, these gatherings are NOT "social groups". These are simply people briefly sharing a common space and then going their own ways. A true social gathering would be voluntary and interest-based, and would probably cost money – which income assistance recipients do not have!
Attending the Conference in Toronto in September was an opportunity for me to learn how SP programs and organizations work in practice, across Canada and in other countries.
In Halifax, we have had some limited experience with an SP style project through the short term of the Mitigating Social Isolation Project which I have written about before. That project was later re-named the All Together Link, and discussed in my BLOG here, where I noted that its core activities (bringing people together for social activities and engagement) was actually very similar to a Social Prescription program.
But the All Together Link was a small, time-bound project, not a program and certainly not an organization. It was a short-term community initiative that applied some SP principles for a short time on a small scale. To have any significant impact upon both individuals and communities, an SP initiative needs to become a full-scale, permanent program, preferably delivered through a dedicated organization. This will require a much bigger commitment, both in principle and financially, from both government and social service agencies.
With regards to my learnings from the Toronto Conference, the principal lessons had to do with the different models of Social Prescription (SP) programs and organizations, and how these evolved over time. A number of the case studies presented had started as programs or organizations focused upon a demographic group, - usually Seniors but sometimes Youth, and more particularly, Youth with social anxiety issues. It is my opinion that a strong case can be made that similar programs should be offered specifically for people on income assistance and those living in poverty.
On my conversations in Halifax:
My face to face conversations with people living in poverty about an SP program have been generally positive and people were hopeful that such an initiative could get up and running here in Halifax. They tell me they take advantage of everything that is available in Halifax. But most drop-in centres have limited hours, and this means you have socially isolated evenings once you leave Hope Cottage at 5:30pm, until you can head to the Brunswick Street Mission for breakfast the next morning.
Some people seem to believe that the drop-in centres provided by agencies like Souls Harbour and the Brunswick Street Mission provide adequate social spaces and services to my community. As I have addressed in an earlier article, people go to these centres for many different reasons, - some for the food, others for the social connection, some for a bed, others for support services. And there are many different types of people there, - seniors, the unemployed, the disabled, as well as students, people with addiction issues, the homeless, etc. But none of these organizations or programs are explicitly focused on applying a social prescription lens to their work. They each have their own priority: addressing hunger, homelessness, addictions, etc.
Response to the SP idea is less positive amongst those who are more financially comfortable and do not appreciate the challenges of living in poverty. This is even though many of these are good people who I meet as they volunteer at different social service organizations. While they endorse the general idea of an SP program or organization, they often expect me to give them a full explanation and presentation of how it would work in a quick, 2 minute elevator pitch.
I find it difficult to explain all the related issues so quickly and my explanation is often reduced to the argument that people in my community just do not have money in their budgets for a social life. This makes it sound like I am just advocating for increased benefits for people to “have fun”.
This approach almost always gets a cool response and I am then bombarded with questions like:
• Seriously, - are the people in your community not part of any social groups?
• Are these people not connected to any Churches?
• Do these people have no families? Have they ever tried to reach out and re-connect with family members?
• Do these people not understand that getting a job is a great opportunity for building social networks in the workplace?
• Do these people ever think about going back to school as a way to expand their social networks? (I have discussed the opportunities and drawbacks of this option in an earlier BLOG here.)
• Do these people understand that most of us who have jobs or financial security do not go frequently to restaurants or the movies or a bar? For most of us, these are occasional and special treats, not regular occurrences.
Given the level of judgement and skepticism reflected in these questions, I will wrap up today by noting that there is a lot of misunderstanding in the community as to why a Social Prescription program or organization is needed here in Halifax.
The challenges of organizing people on social assistance to achieve a shared goal are considerable (see my article here). We need to think through a strategy as to how best to bring a Social Prescription Program and Organization to Halifax.
Kendall Worth is an award-winning anti-poverty activist who lives with disabilities and tries to make ends meet on income assistance.
Comments
Post a Comment