An Open letter to Nova Scotia Health staff CC / Minster Michelle Thomson Minister of Health and Wellness.

By Kendall Worth

 

One model of Social Prescribing 

Dear Minster and NS Health staff;

Hello, My name is Kendall Worth and I am writing this letter in hopes that it will grab the attention of those officials who are working on the Social Prescribing program that is getting started in Nova Scotia. I could not attend your event at the Central Library back in May… but these are the things I would have spoken about, if I had been able to attend.

First,  allow me to introduce myself, and, Second,  to, I hope,  educate the staff of the Nova Scotia Health Department,  who may be seeing my BLOG for the first time. You will find all my posts at: worthmatters.blogspot.com

Through my BLOG,  I inform the public about the large population of people living in poverty in the Halifax/HRM area. I advocate for the needs of people living in poverty, including solutions like raising the income assistance rates in Nova Scotia, mitigating social isolation, basic guaranteed income, and creating a social prescribing organization in Nova Scotia. I should let you know that everything I write including the creative solutions to the problems encountered by people living in poverty, comes directly from the First Voice Perspective.

See here for the History on how my BLOG got started. Then, in this post I build the case for the necessity of my blog and its positions and analysis. As time goes by, I continue to develop my analysis,  and advocate for solutions like increases in the Income Assistance rates that I talked about here.

As I continued to publish, over the years,  I have begun to concentrate on Social Prescribing – and the need for it, here in Nova Scotia. I am writing today’s letter because I recently viewed this link which talks about the creation of a Social Prescribing program in Nova Scotia. After viewing the posted link and listening to all the recorded talks, I have identified concerns which need to be addressed.

One concern, the most major concern I have, with the Social Prescribing model being developed, is that I do not see enough attention being paid to the very basic need for affordable opportunities for people to simply get out of their homes, socialize with other people, develop friendships, and feel that they belong in their communities. Social Prescribing should not only be about referring somebody to an existing program, organization, service, or activity. We also need to ask:  

• What if the social connection that person needs is not currently available to them? What if they cannot afford the activities that are available? 
• What if they do not have friends to go places with?
• or are they are dealing with difficult periods in their lives, largely alone?

As I discuss in my post about the “arithmetic of poverty” and comfort zones, poverty can leave people with very little money after rent, food, power, and other necessities, are paid. When simply going for coffee, attending an event, taking part in an activity, or regularly socializing with friends becomes financially difficult, isolation can gradually become a person's normal way of life. We cannot allow poverty to send the message that social isolation is an acceptable quality of life simply because a person does not have enough money to participate in their community. Human connection, friendship, belonging, and having people around during difficult times are important parts of well-being.

My concern is that a Social Prescribing system will have serious gaps if health-care providers are encouraged to prescribe social connection, but the community infrastructure needed to make that prescription meaningful, does not exist. You cannot prescribe a social life that they cannot afford, cannot access, or do not have the social connections necessary, in order to participate. We therefore need investment not only in referrals, but also in creating affordable and accessible opportunities for friendship, socializing, peer connection, community participation, and support for people who regularly face difficult times alone. This is one of the reasons why I am advocating for a Social Prescribing Organization in Halifax, which would deal specifically with this part of social prescribing, and which I I discuss in greater detail here.

As Nova Scotia moves forward with Social Prescribing, I ask health officials to pay particular attention to the experiences of people living in poverty, people experiencing long-term social isolation, and people who do not have strong networks of friends and family. Success should not be measured only by how many referrals are made. We also need to ask whether Social Prescribing is actually improving people's quality of life, reducing social isolation, helping people develop meaningful and lasting human connections, and giving people somewhere—and someone—to turn to outside of the professional health-care system. This needs to be included in the Social Prescribing system Nova Scotia should be working toward.

In order to deal with the issue of social isolation, the element I propose in this post, supporting the creation of a Non-Professional Friendship Peer Support Worker, could provide an important additional form of support. The purpose would not be to replace doctors, counsellors, social workers, or other professionals. Instead, a Non-Professional Friendship Peer Support Worker could help bridge the gap between professional support and everyday community life. They could provide encouragement, companionship, and practical social support while helping a socially isolated person build confidence, practise healthy friendship and boundary skills, participate in community activities, and gradually develop a stronger network of natural friendships and social connections.

Ultimately, the goal should be for people to develop a community of friends and social connections of their own, rather than having to depend almost entirely on professional relationships for regular human interaction. If Social Prescribing in Nova Scotia is truly going to address social isolation and improve quality of life, then officials need to look beyond simply asking, “Where can we refer this person?” They also need to ask, “What social supports are missing from this person's life, and what needs to be created or made accessible so that this person can build meaningful and lasting connections in their community?”

I will end this letter by bring up the question how can we refer to things that are non existent? The call to action here is an organization, specifically dealing with social isolation solutions, needs to be created. From the NSHA, Social Prescribing program website, it is not clear that any social isolation programming is in the works, at all?!

I look forward to a response!

Your Truly;

Kendall Worth