There are currently long waiting lists for young people needing mental health support in the UK. In this session we explored how a social prescribing pathway could help young people aged 11-18 while they are waiting to access Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), by connecting them to non-medical forms of community support such as skills development, peer support, befriending and social or cultural activities.
Sharing learnings from the first phase of the Wellbeing while waiting (‘INSPYRE) project - a three-year observational cohort study launched in 2022 by the Social Biobehavioural Research Group at the University College London.
Alongside this they introduced a newly published manual which will support CAMHS staff in developing and scaling social prescribing services in the future, as well as insights from making social prescribing happen right now on the ground.
Hear from:
- Professor Daisy Fancourt, Social Biobehavioural Research Group at University College London.
- Dr Daniel Hayes, Social Biobehavioural Research Group at University College London.
- Liza Jarvis, Children and Young People (CYP) Social Prescribing Lead at Streetgames.
- Laura Buglass, Primary Mental Health Specialist at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.
- Toby Sweet, CEO at Sunderland Counselling Service.
