The National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) is delighted to announce the launch of a pioneering two-year project that will explore and strengthen the vital contribution of faith communities to social prescribing across England. Supported by funding from the Sir Halley Stewart Trust and working closely with the Good Faith Partnership, the initiative will include the creation of a new Strategic Lead for Faith and Social Prescribing role within NASP.
Places of worship have long acted as trusted community hubs, providing practical, emotional and spiritual support to people of all ages and backgrounds. Many already deliver services that align with the goals of social prescribing, such as food banks, warm hubs, support groups, social activities, and advice services, particularly in areas most affected by health inequalities.
The new Strategic Lead will build on this legacy by working to better connect faith groups with social prescribing systems. They will ensure that the value of faith-based work is recognised, understood, and embedded in the development of preventative health and wellbeing approaches across the country.
This role will sit within NASP’s wider National Leads team, which brings strategic focus to key areas including physical activity, the natural environment, and work with children and young people. The new Faith Lead will work collaboratively to develop practical guidance, shape policy, and drive system-level change.
Why this work matters
he need for new models of care is urgent. It has been estimated that about one-fifth of GP appointment time is focussed on non-medical needs, like loneliness, debt, or housing concern - problems that often require social, not clinical, solutions. At the same time, faith groups are already offering vital support in these areas, particularly in under-served communities.
Research funded by the Sir Halley Stewart Trust and conducted by Theos and the Good Faith Partnership found that faith-based organisations across the UK are acting as “anchors of the community.” However, barriers such as limited collaboration, communication gaps, and a lack of shared infrastructure are preventing a more integrated approach with health and care systems.
The Strategic Lead will tackle these challenges by building relationships, gathering evidence, and creating tools to support better joint working. They will also convene a new National Faith Advisory Panel and consult with stakeholders across faith, health, voluntary and policy sectors.
Charlotte Osborn-Forde, Chief Executive of NASP, said: “We are thrilled to be announcing this new project, which will help to join up the NHS with faith groups more effectively.
“The Government has rightly stressed the need to shift NHS care from hospitals to communities and from treatment to prevention, and to create a neighbourhood health service. Faith organisations can play a crucial role in this – both by reaching people who may not be accessing the care they need, and by providing vital support to people whose social needs are affecting their health.
“By recognising and strengthening the contribution of faith communities to social prescribing, this project will help build a more connected, compassionate, and preventative health system for all.”
Kate Garbers, Trustees of the The Sir Halley Stewart Trust, said: “The Sir Halley Stewart Trust is excited to partner with and fund NASP as they begin working to ensure faith communities are recognised and involved in the social prescribing agenda moving forwards.
“The establishment of a role within NASP focusing on faith recognises the contribution faith groups and their networks make to the social prescribing agenda. We believe these groups can play a foundational role in preventative healthcare and funding NASP to be able to shape policy, and drive system-level change within this area is an opportunity The Trust is pleased to be able to be part of.”
David Barclay, Managing Partner at the Good Faith Partnership and Director at the Warm Welcome Campaign, said:
"We are delighted that the new Strategic Faith Lead will be able to connect social prescribing more effectively with the amazing work that faith groups are already doing up and down the country to support health and wellbeing, especially spiritual wellbeing.
“Creating this role was one of the key recommendations of our Faith and Social prescribing report ‘Creating a Neighbourhood Health Service.’ It is so important to have this role as a relational bridge which can really harness the shared values of welcome, loving community and holistic care which all faith groups hold and which will be key to supporting individuals to thrive through social prescribing.
“We look forward to working with NASP and the new Strategic Faith Lead to include the tens of thousands of UK faith groups in the development and delivery of a holistic and preventative Neighbourhood Health Service."
About The Sir Halley Stewart Trust
The Sir Halley Stewart Trust is a grant-making charity supporting innovative and pioneering Social, Medical and Religious projects, for the prevention of human suffering. For more information, please visit our website. Our areas of interest focus on practical on-the-ground projects with direct impact for disadvantaged people. We are interested in new ways of tackling problems where the results will be disseminated widely, and the learning used positively by others.
About the Good Faith Network
The Good Faith Partnership was launched in 2016, when two partners joined together with a simple hypothesis: if you can successfully bridge some of the gaps between different sectors, you might just find some innovative solutions for some of society’s more difficult problems. Over the last six years, we’ve been testing that hypothesis and finding that the potential change with this way of working is bigger than we’d ever imagined.
Good Faith Partnership’s vision is to build a better world through the power of unlikely relationships. Our mission is to create solutions to society’s most difficult problems, including loneliness, the cost-of-living crisis, mental health, and supporting refugees and asylum seekers.
We connect businesses, governments, charities, philanthropists, foundations, and communities to make lasting change—from incubating projects like Warm Welcome to rolling out the Home Office’s Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
