[Commentary] Building the social prescribing student movement in Canada

HPCDP Journal, Government of Canada

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Authored by:

Caitlin Muhl, BSc, MPH

Le-Tien Bhaskar, MPH

Michelle Ruhigisha, BSc, MPH

Ellen McGarity-Shipley, MScPT, PhD

Highlights

• A global network of student champions has emerged to build the social prescribing student movement, with student groups in seven countries, including Canada.
• The Canadian Social Prescribing Student Collective was established in 2022.
• Much progress has been made in building the social prescribing student movement in Canada, but there is a lot of work to be done, which calls for action by students, staff in health care and community organizations, and faculty and administration at postsecondary institutions.
• Collective efforts to build the social prescribing student movement in this country will not only shape the wider social prescribing movement, but also the future of our health system.

Introduction

Social prescribing is defined as “a means for trusted individuals in clinical and community settings to identify that a person has nonmedical, health-related social needs and to subsequently connect them to nonclinical supports and services within the community by co-producing a social prescription—a nonmedical prescription, to improve health and well-being and to strengthen community connections.”,p.9 

Globally, there is growing interest in social prescribing as a holistic approach to health and well-being, with almost 30 countries involved in the social prescribing movement.In Canada, great strides are being made in social prescribing research, policy and practice, with all of this work being supported by the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing.

Alongside the rapid expansion of the social prescribing movement around the world, a global network of student champions has emerged to build the social prescribing student movement. In the United Kingdom (UK), where the social prescribing movement began, students have been heavily involved right from the start. In 2017, the UK National Social Prescribing Student Champion Scheme was established by Dr. Bogdan Chiva Giurca—a medical student at the time—to enable students to get involved in learning about, teaching and promoting social prescribing.Since then, more than 350 student champions have engaged with over 20 000 learners across the UK.

Over the past few years, the social prescribing student movement has expanded to several other countries, including Australia, Japan, Portugal, Singapore and the United States (US).

In 2021, these student groups came together to develop the Social Prescribing International Student Movement Framework, which served as a call to action and a guidebook for student champions across the globe.

This framework caught the attention of students in Canada who shared a passion for social prescribing and a desire to bring the social prescribing student movement to this country, which led to the establishment of the Canadian Social Prescribing Student Collective.

In this commentary, we outline the importance of building the social prescribing student movement in Canada, give an overview of the Canadian Social Prescribing Student Collective, provide examples of ways in which students are contributing to social prescribing efforts across the nation, and put out a call to action to advance the social prescribing student movement in this country.