Social Prescribing USA

10/21/2025

We are still on cloud 9 (is there a cloud 10?) from hosting the first U.S. Social Prescribing Leadership Summit at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark, NJ last Friday! Our goal in hosting this event was to catalyze all of the great energy around social prescribing in the U.S., help set the stage for the next phase of the social prescribing movement in this country., and to transform Social Prescribing USA in ways that will help us support this rapidly-growing movement. Based on the great vibes at the Summit, the connections made, the discussions held, the relationships strengthened, and the hugs shared at the end, we say: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. We will have so much more to say about the Summit in the days and weeks ahead, but for now, we want to thank the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund and Resonance Philanthropies for its support of the gathering, for NJPAC's support of our reception and a special huge digital thanks to all the incredible leaders from both the U.S. and around the world who joined us to push our U.S. movement forward! Stay tuned for much more!

10/12/2025

Happy Autumn! Our October meeting will feature a brief presentation from Louisa Neumann of Wider Circle. This presentation will focus on social health solutions that their organization provides. We hope to see you there on October 13th from 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm PT!

The Zoom info was emailed to those who signed up for news about the Health Professional Champions group. If you are new, please contact Ivory Rose, Healthcare Enagement & Strategy Lead, at Ivory@socialprescribingusa.com. Learn more about this group at https://www.socialprescribingusa.com/health-professional-champions.

10/10/2025

The world of arts and health is having a serious moment in the New York City area this Fall, with significant conferences and gatherings featuring many key leaders, friends and colleagues in the field from both the U.S. and around the World, along with great announcements like this from our friends at NYC Health + Hospitals. This new effort to pilot social prescribing in a program that integrates arts and culture in the Bronx with psychiatric care treatments is definitely something to follow in the coming months as more organizations seek to test and evaluate new models for our field.

Tania Azhang

10/06/2025

Around the U.S., citizens are learning about social prescribing through articles and editorials like this in the Naples Daily News which advocates for integrating arts, including museum visits to institutions like Sarasota, Florida's The Ringling, into medical care. We encourage advocates to localize their advocacy with pieces like this in local papers to continue to build momentum for the field!

As anyone who has sat quietly in a gallery knows, sometimes beauty itself is medicine

09/17/2025

We are less than a week away from the “Creative Care: Reimagining Well-being Through Social Prescribing" virtual summit!. It takes place between September 22-26, and three of our Social Prescribing USA colleagues are participating in it: Dr. Alan Siegel, Jennifer Kuo and Ivory Rose/

This summit will explore how creative expression, movement, nature connection, and community belonging can become integral parts of patient care plans as healthcare systems worldwide face unprecedented challenges.

Key topics include:
• Understanding the evidence base for social prescribing
• Practical implementation in healthcare settings
• Creative expression as therapeutic intervention
• Movement and embodiment approaches
• Community connection as medicine
• Scaling social prescribing programs

The summit is FREE to attend and relevant to a broad range of health care professionals and practitioners regardless of budget constraints.

Three of the many programs of the Summit led by our colleagues are featured below:

Learn more and register at https://fromemployee2entrepreneur.live/optin-607435551756263671594

09/09/2025

Social Prescribing USA and several of our key colleagues are pleased to be participating in “Creative Care: Reimagining Well-being Through Social Prescribing” - a groundbreaking virtual summit taking place September 22-26, 2025.

As we constantly promote, social prescribing offers an evidence-based approach to wellness that extends beyond traditional clinical interventions. This summit explores how creative expression, movement, nature connection, and community belonging can become integral parts of patient care plans.

Our friend, Dr. Clarissa Castillo-Ramsey, has assembled an impressive lineup of healthcare professionals, researchers, creatives, and community health advocates who are successfully implementing social prescribing in diverse settings.

Key topics include:
• Understanding the evidence base for social prescribing
• Practical implementation in healthcare settings
• Creative expression as therapeutic intervention
• Movement and embodiment approaches
• Community connection as medicine
• Scaling social prescribing programs

This is particularly relevant for:
→ Healthcare providers seeking holistic patient care approaches
→ Wellness program administrators
→ Public health professionals
→ Healthcare innovation leaders
→ Community health organizations

The summit is FREE to attend, making these insights accessible to practitioners regardless of budget constraints. All the sessions are pre-recorded for your convenience and will be available for 48 hours.

Learn more and register at:
https://fromemployee2entrepreneur.live/optin-607435551756263671594

09/06/2025

Go Blue! We are so excited to see this new arts and health initiative at the UUniversity of Michigan One of the key elements of this effort is a pilot study that integrates a well-designed arts prescribing modality that includes a research-proven screening process, wellness coaches and connections with arts experiences as health interventions. We look forward to sharing information on this important project as it develops

A broad coalition of University of Michigan arts and health units is launching Michigan ArtsRx, a new campus-wide program designed to support mental health and well-being through active engagement with the arts.

08/29/2025

What a great way to end the Summer (or at least traditional Summer in the U.S.). This piece from KPBS focuses on the expansion of Art Pharmacy into San Diego, an exciting development for the field (and for all of our staff in California!) The article discusses the development of the social prescribing field in the U.K. and how arts prescribing is now being taken seriously in the U.S. Very exciting!

A U.K.-born approach to health care is coming to San Diego, where doctors will prescribe art and culture to help young patients ease anxiety and depression.

08/19/2025

Our good friend, journalist Julia Hotz, who has done as much as anyone in the U.S. to boost social prescribing in this county, shares her reflections below on the past year since publishing her groundbreaking book, The Connection Cure, the first book published in the U.S. on social prescribing. It's a great read but a new call to action to continue the momentum of social prescribing in U.S. by getting key talk about the practice at SXSW (vote by August 24th!), and join her next virtual all hands meeting on September 10, a great gathering place for advocates. Read Hotz's inspiring piece on the SPUSA blog below:

Connection Cure at One

08/07/2025

Presentations and panels and large, brand-name conferences has been critical to building the social prescribing movement over the past couple of years. For this reason, we are excited to share a panel submission for next year’s SXSW EDU that showcases our social prescribing colleagues, and we need your support during the community voting period (August 5–24, 2025) ! Public voting carries 30% weight in the official SXSW proposal selection process so your vote helps bring our conversation to a wider audience.

How to cast your vote:
✅ Step 1: If you don't already have a SXSW ID, create a free account (just an email and password required) by signing up at https://id.sxsw.com

✅ Step 2: Next, go to this link to our panel listing, then click on the heart icon ❤️ to cast your vote: https://participate.sxsw.com/flow/sxsw/sxsw26/community-voting-edu/page/community-voting/session/1753297835651001l5xL

Thank you for your support and please share with your colleagues, friends and networks!

08/01/2025

We are so thrilled that our organization was featured on a great news program on Bloom, a health and wellness program on WFLA News Channel 8 in Tampa Bay, Florida. Social prescribing is growing rapidly in Florida (and around the U.S.) and our Director of Healthcare Engagement, Ivory Rose, discussed many aspects of the movement and our organization in a great interview linked below:

BLOOM (TAMPA) – As the U.S. healthcare system continues to evolve, a new and promising movement is gaining ground—social prescribing. I sat down with an occupational therapist and the Lead fo…

07/25/2025

We are SO excited to be featured in this new piece in The Guardian about physicians using social prescribing around the World to fight inflammation. As our co-founder, Dr. Alan Siegel, M.D. notes, “I’ve seen how social prescriptions can help patients truly heal and adopt healthier lifestyles in the long-term.” Help us spread the word by sharing this important article! Thank you, Julia Hotz, for including us!

Even without a doctor’s note or a thick wallet, anyone can engage in these scientifically-backed anti-inflammatory activities