Will our health system that has tended to shun alternatives to western medicine get behind a new trend coming? Prescriptions for social activities, exercise and the arts — first popularized in Britain — are coming to America.
Social prescriptions generally aim to improve health and well-being by connecting people with nonclinical activities that address some of the underlying problems, such as isolation, social stress and lack of nutritious food, which have been demonstrated to play a crucial role in influencing who stays well and for how long.
In recent years, the English national health care system has employed 1,000 new link workers, with the goal of making social prescribing available to 900,000 people by 2024. However, with no socialized health care system in the United States, implementing this alternative approach will be far more complicated.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/well/mind/social-prescription-health-medication-art.html
