The Merton Social Prescribing Service celebrated its 5th anniversary in October 2022. We are one of the UK’s longest established SP service and our team of Link Workers supports patients from the 6 Merton PCNs (made up of 22 practices) with non-medical needs. Our colleagues have professional backgrounds in either Psychology, Counselling, Health, Education or Social Care. You can request up to 6 appointments of 60 mins per session with a Link Worker. The Link Worker will provide support and guidance and they can sign post you to hundreds of activities in the community. We are using a person centered & strength-based approach, which means that the service is entirely about your needs and about your preferences. Between April 2021 and March 2022, we have received 2892 new Social Prescribing referrals. The top reasons for referrals have been Mental Health referrals with 1007 referrals and 538 referrals for Social Isolation. We would like to introduce 3 ideas to prevent social isolation, to improve Mental Health and to strengthen community ties. First, spend at least 15 minutes each day talking with or writing to a loved one. 15 minutes doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but when done consistently that small amount of time can make a big difference in how connected we feel. Second, dial down distractions and give undivided attention to people. Refreshing your social media feed or scrolling through emails is obvious to the person you’re speaking with. The quality of our relationships is important. Third, find ways to serve others. We can call a neighbour and check on them to make sure they’re doing okay. We can drop food off to somebody. We can write to people to let them know that we know that they’re going through a tough time and that we’re thinking of them. These are small but powerful ways in which we can seek to serve others. If you need to talk to a Link Worker about any non-medical issues or problems that you may have, please book an appointment today at your Practice. Social Prescribing – Mental Health 23 Northwest Merton PCN: The Green Pages
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