Green Social Prescribing

Nature-based or green social prescribing links people with structured and facilitated nature-based activities that have been specifically designed for people with defined health needs.

Context

Chief among nature-based interventions are social and therapeutic horticulture (using gardening, food growing and plants to support wellbeing); care farming (involving the therapeutic use of agricultural landscape and farming practices); and environmental conservation (involving activities designed for conservation and management of natural places for health and wellbeing). Green social prescribing is an important component of the government’s Covid-19 mental health recovery plan, which sets out a whole-person strategy to support people living with mental illness.

In 2021 Defra, NHS England and NHS Improvement, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Department of Health and Social Care, Natural England and Public Health England have made an investment of over £5.5 million in setting up seven ‘test and learn’ green social prescribing sites in England, focusing especially on communities whose mental health has been disproportionately affected by Covid-19.

Aims and Objectives

The NIHR YHARC, in partnership with UCLAN, hosts the evaluation of a green social prescribing initiative led by the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership. The NIHR YHARC also hosts the evaluation of the green social prescribing test and learn site across the Humber, Coast and Vale area. The Humber, Coast and Vale test and learn evaluation project, co-led by Dr Peter Coventry (Department of Health Sciences) and Prof Piran White (Environment and Geography), will be split across two cohort phases, starting in January 2022 and ending in November 2022.

The aim of the ‘test and learn’ sites is to embed green social prescribing into communities in order to improve mental health outcomes, reduce health inequalities, reduce demand on the health and social care system, and develop best practice in making green social activities more resilient and accessible.

https://youtu.be/MC8mPb6_scg

Key York Contacts

Dr Peter Coventry, Department of Health Sciences

Prof Piran White, Environment and Geography

Principal and Co-Investigators

Principal Investigators (York)

Dr Peter Coventry, Department of Health Sciences

Prof Piran White, Environment and Geography

Funder

The West Yorkshire project is funded by the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership and NIHR ARC Yorkshire and Humber.

The Humber, Coast and Vale project is funded by the HEY Smile Foundation and NIHR ARC Yorkshire and Humber.

External Partners