Social Prescribing

What is Social Prescribing?

The aim of Social Prescribing is to improve health and wellbeing by helping people become more connected, resilient and better able to self-care.

Often, people’s health and wellbeing are seen as the domain of GPs and health practitioners, but social prescribing adds another piece of a person’s wellbeing jigsaw, offering supported access to a wide range of community services often delivered by voluntary and community organisations and groups. You can find out more about wider Social Prescribing on the National Academy for Social Prescribing website.

VAR have led on Social Prescribing in Rotherham since its launch in 2012. We play an important role in ensuring people in Rotherham have access to a diverse and thriving voluntary and community sector, who deliver activities and support with and for their participants.

We send out a monthly newsletter for people who work in Social Prescribing, click here to sign up!

Social Prescribing Pathways in Rotherham

There are three defined pathways by which people can access support in Rotherham, and we have a dedicated web page for each service highlighted below:

How we can help:

Help for partner & VCSE organisations wanting to know more about how to get involved with social prescribing in Rotherham

All three pathways have a role in helping people access community activities and support from other statutory services, with slight variations between each of them.

If you want to find out more about social prescribing in Rotherham, please contact our Director of Services (Projects) to find out more.

We also encourage all VCSE groups and organisations to sign up for a free profile on Rotherham Gismo, an online directory which enables you to have a profile laying out your offer and how people can get in touch with you. This site is used extensively by people who offer work in Social Prescribing and is a great way for you to promote your service to a wider audience.

People, friends and family wanting to know how to access social prescribing

If you are individual who wants to access social prescribing or find out more about support for a loved one, it is all done via GP Surgeries. If you contact your GP and ask for details of the local Social Prescribing Link Worker, they will be able to help and provide you with the next steps.

Support for people who work as Social Prescribers, or similar Connector/Enabler roles

We create and send a monthly newsletter to people who work in the field of Social Prescribing, a great way to keep up with specific news and training opportunities. You can sign up via Mailchimp here, or contact us directly for more info or if you have any questions socialprescribingnetwork@varotherham.org.uk