Green Social Prescribing in Practice: A Case Study of Walsall, UK

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of Green Social Prescribing (GSP) in Walsall, a medium-sized urban area located in the West Midlands, UK. GSP is a means of enabling health professionals to refer people to a range of local non-clinical nature-based activities, e.g., community gardening and conservation volunteering. As a new practice to address multiple challenges in health and sustainability, GSP has been promoted by the UK government and the NHS in the past few years. There is as yet limited evidence and knowledge about how this approach is implemented at a local level. This paper addresses this gap of knowledge, by exploring how GSP is implemented in Walsall as a case study. Based on extensive engagement and research activities with the local partners to collect data, this paper reveals the local contexts of GSP, the referral pathways, and people’s lived experience, discussing the challenges, barriers, and opportunities in delivering GSP at the local level. This study suggests that a more collaborative and genuine place-based approach is essential, and alongside GSP, investment into infrastructure is needed to move the health paradigm further from ‘prevention’ to ‘promotion’ so that more people can benefit from what nature can offer.

Professional Perspectives on Children’s Health Assets: A Delphi Study

“…One of the fields in which evidence of the benefits of HAs has been collected is research on HA recommendation, also called social prescribing (although there are differences in the inherent views in each one) [ 9 ]. HA recommendation is largely determined by local contexts [ 12 ]. Some notable outcomes of using this strategy that have been reported are improvements in emotional well-being, physical health, lifestyle, social networking, motivation, optimism about the future and learning and acquiring new interests; reduced isolation and loneliness; increased self-esteem; empowerment; satisfaction; sociability and communication skills; and the more positive use of health services [ 13 ].…”