Social Prescribing USA

11/06/2026

It was great to work with our home region's major paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, on this article just out on the growth of social prescribing in the U.S.! This pieces captures the growth of the movement and some of the key people, including our co-founder and Executive Director, Alan Siegel, M.D., and organizations pushing social prescribing and addressing social connection around the country, including colleagues and friends such as University of Michigan Institute for Social Prescribing, SocialRx, Chris Appleton, Julia Hotz, Walk With A Doc, New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and others! We are in this work together and its very rewarding to see all of our collective hard work paying off with both media attention and patient well-being! Read more at the link below:

Social prescribing — prescriptions for nonmedical activities such as music, walks or gardening — is gaining steam in the U.S. Here’s why.

11/03/2026

We are a strictly non-partisan organization, of course. But we encourage voting on Election Day today by all eligible voters! Why? Not only because it is our civic duty but because it is....good for your health and helps you live longer! Earlier this year, social psychologist, Sara Konrath from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and a colleague found that those who vote live longer and are healthier than those who don't. You can read more about this study below while we ask our selves: should health professionals prescribing voting? Hmmmm.

That’s exactly what researchers found in the study titled “Voting behavior and mortality risk in older adults: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study,” published in the Journals of Gerontology.

10/28/2026

One of the most exciting studies on the impact of nature prescribing on loneliness was released last week. And while the study focused on European patients, one of the lead researchers on the study is from the University of Colorado Boulder. So we are pleased to share the new findings on the important RECETAS Project and hope it inspires similar work in the U.S. The results speak for themselves! As the new study found, "nature-based social prescribing—clinicians literally prescribing things like gardening, hiking or birdwatching—can significantly reduce loneliness. Spending time in nature with others works even better, particularly for the loneliest among us." Read more below:

A global study of hundreds of lonely adults finds that when healthcare providers prescribe time in nature, there are powerful and lasting impacts. Sharing time

10/23/2026

The news keeps coming! For those who subscribe to our e-mail, we just announced the following:

1. At conferences/meetings recently, we've been asked for MORE time to submit proposals for presentations for the Inaugural Social Prescribing Conference with the University of Michigan Institute for Social Prescribing. We've heard YOU and will be extending the deadline by ONE week! The new deadline is now November 2, 2026 at 11:59PM (link in comments below).

2. International Social Prescribing Day 2027 has been announced: It's March 24, 2007, the very first day of our conference in Ann Arbor, meaning the U.S. has an incredible opportunity to showcase our country's efforts on the global stage. You will want to be part of the celebration!

3. Conference registration will begin on or around November 15th!

As we said, lots of news!

10/22/2026

Another great highlight from our monthly newsletter: a new evidence review by the Center for Health Care Strategies and The John A. Hartford Foundation on the evidence on the use of social prescribing for addressing social isolation and loneliness among older adults. It's a great summary that we are pleased to share here as well! Read more below:

This CHCS Evidence Roundup explores what social prescribing is, the evidence for addressing loneliness and isolation among older adults, and resources to support implementation.

10/20/2026

Our monthly newsletter last week (are YOU subscribed?) was full of newsworthy information, all in honor of the one year anniversary of the first U.S. Social Prescribing Leadership Summit we held at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) last October. Not only did we share the submission link for presentations at our March conference with the University of Michigan Institute for Social Prescribing, but we also announced the first phase of our NEW online Learning Hub was now live! With generous support from the The John A. Hartford Foundation, we now have a collection of six videos to help advocates promote social prescribing in their communities and health systems. This is just the beginning of the Learning Hub's offerings and will be adding more content in the months to come. Visit the Learning Hub below:

Social PrescribingLearning Hub Overview The Social Prescribing Learning Hub, made possible with generous support from The John A. Hartford Foundation, is designed to meet providers wherever they are in their social prescribing journey, from learning the basics to putting the approach into practice.....

10/17/2026

Exactly one year ago today, Social Prescribing USA gathered more than 50 social prescribing leaders at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark, NJ for a full-day discussion on what was needed to move the social prescribing forward given all the incredible momentum that has been in the U.S. over the past couple of years. The report from that day can be found below. What's most promising for us is that many of priorities identified that day are well underway across the country, including a range of US-based research efforts, new papers, new coalitions formed and a sense of collective energy nationally to make social prescribing an accepted part of medical care for all patients. And on our end we have partnered with the University of Michigan Institute for Social Prescribing for the U.S.'s Inaugural Social Prescribing Conference in March in Ann Arbor! (link for information in comments). In short, the U.S. social prescribing movement has made great strides in the past year and we can't to see what the next year brings!

A Report from the First U.S. Social Prescribing Leadership SummitOctober 17, 2025 Building the Future of Social Prescribing in the United States Over the past few years, the global social prescribing movement has made significant strides in the United States. Substantial media attention on the pract...

10/16/2026

Among the many reasons we have decided to partner with the new University of Michigan Institute for Social Prescribing for the Inaugural U.S. Social Prescribing Conference in March (see previous posts on this topic!) is because the University of Michigan has taken a leading role in promoting social prescribing on its campus through programs such as ExperienceRx, ArtsRx and NatureRx. The overall trend of the growth of social prescribing on college campuses, including at Michigan, is covered in this new article on MindSite News by our friend Julia Hotz. See more below:

Social prescribing is reaching college campuses. See how Cornell, Stanford, Michigan and NYU prescribe nature and arts for mental health.

10/14/2026

BREAKING NEWS: The Call for Presentations link for the Inaugural U.S. Social Prescribing Conference at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (March 24-26) is now... OPEN! And we and our colleagues from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Prescribing want to hear from you! Do you have program or research on social prescribing in the U.S. that you want others to know about? Then, submit your presentation to our Program Committee for review by Midnight on October 26th! The link to submit is below and in comments! We look forward to hearing from you:

https://cfp.sched.com/speaker/Xvldfetcos/event

10/09/2026

Tomorrow, October 10th is World Mental Health Day! Social prescribing and mental health are deeply connected, of course. To help honor the day, we asked Lennie Knowlton, our Community of Practice Lead and the head of Salt Lake City-based Project Connection, to reflect on an expanded view of therapy and mental health treatment that includes integrating relational social prescribing that emphasizes connection to relationships, roles and community. Read more below:

On World Mental Health, the head of Project Connection discusses the importance of relational social prescribing