Thursday 14th March is Social Prescribing Day. which is an annual celebration of social prescribing, recognising link workers, local community groups and regional and national organisations which support people’s health and wellbeing. Every year, organisations and health partners come together to hold events, share ideas and highlight the positive impact of social prescribing on people and communities. Together, we want to raise awareness of what social prescribing is, how it works, and how it changes lives.
Our social prescribers work within the local Wokingham Borough Primary Care Networks and we currently have four social prescribers working for us in local GP surgeries. Janine covers Wokingham Medical Centre, and Burma Hills Surgery. Julia covers Wargrave, Woodley and Parkside surgeries. Charlotte covers New Wokingham Road (Crowthorne) Surgery and Woosehill Surgery. And Louise works with the Community Wellness Outreach Team.
We have had various thank you’s, positive feedback and good news stories shared with us from the people who are benefitting from this service!
One of our Link Workers was working with a young Mum of three. She had been on the housing list for 4 1/2 years and has finally been given a home! Lauren helped her to access grants, find support for her children through the early years worker, introduced mental health support and Lauren has been an active support for her welfare personally, in order to guide her through the different processes and applications. The client told us: ” I feel like its getting there and I couldn’t have done it without you! You have literally been my rock and I cant thank you enough for taking all my calls and helping me through all this! “
Another client told us: “My Social Prescriber was amazing, she was caring, interested and so supportive; She actually cared enough to call back to make sure everything she arranged was carried out, when it wasn’t she was on it and even called again to follow up and make sure I was happy. I could have become very despondent, but she leaves nobody behind, she is also very professional and a great ambassador for this service.”
” Our Social Prescriber is so supportive and helpful. She is very experienced and professional and guided me through my care plan with great efficiency and kindness. I am so grateful for all the help I have received and all the kindness and encouragement. Thank you so much for a brilliant service. The help I received was when I was at a low time and it got me through some very difficult issues. “
Another client received support from Janine and sent us this lovely message: ” Just a short email to thank you for all your help and support over the past few months. Although I only had the pleasure of meeting you twice in person I always knew you would be at the end of a phone if I needed your help. You truly were a big help in building my confidence up and I never felt once that you looked down on me because of my lack of self belief. You encouraged me to be strong and to slowly achieve my goals, no matter how small. I now volunteer at a local charity shop and this has changed my life in so many ways. Gradually my confidence is starting to return and I am actually enjoying talking to people again, something I never thought would happen. Once again, thank you so much for all your help and support. Keep up the good work; It is a wonderful service you provide! “
“I really like that Janine makes our meetings and communication feel very relaxed; She is very easy to talk to, asking for help can be very difficult and embarrassing and if I couldn’t have asked Janine, I probably wouldn’t have asked anybody else. I wouldn’t change anything about this service, and I like the fact that they are very down to earth, which made me feel very comfortable. They’re very professional, thank you!”
” I was very impressed with the follow up support and the genuine care during our conversations. Our situation changed during this period and mum decided to remain in the care home she was staying in for respite. To hear that we as a family had done all the right things was extremely comforting. Can’t thank you enough. Thank you so much for an outstanding service. “
Stories and feedback like this give us great pleasure to be doing the work we do, supporting the local community, and they really show how services like this can really help people’s health and wellbeing, and overall, improve lives! To find out more about social prescribing services, you can find various national resources and information the National Academy for Social Prescribing’s website. Or to learn more about our Social Prescribing Service, visit our dedicated webpage.
Please be aware that only GP’s within the surgeries mentioned above can refer people to our Social Prescribing Service. If you or someone you know requires health or wellbeing support, they can either enquire about social prescribing with their GP in order to be referred, or, if they are not registered with any of these surgeries but are still within the Wokingham Borough area, they can contact our Community Navigators.