Social Prescribing for Children

After last week's blog on social prescribing and green care, I received a few emails asking - Is social prescribing used for children and young people?

Since I began researching green care and care farming in 2018 I've seen very little written about social prescribing, although that is now increasing, and I've seen even less written about wellbeing and health support for children outside of much more well known forest schools or farm education.

So this week I've done some investigation to see what I can find. 

In February 2020 the Evidence Based Practice Unit at University College London, in partnership with the Anna Freud Centre, reviewed the evidence for social prescribing in children and young people. They specifically considered the evidence base for how it helped mental health and or wellbeing. They searched four databases and literature published by organisations such as Public Health England, and after their screening processes, they found no records that met their criteria.

Why didn't the search find any records? While they can't be sure, the researchers have offered their thoughts which include: social prescribing is in its infancy; it may be complicated to adapt adult social prescribing methods to meet the needs of children; parents or carers may not agree with this method of treatment; health professionals may feel the health needs of the youngsters are too serious for this method of treatment; or there maybe a lack of accessible provision for children or young people to attend in their local area.  

My own research has found that only a handful of farms and gardens in the South East of England were prepared to take children or young people. Why is this? Based on my conversations with owners and managers of such facilities I have concluded that: most organisations won't take people under 16 years old and some others won't take people under the age of 13. Many organisations perceive taking children as more difficult than adults because they fear that they will need to provide further safeguarding training for staff and develop additional or more robust child protection policies.  Some felt they didn't have sufficient staff to meet the necessary adult to child ratios and others didn't feel they had appropriately trained staff on site routinely and were worried about the health and safety implications of taking children or young people. 

Could this be contributing to the lack of local provision or underuse of the facilities that already exist?  Well, I can't be sure. There is probably a combination of factors in play, but many owners and managers of farms and gardens tell me that they have yet to be contacted by doctor's surgeries or link workers to discuss what they are able to offer in terms of social prescribing. Perhaps some medical practitioners and link workers are not aware of the green care provision in their local areas or what they could offer? Children and young people may also be reliant on parents or carers to provide transport to the farm or garden, especially in rural areas due to limited public transport. 

I'll continue to update on social prescribing as we move through 2021.