[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”\u2018Don\u2019t Worry, Be Happy:\u2019 Social prescribing takes off in Ontario” subhead=”Why more healthcare workers are prescribing community activities to treat mental illness” header_fullscreen=”on” _builder_version=”3.21″ title_font=”|700|||||||” title_text_color=”#ffffff” title_font_size=”40px” title_text_shadow_style=”preset2″ title_text_shadow_color=”#333333″ subhead_font=”||on||||||” subhead_font_size=”23px” subhead_text_shadow_style=”preset2″ subhead_text_shadow_color=”#333333″ background_image=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Feature_Image_16-9.png” parallax=”on” text_shadow_style=”preset2″ text_shadow_horizontal_length=”0em” text_shadow_vertical_length=”0.22em” text_shadow_blur_strength=”0.09em” text_shadow_color=”#333333″]<\/p>\n
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Jean-Marie Messier, 65, felt a sense of sadness creeping in when he found himself isolated after retirement a decade ago. \u201cIt was the first time in my life that I found my schedule to be completely empty, but I didn\u2019t have any hobbies or pastimes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Refusing to waste his time, Messier made volunteering his hobby. He worked closely with his local health centre in the town of Kirkland Lake Ont., holding down administrative positions, until the Timiskaming District health centre offered him the role of a \u201chealth champion\u201d \u2014 a volunteer who oversees various community activities related to a new project called social prescribing.<\/p>\n
The practice involves health-care workers referring patients to community-based activities instead of prescribing clinical treatments for loneliness, depression, and other mental and physical health issues. While activities like knitting a scarf, playing board games, heading to the museum or catching a movie are often pastimes for a quiet weekend afternoon, they\u2019ve now entered the Canadian healthcare system as officially prescribed treatments. The end goal is to improve a person\u2019s overall well-being, to reduce the need for clinical prescriptions and to cut down on medical appointments.<\/p>\n
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The Alliance for Healthier Communities<\/a><\/u>, a coalition representing community health organizations in Ontario, launched a social prescribing pilot in September 2018. Eleven community health centres<\/a><\/u> in Ontario have now embraced the project and are tracking its progress through data collection over 15 months, to assess if it would be a sustainable practice in the long-run.<\/p>\n One of the activities Messier runs is a photography workshop at the local adult education centre. He said that after a few classes, he could already see the positive change in people\u2019s moods.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw it as a good way to not only battle my own isolation, but to help others with loneliness as well,\u201d said Messier.<\/p>\n Research says loneliness can have profound effects on the human body when experienced for long periods of time. A study published in 2010 by PLoS Medicine<\/em> found that weak social connections can lead to a shortened lifespan similar to one caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and greater than that caused by obesity.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Jean-Marie-Messier_Nicole-Daigle-2.jpg” _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_padding=”||”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_margin=”10px||” custom_padding=”||”]<\/p>\n Jean-Marie Messier (left) and Nicole Daigle (right) both volunteer as health champions at the Timiskaming health centre. They recently helped launch a knitting cafe located in Kirkland Lake, for which they created a promotional poster.<\/em>[Photo courtesy of Jean-Marie Messier]<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_margin=”1px||” custom_padding=”0||0||false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|22.1719px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n \u00a0When isolated, a human can experience a mental state of distress known as the \u201cfight or flight\u201d response. The person\u2019s heart rate increases, muscles become tense, and breath quickens in order to prepare them to fight a threat, whether it\u2019s an immediate danger, or a long-term stressor, like a lingering deadline. A constant state of stress increases a person\u2019s risk of inflammation, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and early-onset dementia.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Around four years ago, U.K. doctors began prescribing social activities through the country\u2019s National Health System (NHS) to treat mental and physical issues. Many British practitioners are now connecting their patients with link workers \u2014 people who can tailor health plans for patients and connect them to local support groups.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_padding=”0|0px|44.3594px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”22.1719px|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”||||||||” header_3_text_color=”#d37400″]<\/p>\n It\u2019s a strategy that resonates with Dr. Clifford Stevenson. For the past 10 years, Stevenson, a social psychologist at Nottingham Trent University in the U.K., has studied how one\u2019s feelings of community connectedness can impact their health.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re embedded within your local community and have good relations with other people, you\u2019re probably going to cope better with what life throws at you, rather than if you\u2019re isolated and alone,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n In January 2019, the NHS released its new long-term healthcare plan, which aims to hire over 1,000 trained link workers by 2021 and refer over 900,000 patients to social prescribing services by 2024.<\/p>\n \u201c[Doctors] are well aware that patients are coming to them with social needs rather than healthcare needs,\u201d said Stevenson. By referring patients to outside programs, doctors will be able to free up time for themselves to focus on the patients that need more serious medical attention, he added.<\/p>\n Inspired by the work done in the U.K., the Alliance for Healthier Communities decided to launch their social prescribing project across the Atlantic, with the help of British researchers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|22.1719px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Photo_Room_16-9.png” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_margin=”||”]<\/p>\n Staff and clients of the Centretown Community Health Centre gathered to celebrate International Social Prescribing Day on Mar. 14, 2019. The centre\u2019s data analyst Alexandre Mayer (second from the left) said he\u2019s never taken part in social prescribing activities, but he hoped this one will be the first of many he can attend. [Photo \u00a9 Katherine Lissitsa]<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n Janis Dahl, the health promoter running the project at the Centretown Community Health Centre (CCHC), in Ottawa, said that referring clients to the community has been a long-time practice, but the project gave it a name and a larger purpose.<\/p>\n A doctor\u2019s bread and butter are to look at specific symptoms and come to a diagnosis. The healthcare workers in community centres, however, prefer a holistic approach.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just looking at symptoms and medical concerns that the clients are presenting with, but taking a step back and looking at the whole picture of what impacts people\u2019s health,\u201d said Dahl. A client\u2019s personality, interests, lifestyle, finances, housing and more are also considered.<\/p>\n Fran Charlebois, a client at the CCHC, was at her afternoon fitness class at the centre on March 14 when she was given a brochure for a \u201cTalent-Optional Musical Gathering\u201d happening down the hall later that day.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Photo_Janis_Dahl_16-9-1.png” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n Dahl said clients at the CCHC were excited about the social prescribing project because loneliness is especially prevalent now, with the increased use of social media and technology that keeps people indoors instead of out in the community. \u201cIt\u2019s getting people thinking differently about the possibilities and the importance of belonging and breaking social isolation,\u201d she said. [Photo \u00a9 Katherine Lissitsa]<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Photo_Fran_Charlebois_16-9.png” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n Out of the songs played at the musical gathering, Charlebois\u2019 favourite was \u201cHallelujah,\u201d by Leonard Cohen, she said, adding that she loves to sing and thinks the centre should hold events like this one more often. [Photo \u00a9 Katherine Lissitsa]<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|27px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n After eight years in the Good Companions choir, at a local seniors\u2019 centre, she thought she\u2019d give the event a try. She met with a couple of other attendees in a brightly lit room, where staff members strummed their guitars and tapped their tambourines. \u201cI think this is wonderful,\u201d said Charlebois, after songs like \u201cDon\u2019t Worry, Be Happy\u201d filled the room and were followed by laughter and ardent rounds of applause.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/CQp8OOyUCg8″ _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n The centre is working to collect the number of client referrals to community-based activities like the musical gathering and is tracking the outcome of those experiences from the clients’ perspective. The CCHC is currently tracking around 40 clients. [Video \u00a9 Katherine Lissitsa] <\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ header_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”||||||||” header_3_text_color=”#d37400″]<\/p>\n Getting more doctors on board<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Dahl also said that some of the centre\u2019s clients are often affected by poverty and inadequate housing, and don\u2019t receive enough mental health support or live with \u201ctoxic stress.\u201d And while she acknowledged that attending a musical gathering won\u2019t fix the greater issues in these clients\u2019 lives, cultivating a sense of belonging within a community can alleviate loneliness and isolation.<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. Stevenson said some doctors in the U.K. are still resisting. \u201cThey\u2019re chained to the medical model, they\u2019re not familiar with social factors, and they\u2019re often not convinced it\u2019s going to work.\u201d One way to persuade them could be to record feedback from patients so doctors can learn about how they\u2019re faring among their social circles, he said.<\/p>\n Establishing this feedback loop would also encourage doctors to properly convey the importance of social prescribing to patients who may be concerned or hesitant. \u201cIf you go to your doctor with chronic health problems, and your doctor recommends that you join a knitting group, you might actually be a bit offended,\u201d said Stevenson. \u201cDoctors need to understand fully what the benefits are, themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Marty Crapper, the executive director of the Country Roads community health centre, said this new practice would benefit rural Ontario communities especially. \u201cWe don\u2019t have museums or even gyms that we can partner with to get support,\u201d he said. \u201cSo much of the support comes from individuals in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s more appropriate to deal with health issues with the proper intervention, added Marci Bruy\u00e8re, the health promoter at the Country Roads centre. \u201cDoctors are medical in their scope and they\u2019re not the most well-suited to deal with a lonely person in a rural community.\u201d<\/p>\n Crapper thought social prescribing could easily be a viable practice within Ontario\u2019s healthcare system. \u201cYou hope that this is the sort of thing the government would pay attention to because it\u2019s a cheaper way of improving health,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Dahl hopes the practice expands outside of community health centres.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d be curious to see if this could grow bigger, so more people can really see how important social inclusion and a sense of belonging is.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\nBritain busts loneliness the communal way<\/span><\/h3>\n