“What would you like to see from the Social Prescribing Youth Network (SPYN)?” — this was the question we posed to participants at our recent Member Meetup.
At the event we were joined by more than 50 people from across the UK and beyond. The meeting provided an opportunity for SPYN members old and new to connect, discuss current opportunities and challenges for youth social prescribing and crucially how the network could support this movement.
The most popular answer? Practical resources to support your work. This was closely followed by training, webinars and networking opportunities.
In response, we are sharing below a list of crowdsourced resource recommendations compiled from SPYN members’ suggestions during the meeting.
You can also find more resources on our SPYN webpage. These draw on SPYN’s past work with NHS England & NHS Improvement and pilot projects across the country, as well as our latest research into youth social prescribing at UCL.
We have plans to develop our resource bank further over the coming months so stay tuned for updates. You can also drop us a message if you have suggestions at spyn@ucl.ac.uk, sharing a link to a resource and a sentence about why you find it useful.
During the event, attendees also identified various challenges they faced in their work. These included difficulties with: partnership working, in part due to limited awareness of social prescribing and a lack of buy in from services; impact measurement and accessing long-term funding; meaningfully responding to young people’s preferences when working within constraints; and feeling isolated in their work and without clinical supervision.
However there was plenty to be hopeful about too, including opportunities for peer support, networking and collaboration. Participants also highlighted exciting developments in schools, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and the third sector and noted the growing evidence base for youth social prescribing. It was felt that mindsets and systems are already changing, and that there is trust between social prescribers, communities and young people.
A reoccurring theme was the appetite, as one member put it, to “learn what other areas are doing, what works well and not so well”. We hope SPYN’s upcoming activities can help facilitate this. We’ll be continuing with our series of best practice roundtables, producing new training and resources for those working in youth social prescribing and hosting events to enable connection and learning.
The Social Prescribing Youth Network is a free network for anyone interested in social prescribing for children, young people and families. Membership is open to all – Link Workers, social prescribing coordinators, voluntary and community workers, policymakers, commissioners, funders, health professionals and researchers.
If you aren’t already a member then join SPYN today to receive future updates directly to your inbox.
