Social prescribing could make music therapy more accessible

We believe social prescribing could offer an accessible way to reach and support more people through music therapy, as part of a holistic approach to health and wellbeing.

Social prescribing, which is being championed as a core component of the Comprehensive Model for Personalised Care by NHS England, will enable many more people to access a wide range of interventions to support their health and wellbeing.

As the UK’s largest music therapy charity, we have been involved in what could be termed social prescribing for many years, through teachers, social workers and GPs referring people to us, or asking us to support individuals and groups within school, hospital and care home settings. We are working with key decision makers in health and care to provide insight and expertise from a service-provider perspective as this work grows and develops.

We have set up two new social prescribing music therapy pilots in England from autumn 2019 to explore the potential benefits of adopting this approach, which we believe will help us reach even more vulnerable and isolated people who could benefit from our music therapy.