Social Prescribing
Social Prescribing (SP) involves the identification of patients with unmet social needs in family practice, the engagement of these patients in acting on their needs, and the provision of navigation support to access the needed services.
The ARC-SP initiative aims to improve equitable Access to Resources in the Community for primary care patients. The three ARC - SP guides are intended to assist organizations in implementing a SP program.
ARC Program Set- Up Guides
Guide 1: Practice Set-Up Guides
Guide 2: Navigation Processes
Practice Set-up guide is focused on the strategies and pathway for engaging primary care providers in SP, approaches to identifying patients with unmet health and social needs, optimizing patient engagement, and making referrals to patient navigation support.
ARC navigation services are delivered by a lay individual (trained) who provides outreach support to primary care practices by linking patients to Community Resources. This guide describes the Navigation processes
Guide 3: Navigator Training
ARC Navigator Training is designed for Navigators to develop essential knowledge, skills and abilities to support primary care patients to overcome barriers to accessing community health and social resources.
Guide 4: Evaluation
ARC Evaluation guide is designed for Program managers to develop data capture and evaluation tools to assess the progress and impact of the Social Prescribing program.