5. Joining the dots with nature and physical activity.

Create Health is a series of micro experiments designed to test what  ‘living well’ means and  how arts, creativity and culture contribute to by

  • preventing poor health

  • supporting recovery from illness

  • and contributing towards an overall sense of belonging here

The long term aim of Create Health is that communities can access and have control over the resources they need for a vibrant art, culture and creativity offer that is every day for everyone.   

In this fifth micro-test we looked how can we align arts and culture with other social prescribing programmes?

Our vision for this test is: Social prescribing holistic offer that connects people with nature, creativity and physical activity.

Learning Circle

CG facilitated a learning circle between other NHS commissioned partners (Gloucestershire Local Nature Partnership and Active Gloucestershire). Our combined activity filled a gap, bringing parts of the system closer together with experts and communities. We noticed:

  1. There is an interest in whole family activities for Children and Young People due to low confidence amongst to attend events without support.

  2. The importance of wrap around services to support families experiencing the costs of living crisis to participate in events i.e. swimming was not taken up as it required the ability to have sufficient nutrition and the ability to dry wet towels and clothes.

As a collective we are exploring how we can work together to tell a collective story and provide joint holistic offers.

We also recognise that some communities remain left behind, i.e., who will refer children not attending school? We have identified system issues that will last beyond this commission, i.e., the immediacy about data granularity and how do participants fund and support themselves to continue with activities that support wellbeing beyond their social prescription.

We propose to work collectively to share our story to inform our understanding of social prescribing and its use to support positive health and treat ill health.