The Art of Social Prescribing: informing policy on creative interventions in mental health care

Social prescribing provides a means for enabling primary care services to refer patients and service users with social, emotional or practical needs to a range of local, non-clinical services, often provided by the voluntary and community sector (VCS). Such non-clinical approaches are gaining added resonance in the mental health care sector due to their proactive, preventive qualities, and the opportunities created to provide strategically 'joined up' services across a range of cross-sector organisations. Within the Liverpool city region, there are many examples of hugely effective arts-based interventions and initiatives in mental health care, spear-headed by Mersey Care NHS Trust and leading arts and cultural organisations including National Museums Liverpool, Tate Liverpool and The Reader Organisation. The proposed network seeks to build upon the learning outcomes generated by these initiatives and associated research programmes to inform the strategic development of arts-based social prescribing in the city, including a co-produced policy framework for participating organisations, and an accompanying 'how-to' guide for applied research on the arts and social prescribing in mental health. This will be achieved via a series of themed research development workshops, with participants drawn from academia and relevant policy and practice communities. The regional model will then be used to inform national debate and policy development during a conference event to be held at the end of the funded period.

As a research network funded under a public policy highlight notice, there are a number of communities of practice and interest, outside of academia, who will be invited to participate in and potentially benefit from the activities and outcomes of the proposed project. These include but are not limited to:

Cultural organisations and practitioners: with arts and cultural interventions (within the context of a public policy concern) as its focus, the network will be of significant interest to arts and cultural sectors, especially those practitioners with an interest in arts and mental health; participation and engagement; instrumentalism and cultural policy; the social, cultural and economic impact of cultural action and intervention.

Mental health care agencies and service providers: the network will make a considerable contribution to continuing debates on the relationship between arts and mental health and wellbeing, and will be of interest to health practitioners, rehabilitation workers and social service providers with professional experience in this area.

Cultural policy and advocacy agencies: bodies such as Arts Council England and the Department for Culture Media and Sport are key stakeholders in the proposed discussions, especially in relation to debates on cultural value and long-term socio-economic impacts of cultural action and interventions. A dedicated research programme of this nature should have significant cross-party interdepartmental appeal.

Local and national government: furthermore, due to its relationship with a number of government objectives (and associated learning outcomes) as identified above, applicants will endeavour to engage local and national government representatives with the network and its findings, to help shape national and international policy on arts and mental health, and cultural value more broadly.

Other potential interested parties include charities, voluntary groups and third sector organisations working in communities.