Social prescription
The Social Prescription initiative, which is aimed at people of retirement age, aims to enhance their psychological well-being and mental health by involving them in long-term free cultural, wellness, non-formal education or other activities available in the community and municipality.
Family doctors or members of their team can refer elderly age people to activities where they can spend their free time, socialise and make friends, if needed.
Participation in activities that build social ties contributes to reducing social exclusion, anxiety, chronic disease management, better psychological well-being, mental health and disability stigma.
Participation in the Social Prescription Initiative is free.
How to get a social prescription?
The Social Prescription acts as an algorithm to guide members of primary mental health care teams, such as lifestyle medicine specialists, to refer a senior citizen to the Social Prescription initiative, either by verbally introducing the option or by helping them to fill in a registration form.
The Social Prescription Initiative is implemented in municipalities by coordinators working in public health offices. Their functions include working with partners, selecting activities, publication and communicating with participants.
The Ministry of Culture is responsible for mobilising cultural and artistic services adapted to the Social Prescription Initiative, while the Ministry of Health is responsible for coordinating the institutions cooperating in the implementation of the initiative.
In 2023, the pilot project of the Social Prescription Initiative was implemented in Kaunas, Šiauliai, Vilnius and Klaipėda district municipalities. The pilot project involved institutions subordinate to the Ministry of Culture – libraries, museums, performing arts institutions, offering more than 50 different cultural and artistic educational activities for elderly age people.
