Social Prescribing USA

12/19/2025

2025 was an incredible year for social prescribing in the U.S., and we were honored to be part of its incredible progress in this country. We expect 2026 to be even bigger, but for now, we are looking back at the year that was for our growing organization and the rapidly developing social prescribing movement in the U.S. Read more at the link below from our Executive Director and co-founder, Dr. Alan Siegel, M.D.

https://www.socialprescribingusa.com/blog/2025summary

12/17/2025

Exciting to see that our friends at the Christensen Institute have identified social health (and the work we are doing to promote social prescribing in the U.S.) as a critical trend to watch in health care innovation in 2026. We certainly agree! Read more below:

Our 2026 health care predictions focus on social health, a health insurance inflection point, and an AI forecast you might not expect.

12/06/2025

REMINDER FOR MONDAY NIGHT's Health Professional Champions Meeting.!

In this month’s meeting, we are excited to host Dr. Sebastian Tong to discuss the University of Washington's Social Prescribing Program. Discover how combining one-on-one planning with group support is reducing depression and anxiety for patients in primary care.

Please join us at 5PM PST on Monday with the following Zoom link:

Zoom Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88571176593?pwd=MNLKFwMA5YXC1LugFlWidJueUrazMW.1

12/04/2025

Very exciting news!

The Medical Society of Virginia recently passed a policy resolution supporting social prescribing in our healthcare systems.

“MSV supports health institutions in the Commonwealth of Virginia in establishing social prescribing pilot programs and assessing their benefits, limitations, methods, and effectiveness.”

We’re honored to be consulted throughout this process and to be mentioned in the resolution for our work advancing social prescribing.

Next up we’re taking this momentum to the national level!

Read the full resolution on page 175.
https://www.msv.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-Delegate-handbook-1.pdf

12/03/2025

A fun article here from Inc. Magazine on the growth of social prescribing here in the U.S. and around the World, with a particular focus on the health benefits of social connection. It's almost that time of year...so maybe we'll see doctors prescribing....holiday parties? Could happen!

Doctors abroad have sent patients to social events from art classes to community gardening for years. Now the trend has come to the States.

11/20/2025

We are pleased to be featured in this new Business Insider article on the growth of social prescribing in the U.S. and new ways to boost social connection! Our country is in the early stages of bringing the health benefits of the arts, nature, social connection and civic engagement to all patients in all communities in the U.S. and we are grateful for all of the progress we have made in the past few years. It is also great that our friends, Chris Appleton of Art Pharmacyand Kate Mulligan of the Institute for Social Prescribing, share their insights in the article as well. It's another sign our movement is growing and gaining increased attention! Please share widely (despite the somewhat silly headline!)

Why your next doctor's visit may include a prescription to join a book club or go to a party.

11/18/2025

Exciting announcement here! Our friends at the National Academy for Social Prescribing have announced that International Social Prescribing Day 2026 is on....March 26th.....Stay tuned for more information!

Social Prescribing Day is on the 26th March 2026 - get involved and share your stories

11/12/2025

Did you miss our webinar this week on the emerging and exciting field of Lifestyle Medicine? If so, it is now available for view on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/-u8h) and below:

This engaging webinar was designed to educate participants about the principles and practices of Lifestyle Medicine and explore how its successful implementation can inform and strengthen the social prescribing movement. It featured:

Panelists:
💡Melissa Sundermann, DO, DipABLM, FACLM

-AKA "Doctor Outdoors"
-Medical Director, Lifestyle Medicine, Corewell Health System
-Founding Chair-Nature As Medicine committee, American College of Lifestyle Medicine
-Chair-Lifestyle Medicine Initiative, Global Wellness Institute
- Advisor, Prescribing USA

💡Christy Billock, PhD, OTR/L, DipACLM
-Conscious Living Specialist
-Occupational Therapy Educator

💡Rak ("rock") Jotwani, MD, DipABLM -Dual board-certified physician in Internal Medicine & Lifestyle Medicine
-Host of Podcast
-Founder of

Moderators:
💡Alan Siegel, M.D. Siegel, MD
-Co-Founder and Executive Director, Social Prescribing USA

💡Adam Hirschfelder, MA
-Director of Strategy & Development, Social Prescribing USA

Producers:
💡Ivory Rose, OTD
-Healthcare Engagement & Strategy Lead, Social Prescribing USA

💡Jennifer Kuo, MPH, CHES®
-Education & Programming Lead, Social Prescribing USA

This engaging webinar on Lifestyle Medicine and Social Prescribing was designed to educate participants about the principles and practices of Lifestyle Medic...

10/28/2025

At our recent U.S. Leadership Summit on Social Prescribing, we heard about the growth of lifestyle medicine. We will be exploring this topic further in an upcoming webinar on Lifestyle Medicine and Social Prescribing, a program designed to educate participants about the principles and practices of Lifestyle Medicine and explore how its successful implementation can inform and strengthen the social prescribing movement. The panel will include:

Melissa Sundermann, DO, DipABLM, FACLM
"Doctor Outdoors"
Medical Director, Lifestyle Medicine, Corewell Health System
Founding Chair-Nature As Medicine committee, American College of Lifestyle Medicine
Chair-Lifestyle Medicine Initiative, Global Wellness Institute

Christy Billock, PhD, OTR/L, DipACLM
Conscious Living Specialist
Occupational Therapy Educator

Rak ("rock") Jotwani, MD, DipABLM
Dual board-certified physician in Internal Medicine & Lifestyle Medicine
Host of The Health Feast Podcast

Register on the page, linked here: https://www.socialprescribingusa.com/webinars-events

10/27/2025

Our recent U.S. Leadership Summit on Social Prescribing (the focus of a previous post last week) would not have been possible without the leadership of Dr. Jill Sonke.

Her leadership and partnership with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), along with the UF Center for Arts in Medicine, provided Social Prescribing USA a platform (the terrific Creating Healthy Communities Conference) to build on for our Summit. For that reason, we wanted to share this new interview given by Dr. Sonke that discusses developments in the arts and health field, and the future of social prescribing in the U.S. It's an important interview, in our opinion! Thank you, Jill!

Learn, share, and connect to build the interdisciplinary field of neuroarts

10/26/2025

10/21/2025

We are still on cloud 9 (is there a cloud 10?) from hosting the first U.S. Social Prescribing Leadership Summit at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark, NJ last Friday! Our goal in hosting this event was to catalyze all of the great energy around social prescribing in the U.S., help set the stage for the next phase of the social prescribing movement in this country., and to transform Social Prescribing USA in ways that will help us support this rapidly-growing movement. Based on the great vibes at the Summit, the connections made, the discussions held, the relationships strengthened, and the hugs shared at the end, we say: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. We will have so much more to say about the Summit in the days and weeks ahead, but for now, we want to thank the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund and Resonance Philanthropies for its support of the gathering, for NJPAC's support of our reception and a special huge digital thanks to all the incredible leaders from both the U.S. and around the world who joined us to push our U.S. movement forward! Stay tuned for much more!