Wrexham Glyndwr short course to highlight benefits of social prescribing

The value of connecting people with non-medical sources of support within their community to improve health and wellbeing will be the focus of a short course being run at Wrexham Glyndwr University (WGU).

The ‘Developing Social Prescribing’ six-week course is aimed at those with some experience of social prescribing who would like to develop themselves in this area or who are looking to improve the service that they work in.

It comes as policy and legislation in Wales is increasingly recognising the need for social prescribing.

The course will be taught through a range of interactive workshops, and supported by guided independent reading and tasks, as well as individual tutorials and the provision of online materials via a virtual learning environment.

Nina Patterson, WGU Lecturer in Health and Wellbeing who is one of the team delivering the course, said: “Social prescribing is really starting to gain prominence as a way of improving people’s overall health and wellbeing.

“The idea is to look at a person holistically, rather than isolating their physical or mental health from the social context in which they live. It’s a non-medical intervention, whereby giving a patient a prescription to take part in an activity such as exercise or spending time in green spaces to tackle a specific problem.

Justine Mason, WGU Senior Lecturer in Mental Health and Wellbeing, who is working alongside Nina, said: “Our Developing Social Prescribing course will help those who sign up foster a deeper understanding of the various aspects of social prescribing, from the early stages of community engagement right through to evaluating the success of programmes.

“Enrol onto our course to enhance your understanding or service that you currently provide.”

Rebecca Wilkinson-Thomas, Short Courses and Part-time Credits Officer at the university, added: “Short courses are an excellent way of learning something new or enhancing your existing skills. They’re also great for meeting new people and continuing professional development.

“At WGU, we have a wide variety of short courses to choose from covering a big range of subject areas, take a look at the short courses section of our website to find out more.”

The Developing Social Prescribing course will start on Monday 17 April and run for six weeks.

WGU also runs a ‘Fundamentals of Social Prescribing’ short course, aimed at early career Social Prescribers or people who are looking to start a career in social prescribing.

More information about the short courses on offer at Wrexham Glyndwr University can be found on the website.