Social Prescription Overview
Learn about Social Prescription in Connecticut below.
Download Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities.
Join the Art Pharmacy Social Prescription Initiative
DECD, through the Office of the Arts, has engaged Art Pharmacy, a healthcare services business, to develop a social prescribing ecosystem in Connecticut and deliver social prescribing services to individuals in support of member mental health and to address social isolation and loneliness. This social prescribing ecosystem will enable the prescription of arts and culture participation for individuals with a range of health options.
What is Social Prescribing?
Social prescribing is the practice of referring individuals to community-based resources - like arts and culture engagements. Arts-based social prescribing is an effective, evidence-based way to support patients with mental health needs, reduce social isolation and loneliness, and promote adherence to co-morbid treatment plans.
Why it Matters
- The US healthcare system is facing epidemic-level challenges for mental heath, social isolation, and loneliness with limited infrastructure and resources to fully address the challenges.
- In February, 2024, Lt. Gov. Byziewicz and Gov. Lamont announced their Social Connection Campaign to combat loneliness and social isolation in Connecticut.
- Social prescribing - community based referrals to non-clinical resources - is an evidence-based solution to a number of challenges in the US healthcare system. A robust social prescribing ecosystem enables equitable access to care in a timely manner through a non-stigmatized health solution.
- By leveraging Connecticut's community-based arts and culture organizations, we will catalyze a new way of addressing mental illness, social isolation, and loneliness - and their impact on whole person health.
Key Stakeholders
Office of the Arts, DECD - The Connecticut Office of the Arts, Connecticut's state arts agency, develops and strengthens the arts in the state by making artistic experiences widely available to residents and visitors, animating a culture of creativity in the state and recognizing the critical role the arts, and artists, can play in the process of healing, rejuvenation, resilience and renewal.
Art Pharmacy - Art Pharmacy is a healthcare services business that specializes in developing statewide social prescribing ecosystems and implementing social prescribing solutions.
New Haven Symphony Orchestra (NHSO) - The New Haven Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra and non-profit whose dynamic and accessible performances and education programs inspire, delight, challenge, and connect more than 25,000 Connecticut residents each year. (NHSO will partner in advancing this initiative across the state, demonstrating that Connecticut's art organizations are a critical component of positive healthcare treatment outcomes.)
Roadmap
- 3rd Quarter 2025: Art Pharmacy begins enabling social prescribing services across the state, leveraging its smart-matching technology and care navigation services to enable personalized prescriptions.
- 2nd Quarter 2025: Art Pharmacy continues to develop network of arts and culture partners as well as partnerships with higher education, healthcare and corporate partners.
- 1st Quarter 2025: February 2025 press announcement. Art Pharmacy, with the Office of the Arts began building a statewide network of arts and culture partners. Art Pharmacy began developing partnerships with forward-thinking health plans, providers, universities and corporate partners.
- 4th Quarter 2024: Art Pharmacy and the Office of the Arts in partnership with the NHSO signed a contract "to develop a social prescribing ecosystem in Connecticut and deliver social prescribing to individuals in support of member mental health and to address social isolation and loneliness."
Building on Success
- Art Pharmacy is actively providing social prescribing services in GA, MA, and CA with CT and NY to launch in 2025.
- In partnership with Mass Cultural Council, state arts agency, Art Pharmacy launched Massachusetts' statewide social prescribing ecosystem, the nation's first.
- In Massachusetts, Art Pharmacy has developed an arts and culture network for 400+ organizations and has established contracts with multiple health plans and health providers. Learn more about the Mass Cultural Council Social Prescribing Program.
For more information or to explore partnership opportunities, contact:
Liz Shapiro
Director, Arts, Preservation & Museums, CT Department of Economic and Community Development
Email: elizabeth.shapiro@ct.gov