Young people referred for NHS mental health support face long waiting lists, and up to three quarters will experience deterioration in their mental health while waiting. Social prescribing could therefore help young people in this situation, by connecting them to non-medical forms of community support such as skills development, peer support, befriending and social or cultural activities.
Wellbeing While Waiting will develop and thoroughly evaluate a new social prescribing care pathway for young people aged 12-18 who are on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting lists, using a hybrid implementation-effectiveness study design.
Working with 10 NHS sites across England, our three-year goal is to have a fully developed and tested model that can be scaled nationally to help many more young people. Working with the Social Prescribing Youth Network and the National Academy for Social Prescribing, policy briefings will be developed for local and national government.
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