Imagine visiting a doctor and getting a prescription for tickets to a play.
That’s the idea behind “social prescribing,” a movement to connect people with arts and culture programs to boost health outcomes.
“We partner with your local theaters, museums, dance studios, community art centers,” said Chris Appleton, founder and CEO of Art Pharmacy, an Atlanta-based health care services company that is expanding into Connecticut.
Doctors call their social prescription into Art Pharmacy, and the group will connect patients with programs at no cost, Appleton said.
“The programs that those partners offer are sort of like the medicine that are on the shelf at the pharmacy,” Appleton said. “And we provide the patient access to participate in those programs.”
The company is partnering with the Department of Economic and Community Development and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
Connected patients are offered a list of options – a guided tour of botanical gardens, a community theatre performance, a pottery class and more.
A holistic approach
Social prescribing is a way for doctors to prescribe non-clinical community activities to address loneliness and mental health disorders.
A large part of Art Pharmacy’s business is derived from managed care health plans offering Medicaid and Medicare that cover the cost of “12 doses of arts and culture,” the standard care plan that doctors prescribe, Appleton said.
“One way to think about who pays for social prescribing or arts prescription in the United States is kind of like who pays for more traditional forms of care?” Appleton said. “So we work with managed care health plans, risk-based provider groups, [and] higher education institutions that are trying to address student mental health.”
Connecticut Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said the new program builds off prior work by the state to combat loneliness and social isolation.
“This is a comprehensive and holistic approach that not only helps to improve the mental and physical well-being of our residents but promotes our sometimes-underappreciated arts and cultural organizations,” Bysiewicz said.
Creative expression and mental well-being are linked, said Nancy Navarretta, commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
“By integrating arts-based social prescribing into care strategies, individuals can access a new pathway to healing – one that reduces isolation, encourages self-expression, and fosters a sense of belonging,” Navarretta said.
Social prescribing models offer a whole-person health approach, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
Social prescribing can also improve mental health and reduce loneliness, according to a 2023 study published in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics by researchers at the University of California and Johns Hopkins University.
Data from A Healthier Canada Analysis and the University of Gloucestershire also supports social prescribing to address social isolation and loneliness.
Art Pharmacy is available in Georgia, California and Massachusetts, and is now rolling out in Connecticut and New York City.
