Social prescribing

Social prescribing is a key plank of the NHS Long Term Plan and is focused on enabling people to manage their own health conditions leading to behaviour change and reducing system pressures. Nationally, children and young people social prescribing is still considered emergent, although significant momentum is building for it to be used more widely. Social prescribing provides effective support to children and young people focused on their mental health and emotional wellbeing. 

As a delivery partner, Barnardo’s can offer: 

• knowledge and learning from implementing and delivering one of the largest social prescribing schemes for children and young people in the country 

• specialist expertise in mental health and wellbeing interventions for children and young people 

• support to implement an individualised approach, which meets the needs of and is designed with local children and young people 

LINK offers a non-medical solution and holistic approach to managing some of the issues faced by children and young people today, many of which were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

What makes LINK unique is that it is a co-production success story. Children and young people have been actively involved from the outset, from forming part of interview panels to designing what the service would look like, resulting in a truly personalised offer which includes one-to-one support with a Link Worker, drop-in wellbeing groups in various settings and connecting children and young people to appropriate resources best suited to their needs, interests and circumstances.  

Funded by the Heritage National Lottery, B-Wild aims to provide practitioners supporting children and young people, with the ability to develop, deliver and manage therapeutic practise in nature. Staff receive in-depth training on translating their trauma-informed, relationship-based practice into an outdoor setting as well as providing on-going support. 

B-Wild training uses emotional literacy, relationship and confidence building activities that integrate natural materials and natural surroundings. It allows practitioners to support children and young people to harness their curiosity and learn in a real-world context using different methods such as play, sensory experience, exploration, identification, classification. The diversity of learning methods allows young people to develop skills and have skills recognised that may not be so easily expressed in a classroom context.

Delivering services in nature leads to positive self-reported outcomes for children and young people including increased confidence, a more positive attitude towards learning, feeling better able to express their feelings and being more resilient. The project also increases children, young people, and families' understanding of nature and supports them to improve their local nature spaces.

B-Wild Lanarkshire

Barnardo’s delivered a series of therapeutic sessions in nature to three children over the course of five days. These sessions culminated in a late night ‘camp’ experience.

The children who were identified as suitable for the project had experienced severe trauma due to substance use within their homes. One child was transitioning to high school, and workers felt this experience would increase her confidence and self-esteem before entering this new stage in her life. Another of the participants was extremely socially isolated, so the opportunity allowed her to develop new, positive friendships with like-minded peers. The final young person spent time outdoors regularly, however, was not doing so in a safe manner, damaging the natural environment and putting himself at risk. His worker felt he would benefit from learning the harm reduction messages around spending time outdoors. Each young person had their own learning styles and potential triggers, and staff members were aware of these before the first session. 

The sessions promoted increased physical activity and improved mental health outcomes. These included a more positive attitude towards learning, positive engagement with peers, resilience, increased confidence in expressing feelings and socialising.