Referral Framework
Arts and health is an interdisciplinary field and sector exploring the relationship between the arts, creativity, health and wellbeing. In the context of this framework, arts and health uses non-clinical artistic and creative approaches and/or programmes to address physical and mental health issues, and promote health and wellbeing, often in arts, cultural, heritage and VCFSE settings.
Arts and health highlights the preventative potential and positive impact of engaging in artistic and creative projects and activities, as well as the importance of arts participation as a means of promoting social connection and inclusion, community engagement and cohesion, and individual empowerment to improve quality of life.
Referrals are vital to participation in arts and health services, projects and activities. A referral is simply the process of one person (e.g. GP, community leader) referring another person (e.g. participant, client or citizen) into a service, project or activity to support a particular health, wellbeing or social care need.
More recently, social prescribing has become a big part of the arts and health sector; a key component of the NHS’s Universal Personalised Care plan. According to NHS England, it is an approach that connects people to activities, groups, and services in their community to meet the practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing.
Local agencies, such as local charities, social care and health services, refer people to a social prescribing link worker (SPLW) to focus on ‘what matters to me?’ to co-produce a simple personalised care and support plan, and support people to take control of their health and wellbeing. In the context of arts and health, ‘arts-on-prescription and museums-on- prescription are types of social prescribing - sometimes also called arts-on-referral’.
While there is no single set of standards for the development, design, delivery and dissemination of arts and health projects and activities, there are a number of guidelines, resources and toolkits available to support working and best practices, developed by leading arts and health groups, alliances and national organisations, including APPGAHW, Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance (CHWA), Lived Experience Network (LENs), London Arts and Health, Arts & Health South West, National Academy for Social Prescribing, and Social Prescribing Network.
In the last decade, more and more frameworks for arts and health have been developed as tools to inform and standardise approaches to, and create more safety within, the delivery, field and sector of arts and health.
This referral framework for Creative Health in Birmingham reviews existing frameworks, and analyses findings from interviews with Birmingham-based art and health providers, to produce recommendations for the delivery of effective creative health interventions in the city.
Download the Referral Framework for Creative Health document
Page last updated: 9 May 2024
