Collaborative Practice makes the news in Canada
15 January 2019
Following our work with six Community Health Centres in Ontario during 2018 (more about that here), it's great to see that the work being done to implement our model of Collaborative Practice is already bearing fruit.
This recent article in the Canadian Press interviews Tammy, a health champion from the Belleville and Quinte West Community Centre, who has been sharing her time and crafting skills to engage with patients and run classes and groups.
It's great to see the article talking so positively about our model of Collaborative Practice, and in particular the benefits of social prescribing, which is says is helping to improve health and reduce depression and loneliness.
Dr. Sonali Srivastava from Rexdale Community Health Centre in Toronto says social prescribing reflects a change in how the medical community views health and wellness and the role that doctors and allied practitioners can play.
"If I just tell somebody verbally 'I want you to go for a walk for 30 minutes, three times a week,' they're less likely to do it than if I were to write it down on a prescription pad," she said.
"Usually we write down medications, right? But when it's put on a pad of paper and a doctor writes it down and signs it, all of a sudden it means it's serious," Srivastava said. "We forget that health is not only about physical well-being and mental well-being, it's also about social well-being."