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Connection Matters. It's what makes us human.
We're proud to support Loneliness Awareness Week from 12-18 June 2023, hosted my Marmalade Trust. It's an opportunity to build our sense of community connection and reduce loneliness. By building our moments of connection, we can help ourselves and others feel less lonely.
Our Social Prescribing work in Tameside and Oldham is a positive force in the battle against loneliness. Our Social Prescribing Teams connect people to tailored activities, services and community groups to improve their health, wellbeing and social connections.
Loneliness and social isolation is the top reason for people referring to our Social Prescribing services. Whether someone is suffering from loneliness and isolation, loss of confidence, anxiety, low mood or many other factors Social Prescribing can be the first step to getting back on the right track, with support from our team. The benefits are limitless, from improved mental and physical health to increased self esteem and much more.
Our team of Social Prescribers and Link Workers are here to work with their clients, helping them to connect to activities and support services in their community, centred around the things that matter to them. We are there for our clients, as an ally, to help them link to potential opportunities, we are not support workers, we allow our clients to take the lead when they are ready to make changes in their life. We work with individuals aged 18+ on a one-to-one basis who are ready to make changes to their lives. Our Social Prescribing is a completely free service for all residents in Oldham and Tameside to access.
The results that Social Prescribing has had on many of the people who have accessed our service speak for themselves and we are really proud. During 2022/2023 our Social Prescribing Teams received a staggering 4,385 referrals.
The feedback from our clients has been impressive too - 49% of Action Together clients experienced a reduction in anxiety since engaging in Social Prescribing.
Here's what our clients have to say about us and our service;
"Bernie really helped me to keep with it, I was in charge but she worked with me." Social Prescribing Client, JM
"Jyoti really helped me she was great, she encouraged me to try new things. I didn't know there was so much going on." Social Prescribing Client, client remained anonymous
"Liz was so helpful and informative, she sent me some information to look at to get me motivated. I now look to the future." Social Prescribing Client, EW
"I contacted SP to help with my Mental Health. Sue managed to help me get PIP which is notoriously hard to get. She helped me improve my life despite all the issues I have had. I would highly recommend people using this service if they have had any form of distress in their life." Social Prescribing Client, MW
"Tiffany was very kind to me and sign posted me on all the services that could help me - thank you." Social Prescribing Client, MD
"Becky was compassionate and extremely knowledgeable." Social Prescribing Client SB
If you think we can help you make a change to your life and overcome any of these issues, please contact us:
- Oldham: 0161 339 2345 or gmicb-old.socialprescribing@nhs.net
Here are just a few of the stories from our clients during the last twelve months, defining how Social Prescribing has helped them on their journey:
Dean’s Story
“I wanted more to do with my life”
Dean was referred to Social Prescribing by Adult Social Care, to help connect him with activities to fill his time and engage with others. Tiff adopted the conversational approach utilised by the Social Prescribing team, focusing on Dean’s strengths, and getting to the route of what mattered to him. Tiff and Dean had several telephone calls, followed by emails from Tiff with information on support services and community-led activities that matched with what Dean expressed he would like to access, the emails were well received by Dean. In a follow-up call, Dean and Tiff arranged to visit The Anthony Seddon Arts and Crafts group. Tiff met Dean at the facility, initially Dean thought the session would be a perfect match for him, but upon visiting he said to Tiff “I am feeling really lonely.” Although Tiff and Dean had built trust with one and other, this was the first moment that he had spoken to Tiff about the loneliness he was experiencing. Tiff and Dean continued to speak about his loneliness, including how this was impacting his life and the thoughts he had about how he would like to reduce these feelings. Dean expressed that he would like to meet people socially and be in the company of others that he related to, on thought this is where Dean decided that it wasn’t arts and crafts group that he was looking for. Tiff mentioned the ‘Men’s Room’ another initiative delivered at The Anthony Seddon Centre, a place where its attendees can discuss with others what’s on their mind, an informal opportunity, with social interaction as a focus. Dean voiced to Tiff that he wanted to focus on this session and not the arts and crafts route he was first drawn to. Dean was happy to attend this session and independently attended the next session taking place, he now knew the facility and was starting to feel comfortable here. Dean contacted Tiff after his first visit “I enjoyed it and wanted to let you know that I went, and I didn’t let you down and hope I have done you proud.” Tiff celebrated Dean’s achievements, whilst affirming that Dean wouldn’t have been letting her down, as he was there to lead the way, but that she was still proud of the efforts he’d made to attend.
Dean has since attended the session on a couple of occasions and is continuing to work with Tiff, together working on the wellbeing plan they have devised including the goals he has set. Tiff created a supportive environment for Dean, that enabled him to voice his wish to change the focus of the activity that he wanted to attend. Dean who had spoken earlier in his engagement with Tiff about how he lacks confidence, was in charge of his journey with Social Prescribing, Tiff allowed Dean to have an open forum, to voice what he wanted to focus on and the activities that he wanted to take part in.
Tiff reflected on Dean’s progression “I am proud of Dean; he sounds much more upbeat. He was only going out and getting his prescription and now he has made steps to engage with The Anthony Seddon Centre, I am looking forward to seeing him continue to progress and make new connections.”
The Anthony Seddon Centre have since offered additional support to Dean, to help him understand letters he receives, that can be overwhelming for Dean
Mary's Story
“I like the sound of that, it’s lovely to sing with others”
Mary, a 74-year-old, Audenshaw resident was referred into Action Together’ Social Prescribing team, after a visit to Tameside Hospital, for treatment of a fractured wrist. Whilst under their supervision, the team at Tameside Hospital, spoke to Mary about her home life asking her how she coped and what support she had available. Mary told the team that she lived alone and although was very well supported by her daughter who lives nearby, she does get lonely and feels isolated. The team at Tameside Hospital are setup to refer into Action Together’s Social Prescribing offer and recognise the impact that Social Prescribing can have on an individual’s wellbeing, including reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness, achieved by the connections it enables people to make. Mary was informed by the team at Tameside Hospital about Social Prescribing and welcomed a referral.
Mary was assigned to Sue, Social Prescribing Officer for Denton, Audenshaw and Droylsden. Sue works with clients that live in specific areas in Tameside, but as with the wider Social Prescribing team has knowledge of community groups and services across the borough. Sue made an initial call to Mary in November 2022, introducing herself and providing detail of the referral that had been made at the hospital, to help Mary connect the referral made by the hospital team and the call that Sue was making. Sue outlined what Social Prescribing was, how she was there to work with Mary, and to find out about what Mary wanted to get from engaging with Social Prescribing. Sue used a conversational approach to gain an understanding of Mary’s life, discovering that Mary did attend local exercise groups previously, but had disengaged over the past couple of years and this had impacted her mobility as she wasn’t as active. In the first telephone call with Sue, Mary said that she had changed her mind about engaging in Social Prescribing and that she is ‘happy with her own company’; Sue respected Mary’s change in thought and asked if it would be okay to send her some information in the post about things happening locally, with Sue offering to call in a few weeks’ time, to see if Mary still felt the same. Mary liked the sound of Sue’s offer and welcomed the letter and follow-up call. Sue identified that Mary travelled around on the tram and sourced information on groups and activities that were on the tram route that Mary used.
As agreed, Sue called Mary to discuss the information sent to her and to see if Mary would like to continue engaging in Social Prescribing. Sue called back the following month and recognised the excitement in Mary’s voice when she spoke about the information she had received. Mary was most enthusiastic about the singing group at The Anthony Seddon Centre, in Ashton ‘I love music, I like the sound of that, it’s lovely to sing with other people.’ Mary wasn’t sure on the location of the centre, recognising this Sue offered to visit the session with Mary, and they are planning a visit in the New Year to help connect Mary with the singing group. Sue gave Mary time, space, and information of local opportunities, which in time enabled Mary to go from being reluctant to engage with Social Prescribing to very motivated and keen to engage in the activities that Sue had provided the information for. Mary and Sue will continue to work together in the coming weeks, to assist Mary in making connections in her community that will help her to alleviate the feelings of isolation and loneliness that she has been experiencing.