Social Prescribing Day - Are You Grief Ready?

Interventions that provide structured support help individuals process their emotions more effectivley

Social Prescribing Day is an annual event that highlights the importance of non-medical support in improving health and wellbeing. Recognised across the UK, it emphasises the role of social prescribing in connecting individuals with community-based services that address social, emotional, and practical needs.

This approach is particularly valuable in grief support, where traditional medical interventions may not be the most appropriate or effective response to loss.

Without appropriate support, unresolved grief can lead to prolonged emotional distress, social withdrawal, and even physical health issues. Interventions that provide structured support help individuals process their emotions, reduce feelings of isolation, and improve overall wellbeing.

Access to grief-specific services allows people to express their feelings in a supportive environment, fostering emotional resilience and recovery.

Social prescribers play a crucial role in guiding people towards services that align with their needs, offering practical and emotional support beyond clinical settings. However, we often hear from people who are experiencing grief that the process of finding support via their GP can be quite a painful process.

Having plucked up the courage to tell the GP they’re struggling and sharing their experience, grievers might then be referred to social prescribing. They tell their story again to the social prescriber, which often results in a referral to talking therapy.

On recounting their story again, which can be painful, especially after a sudden or traumatic loss, the talking therapist might not be grief trained. Then they might be further referred to an overstretched bereavement charity where they have to wait for support.

Some people give up hope of receiving help, some find the process very painful. Some then go on to get six free sessions. Then what?

For social prescribers seeking effective grief support options, we have created a free resource for you - www.griefspecialists.org/sp. This resource provides insight into grief symptoms, and how we as an organisation can support you.