Abstract

Social prescribing offers an individual- and community-centred approach to addressing social isolation and a broader range of social risks to health and health inequities. The emerging Canadian model of social prescribing puts equity and community at its centre. To support the critical development of such programs, we offer lessons from three key areas of implementation: shifting the culture of health teams, instilling a core focus on equity and building practical support for health teams ready to engage in this work. The wider development of equity- and community-focused social prescribing programs holds the potential to expand Canadian healthcare teams' capacity to address powerful social risks to health.