Blog
Director’s Cut: A look at 2025, a Tremendous Year for Social Prescribing and SPUSA!
December 4th, 2025
I recently returned from Australia, where I was invited to be a keynote at that country’s annual national conference on social prescribing. I presented about all the ‘levers’ or advantages we have for the movement going for us in the U.S. in 2025, and included our significant barriers as well. It was helpful to gain perspective on where we are collectively in this global social prescribing journey, and it’s very clear the journey in the U.S. will be different from other countries. While we are still clearly early in adoption of the practice, the U.S.’s momentum this year in arts prescribing, widespread appreciation of the significance of social connection, and grassroots pilots of all different types, are powerful components of a robust future social prescribing movement in the U.S.
NPR story on social prescribing
U.S. Social Prescribing Leadership Summit
New pilot at the University of Michigan
Social Prescribing USA (SPUSA) is proud to be at the center of this country’s movement, and we are looking back on a critical year of progress for our organization, and the movement
We started the year supporting a significant gathering at UJA Federation New York, which has set the stage for huge momentum for the practice in NYC.
SPUSA celebrated International Social Prescribing Day in March by leading a State of the Field webinar with several leaders in the field, and helped to support other efforts across the country
Benjamin Goldberg Foundation, in coordination with SPUSA, released a guide on creating local social prescribing summits.
SPUSA, along with Jules Hotz and Dr. Ardeshir Hashmi, reached 12 million listeners with a story on social prescribing on NPR Morning Edition, producing strong interest in the movement. It was one of many significant major media articles on social prescribing this year.
SPUSA launched a reformatting of our Community of Practice, to better serve and network local projects and initiatives across the United States.
In October, we hosted the first U.S.Social Prescribing Leadership Summit with more than 50 leaders from across the country to define a vision for how we can work together to build a robust social prescribing movement in this country. The results from the Summit were very significant and we will be releasing them next month. We are thankful to Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund and Resonance Philanthropies for its support of this important event.
SPUSA participated in the first session ever on social prescribing at the Foundation for Social Connection’s Conference.
SPUSA was awarded a significant Healthy Longevity Catalyst Award from the National Academy of Medicine to run a social prescribing pilot at Kaiser Permanente (in Oakland, California), which will start in 2026. It will be the first pilot of its kind at Kaiser, one of the country’s leading integrated health companies. Additional support for the pilot has been provided by The John A. Hartford Foundation. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting pilot shortly!
Our Social Media Digital Platform has grown 200%
This year has also been an incredibly exciting year for social prescribing overall in the U.S., including these highlight
Building on the great work of the Massachusetts Cultural Council culture prescription effort, Franklin, MA became the first municipality in the country to launch an art prescription effort
Art Pharmacy has continued to lead the arts prescription field through its expansion around the country,
Great new social prescribing pilots are in the works, from the Bronx to the University of Michigan.
This past Fall was highlighted by a series of gatherings focused on arts and health in the New York City Area, including the Creating Health Communities at NJPAC, several Jameel Arts Lab gatherings during the UN General Assembly, including one with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and, finally, the National Organization for Arts in Health annual conference. .
Exciting breaking December news in Virginia
The year also saw the release of the WHO Report on Social Connection, which included the imperative of utilizing social prescribing in health systems and recognizing its significance in connecting to our communities.
Social Prescribing USA is looking forward to an exciting 2026 to continue our incredible momentum:
We are starting to plan additional major gatherings for the social prescribing field. Stay tuned!
We have started our own strategic planning process to better support the movement.
We will continue our education and outreach events, which help educate the community on key topics.
We plan to professionalize our staff, to expand our work and make it sustainable.
We will continue to use our digital platform to keep the community updated on the ongoing growth of the social prescribing movement in the U.S.
We are starting to see philanthropic support for our efforts, and we couldn’t be more appreciative. This movement has tremendous momentum and is only growing in scale and impact, and we want to do more: to reach more decision makers, educate more health leaders and more successes in the field.
As the year comes to a close, please consider supporting the efforts of Social Prescribing USA. Your support will directly help the growth of social prescribing in the U.S. at this critical moment. If you are able, please donate to SP USA at this link.
During this season of gratitude, all of Social Prescribing USA appreciate how much you are all doing to help realize social prescribing in the U.S
To a great new year in 2026!
Alan Siegel MD
Executive Director,
Social Prescribing USA