At the end of October, I participated in the Voluntary Health Scotland (VHS) Annual Conference at the Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. The Conference’s theme for this year was “The Health Creators Summit”, bringing together the people who create health in our communities, over 120 delegates from across the third sector, NHS, the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and beyond.
The concept of “health creation” was inspired by Lord Nigel Crisp, who provided the opening keynote of the day – “Health is made at home”, based on his book – “Health is Made at Home, Hospitals are for Repairs”. Throughout his very inspirational presentation, Lord Crisp emphasised that we need to promote the causes of health, not just tackle the causes of disease, and encouraged everyone to think of themselves as agents of change and curators of knowledge. Each of us can create health, improve our communities, and take the pressure off the NHS to be always there when needed.
We participated in the VHS Annual Poster Competition, and our poster was one of the sixth finalist posters for display at the event. The poster I presented gave an overview of our SPICE project (Social Prescribing for Improving Communities Eating Practices). The overall aim of the project is to explore the potential of social prescribing in connecting low-income clients with an expanded range of supports, including community food programmes to help improve the range and quality of food consumed at home.
I enjoyed speaking with other participants about our research and the growing social prescribing role in a salutogenic approach and learning about the fantastic work of Scotland’s voluntary sector in enhancing and supporting people’s health and wellbeing.
For more information on our project, follow us on Twitter/X @SPICEAberdeen or visit our website.
