Social prescribing - the connection of people to communities, services and activities to meet their practical, social and emotional needs - has become an increasingly important element of healthcare policy. As debate intensifies over an appropriate national model, this new book provides the first comprehensive overview of the entire concept of social prescribing.

Social Prescribing: Paradigms, Perspectives and Practice pulls together arguments, evidence and resources to define social prescribing and analyze how it can change lives. It considers a range of paradigms for improving health and wellbeing through social approaches, and provides real-life examples of where the theory has been realized in practice.

The book is well-balanced and easy to understand, making it ideal for healthcare practitioners, researchers and policy makers who are interested in exploring the potential of social prescribing for improving health and wellbeing.

Editor Heather Henry is former chair of New NHS Alliance (now The Health Creation Alliance CIC), which influences national health strategy and policy on health inequalities and wellbeing. Her NHS career in primary care as both a practising Queen's Nurse and NHS director, combined with her experience of the voluntary community and social enterprise sector, ideally qualifies her to curate and interpret a wide range of contributions from household names to seldom-heard voices.