Strategies for implementation

Recommendation 2: Encourage the integration of cultural & creative with health and other relevant sectors, to develop policies and interventions that improve youth health and well-being at the international, regional, and local levels.

Strategies for implementation

This section focuses on two strategies that should be investigated for use in implementation of the recommendations: 1) Social prescribing and 2) Health Impact Assessment. Additionally, a set of eight ‘strategic suggestions for further consideration’ is provided.

Implementation Framework #1: Investigate social prescribing: Promoting effective and stable cross sectoral collaboration calls for innovative frameworks to promote the mental health of the EU’s youth. One promising example of this is social prescribing, “an emergent and promising health-care intervention” which is already institutionalised in the UK10 . Experimental as well as fully implemented programmes are also underway in some EU countries.11 Social prescribing is consistent with such theories as whole-person healthcare and positive health, in which the healthcare provider considers a patient’s illness, but also how they are well, and how that wellness might be improved. The provider may ‘prescribe’ a range of non-clinical services to support well-being, including activities that build social connection, support emotional well-being, and promote expression and creative imagination. If social prescribing would be implemented on a broad level, it means that it should be regulated into the health system. The social prescribing framework is new and programmes have only recently begun to be evaluated. However, if social prescribing initiatives are successful, it could open a new door for cross-sectoral support for culture and creativity to promote youth mental health.

Implementation Framework #2: Expand health impact assessments: Health Impact Assessment or other well-being assessment tools (as more specifically Mental Wellbeing Impact Assessment) are currently used to assess and improve a policy, programme, service or project to ensure it has a maximum equitable impact on people’s health and mental well-being.12 These tools are practical approaches to effectively implement multi-sectoral cooperation, address health inequalities and

10 Costa, A., Sousa, C. J., Seabra, P. R. C., Virgolino, A., Santos, O., Lopes, J., ... & Alarcão, V. (2021). Effectiveness of social Prescribing programmes in the primary health-care context: a systematic literature review. Sustainability, 13(5), 2731. See also the UK government’s official description at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-prescribing-applying-all-our-health/social-prescribing-applying-all-our-health. 11 Report on social prescribing https://eurohealthnet.eu/wp-content/uploads/220630_cev_finalreportcountryexchangevisitsocialprescribing.pdf 12 See a practical guide to health impact assessment: https://phwwhocc.co.uk/whiasu/wp-content/uploads/ sites/3/2021/05/HIA_Tool_Kit_V2_WEB-1.pdf. and a tool kit to Mental Wellbeing Impact Assessment: https://healthycampuses.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/MentalWellbeingImpactAssessmentAtoolkitforwellbe-1.pdf