In late 2020 officers from Mount Alexander Shire Council , Dhelkaya Health and Castlemaine Community House came together to discuss the concept of Social Prescribing, and how it could significantly benefit our community.

Working in the areas of community and health, and as residents of the Shire, these workers were acutely aware of the issues impacting Mount Alexander Shire residents, and the resultant “symptoms”:

• Increasingly limited access to GPs and appointments
• Social isolation
• Mental ill-health and suicide
• Limited access to services for medical and mental health support

The Social Prescribing in Mount Alexander Team gathered information, increased their knowledge, learnt about model designs and spoke with many experts. In August 2021, they organised a Social Prescribing Forum at the Castlemaine Town Hall. The aim of the forum was to:

• raise awareness of Social Prescribing in general,
• explore how it could benefit our community,
• Gather support for the design and implementation of Social Prescribing in Mount Alexander Shire.

The forum included presentations from:

• Jo Grzelinska Larter Consulting about “What is Social Prescribing”,
• Dr Shelley Brown from Health Futures Australia, and Jane Grimwood from Central Highlands Association of Neighbourhood Houses, about a pilot in Victoria
• Matilda Henley-Johnston, Link Worker at the City of Greater Bendigo council

The forum was attended by almost 100 people, a broad cross section of representation of our local services, organisations, businesses and community.

The overall response was endorsement of Social Prescribing to be brought to our Shire, and organisations/individuals prepared to support it. This led to the creation of the Mount Alexander Shire Social Prescribing Reference Group and the subsequent establishment of the Get Connected Pilot Program.

Watch a video of the Get Connected Pilot launch.