Social prescribing help

[Rhi_chad]

Hi does anyone have any experience of social prescribing please? We are a neurodivergent household (adhd and autism) I'm hoping to get some practical help for myself and our family. Specifically help around the house: tidying, cleaning, food shopping, help with bills/phonecalls, maybe access to some kind of exercise or a gym for me, help with accessing benefits, budgeting, emotional support and support around isolation. And also some help to access some kind of work/employment suitable for me (adhd with high support needs). Is any of this kind of stuff available? Is a social care assessment something which might be useful? Thank you!

[STEM_Dad]

Hello Rhi_chad , and welcome.• To start with, support group communities like this one are available, thankfully. I hope that you will find this one helpful.

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I wasn't familiar with the term "social prescribing", so I had to do some research on it.

I live in the US, and over here those sorts of resources are usually only available to the elderly or to people who have disabilities. (Even though ADHD can technically be recognized as a disability if it's severe enough, I am pretty certain that it's usually not treated as if it's a disability unless it's combined with autism.)

Social prescribing seems like a kind of social service which is much needed. So often, even available services are not well advertised.

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I know that my employer has a benefit called an EAP (employee assistance plan), which offers some types of services. I've used it for mental health therapy, but it was limited to only 3 sessions per issue, per year. (I just used my 3 sessions for anxiety for this year, and there's 9 more months until the benefit is renewed.) If I needed a one-time consultation with a lawyer, it would provide that. They also make some financial counseling available, which I should look into.

• These benefits are available for my family (which is just my kids, since I'm divorced) as well.

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So, you might try checking if assistance is available from your employer or your partner's employer.

I previously worked at a university, and the institution had several varieties of social support available to the students. It would be a good model for communities to follow.

I just haven't yet found a community to live in that has very much, if any, of that kind of support for regular people.

Maybe that's why we have virtual communities like this one that we turn to.

[Withorwithoutyou]

hey there! I’m in the US and struggling with this with my emerging adult kid (almost 24 yo, non-binary with some other health issues) who lives with me. My philosophy is to improve mental health in order to get them more independent. We have been working on one goal at a time (sometimes I set them, sometimes they do) to improve skills and mental health. We have worked on dishes (mixed success) and starting a new hobby (embroidery). Next they want to work on a laundry routine. After 5 years of them stuck at home, I’m feeling optimistic. I’d like them to be more socially connected locally, have a routine for meds, and hopefully one day we can tackle hygiene and employment (ah the dream!).

[RiceNoodles21]

Hi yes I was referred once-they do assist with accessing help, you would probably need Personal Budget agreement on an Ehcp or disability grounds from council/Nhs for household help but depending on local council. The Social prescriber should help with that.

[Jiraf]

I have not had need of it myself, but made a point of saving this website in case I ever again need to change jobs. I also shared it with my neurodivergent niblings in hopes it may offer them help as they are closer to the start of their work journey than I am. This is an article about the site with links to it. Good luck!

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