Social Prescribing: Addressing the Social Determinants of Health

Even if a family doctor makes the correct diagnosis and prescribes the most appropriate treatment to address an illness, if a patient is unable to access the treatment due to social or financial circumstances the patient will not improve. Other issues affecting health, such as social isolation or food insecurity are often a large factor contributing to ill health and family physicians are often ill equipped to know how to proceed. During this session, our panelists will discuss the general approach to social prescribing and the types of community-based programs family physicians should consider referring their patients to. Panelists: Dr. Ritika Goel Dr. Dominik Nowak  Dr. Luke Kyne  Co-Moderators:  Dr. Nikki Bozinoff, Division Head, Mental Health and Addictions, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto; Physician, Concurrent Outpatient Medical and Psychosocial Addiction Support Service, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health  Natasha Beaudin, Social Prescribing Project Lead, Alliance of Healthier Communities   This session took place on August 27th 2025. A Video recording is also available