This submission is made by the Good Faith Partnership, an organisation dedicated to addressing some of society's most urgent challenges by strengthening collaboration across civil society, government, businesses, and faith communities.
The focus of this submission is on the work being carried out by a Good Faith Partnership project called the ChurchWorks Commission, an initiative aiming to mobilise the Church as a whole to tackle key social issues by building better partnerships with local authorities and the UK government. Its current priorities include addressing poverty, promoting health and wellbeing and supporting vulnerable children and families
Today, ChurchWorks comprises 23 senior church leaders from 16 major UK church denominations and umbrella bodies, representing approximately 40,000 churches, reaching nearly every village, town, and city across the UK.
ChurchWorks Social Prescribing Report
This submission draws on insights from our recently published report titled ‘Creating a Neighbourhood Health Service: the role of churches and faith groups in social prescribing.’ This new research, undertaken due to a recognition of the increasing pressure placed on the NHS, demonstrates that faith-based community initiatives are extremely well-placed to support individuals who are experiencing wellbeing and mental health difficulties, and that integrating faith-based initiatives into the social prescribing framework has the potential to significantly expand the reach of effective and compassionate care across the UK.
Research Summary
Our research reveals that faith groups across the country already offer a rich network of welcoming and “referrable” activities—including mental health courses, one-to-one support, wellbeing programs, and drop-in hubs. In many areas, these groups serve as ‘anchors of the community’, providing vital resources, spaces, volunteers, and both pastoral and spiritual care. Previous research by ChurchWorks further underscores this impact, showing that over 6,000 churches are engaged in wellbeing initiatives, positively supporting 2,042,000 people across the UK every year. Our findings indicate that the majority of activities run by faith groups do not include any religious content but rather are purely motivated by a call to love one’s neighbour and to show care and support for the wider community.
To maximise the potential and use of these faith-based initiatives, social prescribing can be used as a means of connecting individuals experiencing mental health difficulties to these community services. Social prescribing enables trusted professionals—Social Prescribing Link Workers (SPLWs)—to identify people with non-medical needs and direct them toward local sources of support. As the government moves towards community-based care, integrating faith-based services into the social prescribing model could be transformative, alleviating pressure on GPs while expanding access to care. Prescribing people to faith-led initiatives has significant potential to provide early intervention, preventing more serious mental health conditions from developing and a means of addressing low-level mental health concerns.
Alongside directing individuals to faith-based community mental health initiatives, our research also highlights how faith groups can play a crucial role in signposting individuals with more severe mental health needs to NHS services. Faith communities often engage with people who might not otherwise seek NHS care and have a deep understanding of local needs. Therefore, they are well-placed to direct individuals who might fall through the cracks to the right services. SPLWs could also more directly collaborate with faith groups by holding drop-ins at initiatives run by faith groups, helping to directly reach individuals who may feel hesitant about engaging with formal healthcare services.
For these efforts to be effective, integration and collaboration between the NHS and faith-based community services are essential. Stronger partnerships across the NHS, local government, the third sector, and social care are needed, facilitated by active networking, engaged partnerships, and strategic planning. By strengthening these connections, we can unlock the full potential of faith-based care in enhancing community wellbeing and supporting those with mental health needs.
This submission will focus on three of the questions posed in this inquiry:
Faith communities play a crucial role in supporting individuals suffering from mental health challenges in community settings. As highlighted above, Research carried out by ChurchWorks indicates that over 6000 churches are currently engaged in wellbeing initiatives across the UK and 2,042,000 people are positively supported by church wellbeing initiatives every year. Data from the National Churches Trust estimates that church buildings relieve costs and provide support equivalent to £8.4 billion per year to the NHS, through services such as mental health courses, bereavement groups, listening and guidance sessions, wellbeing activities, drop-in hubs and advice groups.
Faith groups are uniquely positioned to support community mental health for several key reasons:
● Churches are valuable resources in terms of both physical space and human capital. Their buildings are often central to towns and can be used for a variety of activities. They typically have a body of volunteers ready to serve, making them an important source of manpower for running their own initiatives, and hosting NHS or charity initiatives.
● Faith communities often engage with people who might not otherwise seek NHS care, and have a deep understanding of local needs, and therefore are well-placed to assist individuals who might fall through the cracks, whether through their own wellbeing initiatives or by directing them to other forms of support.
● Churches offer pastoral and spiritual care, taking a holistic approach to support individuals. Spiritual care, such as bereavement support, listening services and support in dying, can be offered by faith groups in a way that the NHS is not able to provide.
Here are some key examples of faith groups which are offering innovative and effective mental health support, taken both from our own work and from our wider network:
Example 1: Warm Welcome Spaces
The Warm Welcome Campaign, a project established by the Good Faith Partnership, is a nationwide network of over 5,000 community spaces that are free to access, warm and welcoming for those experiencing loneliness. Warm Welcome provides emotional connection, offering spaces where people from diverse backgrounds can gather, share experiences, and build community ties. Community spaces can easily register on the Warm Welcome website, enabling individuals to search by postcode and find their nearest welcoming space. Currently, 62.42% of people in the UK live within a 30 minute walk from a Warm Welcome Space. Our new vision over the next five years is to ensure 100% of people have access to a Warm Welcome Space. Faith groups make up almost a third of the Warm Welcome Coalition, but any space across the UK whether a library, cafe, place of worship, pub or other community space can register as a Warm Welcome space and support their local communities.
Last winter, Warm Welcome Spaces hosted two million visits across 4,000 spaces and on average, Warm Welcome Spaces hosted over 120,000 visitors every week. Our research shows that 84% of people who join a Warm Welcome Space say it helps them have a stronger sense of belonging to their community, with 70% saying that since coming to a Warm Welcome Space they now never or rarely feel isolated. This is clear evidence that Warm Spaces are helping to tackle loneliness which is one of the leading determinants of more severe mental health outcomes.
Increasingly, Warm Welcome Spaces have seen those experiencing severe mental health problems using and benefitting from the spaces, and recognising this need, some spaces now offer wellbeing and health services. For example, Khizra Mosque in Manchester holds a weekly Warm Welcome Space where anyone can come and spend time in the warmth with others. They run Wellbeing Days where individuals can be screened for common conditions and receive advice and signposting to health services. In this way, individuals who may not choose to access NHS services can get the advice, support and early intervention that they need.
● This example highlights the vital role that faith-led initiatives, like Warm Welcome Spaces, can play in preventative mental health care by providing people with a source of community, friendship and support. They are also well-placed to direct people with more severe mental health needs to the right services.
Example 2: Revival Fires Church in Dudley
Revival Fires Church in Dudley provides volunteers for the Listening and Guidance service which is hosted by the NHS trust for people who have non-medical needs but are suffering loss, grief, bereavement or a change in life’s circumstances which is causing anxiety. Staff are trained to provide attentive, compassionate listening in a confidential space where individuals can discuss any issues causing stress, distress, anxiety, or disappointment. This service is specifically designed for patients with non-medical needs who often turn to their GP because they are unsure where else to seek support. The team receives referrals from a range of agencies, including local authorities (LA) and CVS, GPs and healthcare providers within surgeries, and through other sources such as churches, faith groups, charities, and word of mouth.
Patients shared their experience of the service to their GP saying, “I felt listened to, no one else had time for me” and “I was able to drop off everything I was carrying, I looked forward to these appointments and felt better.” Evaluation of the Listening and Guidance service demonstrates that 4-6 sessions with the Listening and Guidance team member was as effective for improving patient wellbeing as a prescription for anti-depressants.
● This example highlights the unique role of faith groups in providing pastoral and spiritual support to those who need it. With dedicated volunteers and accessible spaces, they offer a safe and welcoming environment for individuals to explore life’s big questions—support that extends beyond what the NHS can provide.
Example 3: Broadmead Community Church in Northampton
Broadmead Community Church in Northampton serves as a hub for local community groups. They offer numerous services including a Wellbeing Cafe, a Kintsugi Hope mental health and wellbeing course, a lunch club for the retired and lonely, an occupational health wellbeing course, and several youth groups. After carrying out a listening exercise in the local community to better understand what the community needs, the Church also set up a mental health and wellbeing public forum as a place to gather bi-monthly stakeholders from churches, the voluntary sector, the NHS, local area partnership leads, GP representatives, police representatives and others to ensure the most effective support is available for the wider community. This is one of many examples of Churches around the country actively seeking to better the mental health of their communities.
● This example showcases effective collaboration between faith groups and public services. With their deep understanding of local needs, faith communities can play a vital role in reaching individuals who might otherwise struggle to access mental health support. Partnering with them enhances the reach and impact of community-based care.
All these faith-led initiatives demonstrate the capability of faith groups to deliver impactful and impartial mental health support while also providing a sense of community, belonging and care.
Social Prescribing
To enhance the role of faith groups in delivering mental health support, social prescribing can be used as a means for connecting individuals with appropriate community-based support. Social prescribing is a means for trusted individuals (Social Prescribing Link Workers - SPLW) in clinical and community settings to identify people without medical or health-related social needs, and to subsequently connect them to non-clinical support and services within their community by co-producing a social prescription: a non-medical prescription to improve health and wellbeing, and to strengthen community connections. As the government seeks to shift towards community based, preventative services, social prescribing is a key tool to ease pressure of GP’s and ensure people are getting the most appropriate support possible.
As demonstrated through the examples above, our research has shown that faith-centres, and churches in particular, are particularly well-placed to offer wellbeing initiatives that people with a social prescription can attend whether they have a personal faith or not. By connecting those with mental health challenges to appropriate faith groups, vulnerable individuals can find a local, accessible and supportive environment where they feel valued, understood and cared for. This is particularly impactful as a form of preventative mental health care and for addressing the wider determinants of mental health outcomes such as loneliness, financial issues and grief.
Simultaneously, faith groups can play a crucial role in signposting individuals with more severe mental health needs to NHS services. Faith communities often engage with people who might not otherwise seek NHS care, and have a deep understanding of local needs, and therefore are well-placed to direct individuals who might fall through the cracks to the right services. SPLWs could also more directly collaborate with faith groups by attending faith groups, helping to directly reach individuals who may feel hesitant about engaging with formal healthcare services.
Full Integration into the NHS Social prescribing Framework
For the support and initiatives provided by faith groups to be best utilised across the UK, they should be fully integrated into the NHS social prescribing framework. This should be done through building relationships across the NHS and faith groups as equal partners and collaborators. Faith groups have the potential to reach and assist many more people in communities with their provision of wellbeing services, and ease the burden off the NHS if there is greater collaboration with the NHS social prescribing providers at a ‘systems,’ ‘places’ and ‘neighbourhood’ level:
At a ‘systems’ level (500,000- 3 million)
● NHS leaders, the Department for Health and Social Care, the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP) and faith leads should collaborate through existing avenues.
● Preventative initiatives that embrace community integration should be encouraged, including integrating Warm Welcome Spaces into social prescribing plans, co-locating NHS services into faith buildings, and providing funding to faith-based activities.
● A ‘Faith Lead’ should be created within NASP to convene national work and ‘faith’ should be added to the NHS’ existing 4 pillars of social prescribing, due to the importance of spiritual wellbeing as a determinant for health.
At a ‘places’ level (250,000-500,000):
● Primary Care Network clinical directors/ICB leads should meet with regional church leaders and interfaith leads to co-design solutions to population health needs.
● Healthcare professionals should draw on the faith communities they have partnered with on other health initiatives such as the Covid vaccine rollout, encourage preventative strategies in the community including placing SPLWs in drop-ins or Warm Welcome Spaces hosted by faith groups, and employ GP chaplains.
At a ‘neighbourhood’ level (30,000-50,000 people):
● We are equipping faith groups to promote activities and services to SPLWs and GP surgeries, convene forums connecting faith and health, and increase social prescribing literacy and engagement amongst their communities. We have produced a How-to guide for faith leaders to aid them in connecting with social prescribing. [1]
● We are equipping Social Prescribing leads and Social Prescribing Link Workers (SPLWs) to actively engage local faith communities, participate in their activities, go with their patients to services provided by faith groups and seek out additional funding for such activities. We have produced a How-to guide for SPLWs to aid them in connecting with faith groups.[2]
Barriers preventing the integration of faith-led community mental health services include:
● A problem with mismatched language: there is often a disconnect between the NHS and faith-groups, due to differences in language, systems, and understanding of services. This can make it challenging to integrate the activities run by faith groups into the healthcare system.
● Administrative barriers: there is no single social prescribing database which makes it difficult for the NHS to connect with the services laid on by faith groups. It is also challenging for faith groups to connect and maintain relationships with the ever-changing social prescribing system.
● Funding constraints: Many faith-run wellbeing initiatives are underfunded and reliant on volunteers or limited resources, making it difficult to scale services to meet demand without proactive investment.
Enablers to improve the integration of person-centred faith-led community mental health care:
● Building relationships is key to improving the integration of faith-led community mental health care. Social prescribing link workers are pivotal in bridging the gap between individuals struggling with mental health and services in the community. They have already begun referring people to church-based wellbeing initiatives, but strengthening this role is vital to drive further integration.This means greater funding to enable link workers to build relationships with local faith groups, increasing the size of the workforce and offering robust wellbeing support to aid retention.
As demonstrated in Question 1, faith-centres offer a huge number of wellbeing initiatives that are hugely beneficial to those experiencing mental health problems. Churchworks’ research demonstrates that over 6,000 churches provide wellbeing initiatives impacting over 2 million people annually. These initiatives are particularly impactful as a preventative mental health care measure and for addressing the wider determinants of mental health outcomes such as loneliness, financial hardship or grief. Simultaneously, faith groups can play a crucial role in signposting individuals with more severe mental health needs to NHS services.
In recognition of the impact of these initiatives to better mental health, there must be effective collaboration between these services, social care services, the third sector, and local government through active networking, engaged partnership and forward planning.
Active networking requires faith groups, social prescribing link workers, social care workers, the local government and the third sector to actively reach out to one another on a regular and constant basis to share information about how to support the most vulnerable individuals. Creating regional systems, networks or forums which highlight available services would be beneficial in helping find the most appropriate support for each individual, and also to avoid the duplication of services.
A great example of active networking is Broadmead Community Church in Northampton who have set up a mental health and wellbeing public forum as a place to gather bi-monthly stakeholders from churches, the voluntary sector, the NHS, local area partnership leads, GP representatives, police representatives and others to ensure the most effective support is available for the wider community.
In addition to active networking, engaged partnerships between sectors and collaborative working together are necessary. An example of this could be placing mental health professionals, social care workers or social prescribers into places of worship and other faith buildings so that high-level support is more accessible for individuals who might not engage with traditional healthcare systems. A key example of this is Revival Fires Church in Dudley near Birmingham where NHS social prescribers attend coffee mornings, English-language classes, and support groups for migrants run by the church.
Engaged partnerships have been highlighted on a regional scale. For example, in Lincolnshire, in the mental health space, there appears to be a successful partnership between the NHS and the Church which has led to the establishment of wellbeing hubs throughout the region; the project came about due to the recognition of the NHS’ strength in clinical support and the churches’ expertise in community support. There is now a thriving partnership between the NHS, faith groups and the voluntary sector in this area. This partnership is an example of how collaboration can achieve a more joined up approach benefitting communities in an entire region.
Once relationships have been formed and partnerships built, forward planning requires those working together to look ahead towards an even more integrative approach. This requires strategic conversations at the local (“neighbourhoods”), regional (“places”) and national (“systems”) level. Relationships at these three levels – neighbourhoods, places and systems – between churches and faith groups and healthcare professionals are currently sporadic throughout the country and there is not often a strategic plan for partnership.
By fostering structured collaboration between community mental health services, social care, local government, and faith groups, we can develop a more integrated, accessible, and person-centred approach to mental health care. This approach not only enhances service provision but also reduces pressure on NHS resources by ensuring individuals receive the right support within their communities.
While faith groups often provide services voluntarily, some level of consistent funding is essential to ensure the quality and sustainability of their activities going forward. Funding would also enable high-quality training for volunteers, equipping them to better support individuals accessing their services. This training would not only empower faith groups to provide more informed care but also help alleviate pressure on the NHS by expanding the network of support available to those in need.
Currently, there is only a limited amount of funding for socially prescribed activities, but NASP’s’ Social Prescribing fund presents a promising way forward. We commend NASP’s model and would like to see faith groups brought into local social prescribing funds. Please see the full report by NASP here.
For more information and detail on social prescribing for faith-based services, please take a look at our recently published report.
February 2025