SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - It goes without saying that improving and maintaining your health, whether mental or physical, is always important — but that doesn’t mean it’s always affordable, easy, or fun. That’s why Western Mass News took a look at a new program here in Massachusetts that’s turning day trips into treatment.

They say that music is medicine — at least when I’m not the one playing it. But here in Massachusetts, it might even come with a prescription. First introduced back in 2020, it’s called ‘Social Rx,’ or a ‘Social Prescription.’

“The arts really bring people together. They help people understand, you know, others’ cultures. They help connect people across differences,” said the Community Music School of Springfield’s Sierra Simmons

The Community Music School of Springfield is one of several cultural experiences here in Massachusetts, ranging from art museums to opera houses that you could quite literally end up being prescribed.

“So, we try to pair our students with a teacher that matches their needs, their level, their personality, their genre interests. And then they, uh, people typically take like a 30-to-60-minute private lesson,” the school’s Director of Finance and Operations, Sierra Simmons told us, since the program first took off in 2020, she’s seen firsthand the difference that something as simple as picking up an instrument can make, “we’ve noticed that people say they feel like they’re making new friends. They’re making new connections. They feel more connected. They feel less lonely and isolated.”

The evidence isn’t just anecdotal. We spoke with Dr. Priscilla Wang, a primary care physician at Mass General Hospital who broke down the concept that could turn your treatment plan from a doctor’s office — to an auditorium, “I’m sure they are enjoyable for hopefully many of us, but they can actually be a way of treating or ameliorating some of the symptoms of conditions that people experience, which can range from mental health challenges like depression, anxiety, to others like social isolation and its connections on other health conditions.”

Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy described social isolation as an ‘epidemic’ in the United States as recently as 2023, with research showing that 1 out of every 2 Americans struggle with loneliness.

While just about everyone feels lonely from time to time, the longer that feeling lasts, the more the risk increases for it to become a physical problem, “people that don’t engage their mind in different ways, you know, that are more socially isolated, that don’t change their environment, don’t have access really to mental stimulation, they may experience worse outcomes,” Wang said, “and we know that high blood pressure is connected to stress and anxiety as well.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that social isolation can increase your risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and generally, an earlier death.

Still, Dr. Wang emphasized that this program is more of a supplemental treatment plan than a substitution for traditional medicine, but if your care provider, like Mass General Brigham, works with the program the program should work with your wallet, “our perspective and how we work with community members, patients, is they never pay for anything,” Devlin said, “those paying entities, healthcare payers, large healthcare organizations, colleges, universities, government entities, are the folks covering the cost for the patients and community members.”

The Head of Strategic Partnerships and Clinical Innovation at Social Rx, Emily Devlin told us, the biggest challenge now, is expanding that access, “our biggest goal is trying to get this in the hands of as many community members as possible, as many patients, and ultimately educating folks about how amazing social prescribing can be.”

If you’re interested in taking part in the social prescription program you should reach out to your primary care provider, and you can find a full list of all the experiences you could be prescribed on here on Social Rx’s website as well as on Mass Cultural Council’s page.

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