Susan Potter
About
I joined CHSS in September 2017 as a part-time PhD student at Kent. I am an independent researcher with more than 25 years’ experience working with arts and health organisations across the UK, and a Research Associate with the Sidney de Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, Canterbury Christ Church University.
I am currently working on the Evaluation of a new social prescribing service, Community Connect, co-commissioned by NHS Bexley CCG and London Borough of Bexley Council and Bexley VSC. The service delivers social prescribing through primary care, with an aim of realising savings and improving patient outcomes across the health and social care system. The evaluation aims to capture patient outcomes and organisational processes to explore the impact of the new model, providing the necessary evidence to inform future commissioning decisions. The project includes a formative, summative and process evaluation of a new social prescribing model. The key objectives of the overarching study are to:
- Assess the impact of social prescribing on use of primary care, social care and other NHS services
- Identify the barriers and facilitators to the successful implementation of an integrated programme and the extent to which these influence patient outcomes Identify the long-term impacts upon patient health and wellbeing
- Assess whether impacts differ for patients not referred to a social prescribing programme. This application relates to initial (baseline) interviews conducted with key stakeholders, to both inform the design of the full evaluation protocol, framework and appropriate tools, while capturing initial, potential impacts upon service providers receiving new clients.
Previous Research Studies
- Arts on Prescription delivered by Arts and Minds to adults experiencing anxiety and/or depression;
- Make/Sense delivered by Dulwich Picture Gallery to adults with dementia and
- START delivered by the Fitzwilliam Museum and East Anglian Children’s Hospices.
I have conducted research to investigate early intervention mental health support and more recently, a pilot study exploring those issues faced by families, health and social care professionals in supporting individuals with complex needs.
I have contributed chapters to the ENGAGE Journal, ‘Arts and Health: The Search for a Common Language’ and ‘Arts, Health & Wellbeing: A Theoretical Inquiry’.
Education
MA, Arts and Cultural Policy MEd, Psychology PGCE, English and French PG Cert., Applied Social Science Research Methods
Memberships
- RSPH (Royal Society of Public Health)
- ENGAGE (National Association for Gallery Education)
- MA (Museums Association)
Supervision