About
TSP began as a project of Stretton Health Equity and the Critical and Ethical Mental Health (CEMH) research groups from the University of Adelaide, collaborators working on a project entitled ‘Work and unemployment: vital to effective suicide prevention’.
We know that factors including unemployment, unstable employment, working conditions and financial distress are all strong predictors of suicide. Our research group was funded to investigate these factors to help address the increasing rate of suicide among vulnerable social groups. Read more about Stretton and CEMH below.
As part of that research, we developed TSP to address the impact of un(der)employment and other social determinants of health.
TSP will continue to operate beyond the timeframe of the research grant to promote an approach to distress that addresses social needs for connection, safety, access to secure accommodation, public spaces and nutrition.
The Social Prescription (TSP)
TSP is dedicated to a radical shift in how we address mental health and wellbeing.
In an era where rates of diagnosis and medication use continue to climb without corresponding improvements in wellbeing, more is needed. While clinical interventions remain vital for many, we have witnessed the limitations of an exclusively medicalised approach – one that often reduces complex human experiences to diagnostic labels and chemical solutions.
TSP advocates for addressing social needs and isolation. We favour system change over treating individuals and social prescribing over medical treatment. This includes changing employment structures, addressing inequality, connecting people with community resources (like financial counsellors rather than therapists), and helping people (re)engage with meaningful activities that enhance support networks. The TSP approach recognises that wellbeing emerges not just from treating symptoms, but from nurturing human connection, purpose, and agency.
Join us as we work to transform our collective approach to mental health –honouring clinical needs while embracing the powerful medicine of community, connection, and social engagement.
Our Team
Prof Jon Jureidini
CEMH Research Lead
Anthony Smith
CEMH Researcher
A/Prof Toby Freeman
Stretton Health Equity Research Lead
Dr John Walsh
CEMH Research Fellow (in memoriam)
Dr Sam Snelling
General Practitioner & CEMH Researcher
Dr Matt Dunbar
Child Psychiatrist & Not Broken Podcast co-host
Dr Natalie Aboustate
CEMH Research Fellow
Stephanie Gaylard
HR Consultant & CEMH Consultant
Dr Rachael Tindal
Dr Melissa Raven
CEMH Research Fellow
Prof Nigel Stocks
Head of General Practice at the University of Adelaide
The Critical and Ethical Mental Health (CEMH) research group conducts research and teaching, and practices advocacy that promotes safer, more effective and more ethical research and practice in mental health.
Stretton Health Equity leads high quality scholarship on the social and economic determinants of health and health equity.
In Memory of Dr John Walsh
Dr John Walsh was a linguist who taught and researched at the University of Adelaide for 10 years before joining CEMH to provide his expertise on systems of language, namely through the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics.
The Social Prescription project is very much a part of John’s legacy. He was a Chief Investigator on the MRFF grant supporting this work, directing its focus to employment as a crucial social determinant of suicide.