Kobisha Rajeswaran

Kobisha Rajeswaran is a second-year Master of Public Health student from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. This summer, Kobisha’s research project aimed to identify and map local community resources that can be leveraged for social prescribing for those impacted by chronic disease in Peel. Social prescribing is an organized approach that connects people to non-clinical local supports to improve health and well-being. Kobisha engaged interest-holders over the term to collaboratively identify community assets, explore shared priorities, and contribute to discussions on future directions for social prescribing. Additionally, she facilitated in-person and virtual workshop sessions that brought together over 25 key interest-holders including community organizations, health system leaders, and community members with lived experience. Key outcomes of this work included a comprehensive asset map of Peel community resources and a plain-language findings report to guide the development of future social prescribing in the Peel region. Kobisha also developed a national guide for the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing (CISP) on how to conduct asset mapping for social prescribing. This guide provides an accessible way for interest-holders to conduct asset mapping for social prescribing in their own communities and will be published on the CISP website. 

Supervisors: Dr. Kate Mulligan & Dr. Nadha Hassen