Social Prescribing in San Diego: A New Approach to Health

Join Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties, Art Pharmacy, and San Ysidro Health for a live panel discussion on the power of social prescribing in adolescent mental health care. This in-person event will explore how non-clinical interventions — like arts engagement and community connection — can improve health outcomes, reduce loneliness, and reshape how we approach care for young people.

This partnership was born out of the Arts & Intersections Collaborative, a Catalyst-led initiative designed to explore how the arts can intersect with other sectors—like health, education, and workforce development—to address complex social challenges. The collaboration helped lay the groundwork for bringing this initiative to San Diego, with a specific focus on supporting youth mental health. The result is a first-of-its-kind pilot in San Diego, introducing arts-based social prescribing as a new model for improving adolescent mental health in the region.

Attendees will hear directly from the leaders of this groundbreaking initiative and learn how cross-sector partnerships are fueling a movement to advance whole-person health in San Diego and beyond. The event will include a panel discussion and Q&A featuring Chris Appleton, CEO of Art Pharmacy, Matt D’Arrigo of the Clare Rose Foundation, and Dr. Priti Ojha of San Ysidro Health Center to discuss the impact of social prescribing and the new partnership within San Ysidro Health.

Be a part of this important conversation to help shape a more connective, creative, and community centered approach to help in our region.

Target Audience

This event is open to all: funders, community leaders, healthcare providers, educators, artists, and anyone interested in innovative approaches to mental health and community well-being are invited to attend.

No RSVP is required for this event. Catalyst is committed to making our events accessible to everyone.

Speakers

Chris Appleton | Founder and CEO | Art Pharmacy

Chris Appleton is the Founder and CEO of Art Pharmacy, a healthcare technology company solving America’s mental health crisis. Appleton’s vision for Art Pharmacy imagines the U.S. healthcare ecosystem adopting arts-based social prescribing as a critical part of an impact-driven mental health field. At the heart of Chris’s life’s work, he believes that lasting, sustainable change happens when people work across boundaries and barriers. Appleton and his wife, Annie, who works for Sartain Lanier Family Foundation, live in Atlanta with their two young children.

Matt D’Arrigo | Director of Creative Youth Development | Clare Rose Foundation

Matt D’Arrigo has dedicated the past 20 years of his life to being a champion and advocate for the arts and young people. He is the Director of Creative Youth Development at the Clare Rose Foundation and the Co-Founder of The Clare Rose Center for Creative Youth Development (CYD) in San Diego, CA. The Center is a backbone organization and philanthropic intermediary established to ensure that CYD funders, practitioners, organizations, and young people have access to the resources, tools, opportunities, and relationships they need to thrive. With a small team, D’Arrigo oversees local, regional, and national strategy, investments, advocacy, coalition building, and field building activities.

Prior to joining Clare Rose Foundation, D’Arrigo was the Founder and CEO of A Reason To Survive (ARTS), a nationally recognized CYD organization based in National City, CA. D’Arrigo is also the co-founder of the National CYD Funders Forum and Arts Amplifying Youth (AAY!). He sits on the boards of the National Guild for Community Arts Education, Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties, and is Vice-Chair of the San Diego Regional Arts & Culture Coalition. He also sits on the National Partnership for Creative Youth Development and the Arts Ed Impact Group for Grant Makers for Education.

Veronica Dela Rosa | Interim Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President of Operations | San Ysidro Health

As Interim Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President of Operations for San Ysidro Health, Veronica Dela Rosa leads the organization with key oversight and strategic initiatives of Clinic Operations, Information Technology, Population Health and Performance Excellence, Compliance, Human Resources, Pharmacy Operations and Belonging initiatives. Her insight and vision are assisting with the transformation of the organization’s direction in propelling healthcare delivery to include prevention at all levels of care.

With over 25 years of healthcare experience, Veronica spent 20 years as a health care administrator for Kaiser Permanente where she oversaw the medical group’s Primary Care Services Division focusing on quality, access and innovative health care delivery services to over 600,000+ patients. In both her career and community involvement, Veronica has a long history of advocating for: women’s health, social justice, health equity, workforce development and policy and advocacy initiatives. She has helped shape multiple non-profit organizations as a board member nationally, state-wide, and locally and continues that work today

Veronica holds a master’s degree in business administration from National University and certifications from UCLA’s Health Executive Program, USC’s Marshall School of Business as well as a Health Policy Fellow from Milken School of Public Health from George Washington University.

In Partnership With