Dartmouth Partners with Art Pharmacy to Launch Arts and Nature Rx Program

Social prescribing solution available across campus to improve student mental health

HANOVER, NH, UNITED STATES, January 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Art Pharmacy, a social prescribing company focused on addressing the dual mental health and loneliness crises in the United States, is proud to announce that Dartmouth has joined its network of educational institutions as the first Ivy League university to offer its social prescribing solution through a new program called Arts and Nature Rx. The partnership aims to address student well-being and reduce feelings of loneliness, anxiety, social isolation, and depression for the university’s undergraduate and graduate students by connecting them to artistic, cultural, or nature-based community activities, both on and off campus.

Through its collaboration with Art Pharmacy, Dartmouth’s program builds on evidence showing that participation in community arts, culture, and nature activities can positively impact mental health, and combines it with a social prescribing model. This model of care enables health professionals to formally prescribe non-clinical, community-based activities such as art classes, museum visits, nature hikes, dance workshops, theater performances, outdoor exploration, and more.

“We are incredibly excited to offer Art Pharmacy’s solution to Dartmouth’s students and appreciate the school’s leadership in innovating to address the student mental health crisis. Dartmouth is the first partner in our portfolio to introduce nature-based activities, in addition to our arts and cultural offerings, and we’re eager to learn from them about the connections between nature and well-being,” said Art Pharmacy Founder and CEO Chris Appleton. “We look forward to continuing to connect students to life-affirming, life-enriching resources.”

These experiences aim to help students reduce stress and anxiety, feel more connected, and improve overall mood. Because mental health and well-being are key drivers of student success, they represent both moral and business imperatives for higher education leaders.

“Our experiences with art and nature are individual, intrinsic experiences, but they can also provide the experience of engaging with somebody else and having a social connection,” said Jennifer Rosales, Senior Vice President for Community and Campus Life and Chief Student Affairs Officer at Dartmouth. “That within itself is a very healthy practice.”

As part of Arts and Nature Rx, providers at Dartmouth Student Health Services refer students based on routine mental health screenings or their clinical judgment. Students who opt in will meet online with Art Pharmacy Care Navigators, who help them set well-being goals and suggest several possible activities, taking into account students’ interests, availability, cultural values, and lived experiences. Students can choose one activity each month, and participation is confidential and free; Arts and Nature Rx covers expenses such as tickets and transportation for students and, if they like, an additional ticket for a friend to attend with them.

Ravi Malhotra, a first-year student at Dartmouth and Chair of the People of Color Outdoors Club, met with the Art Pharmacy team for a pre-launch feedback session in December. Malhotra says that based on existing research and personal experience, he is feeling “very positive” about Arts and Nature Rx.
“You take a couple hours a week to be outside or do these programs, and in return you’re much more focused, you’re feeling better, you’re not spending as much time spiraling and feeling depressed or stressed in your day-to-day life. The benefits are huge,” said Malhotra.

“Belonging, strong relationships, time in nature, and reflective activities significantly improve mental health,” said Sarah Crockett, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. Arts and Nature Rx “has the potential to make a real difference in student well-being. My hope is that this pilot highlights the lifesaving impact of connection—to nature and to community.”

Programming is currently available through 15 partner organizations, including the Outdoor Programs Office, the Hood Museum of Art, and the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth, and several student-led clubs. Local nonprofits such as AVA Gallery in Lebanon, N.H., the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vt., and Northern Stage in White River Junction, Vt., are also involved.

To learn more about Art Pharmacy, reach out to Art Pharmacy at hello@artphamacy.co or visit www.artpharmacy.co.

Minah Thomas
Uproar by Moburst
+1 717-253-6433
minah.thomas@moburst.com
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