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The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging
In this combination of diligent science reporting, moving patient success stories, and surprising self-discovery, journalist Julia Hotz helps us discover the lasting and life-changing power of social prescribing..
Traditionally, when we get sick, health care professionals ask, “What’s the matter with you?” But around the world, teams of doctors, nurses, therapists, and social workers have started to flip the script, asking “What matters to you?” Instead of solely pharmaceutical prescriptions, they offer ‘social prescriptions’—referrals to community activities and resources, like photography classes, gardening groups, and volunteering gigs.
The results speak for themselves. Science shows that social prescribing is effective for treating symptoms of the modern world’s most common ailments—depression, ADHD, addiction, trauma, anxiety, chronic pain, dementia, diabetes, and loneliness. As health care’s de facto cycle of “diagnose-treat-repeat” reaches a breaking point, social prescribing has also proven to reduce patient wait times, lower hospitalization rates, save money, and reverse health worker burnout. And as a general sense of unwellness plagues more of us, social prescriptions can help us feel healthier than we’ve felt in years.
As the first book on social prescribing, The Connection Cure empowers you to find, experience, and implement this revolutionary medicine in your own community. While touring the globe to investigate the spread of social prescribing to over thirty countries, she meets people personifying its revolutionary potential: an aspiring novelist whose art workshop helps her cope with trauma symptoms and rediscover her joy; a policy researcher whose swimming course helps her taper off antidepressants and feel excited to wake up in the morning; an army vet whose phone conversations help him form his only true friendship; and dozens more. The success stories she finds bring a long-known theory to life: if we can change our environment, we can change our health. By reconnecting to what matters to us, we can all start to feel better.
Traditionally, when we get sick, health care professionals ask, “What’s the matter with you?” But around the world, teams of doctors, nurses, therapists, and social workers have started to flip the script, asking “What matters to you?” Instead of solely pharmaceutical prescriptions, they offer ‘social prescriptions’—referrals to community activities and resources, like photography classes, gardening groups, and volunteering gigs.
The results speak for themselves. Science shows that social prescribing is effective for treating symptoms of the modern world’s most common ailments—depression, ADHD, addiction, trauma, anxiety, chronic pain, dementia, diabetes, and loneliness. As health care’s de facto cycle of “diagnose-treat-repeat” reaches a breaking point, social prescribing has also proven to reduce patient wait times, lower hospitalization rates, save money, and reverse health worker burnout. And as a general sense of unwellness plagues more of us, social prescriptions can help us feel healthier than we’ve felt in years.
As the first book on social prescribing, The Connection Cure empowers you to find, experience, and implement this revolutionary medicine in your own community. While touring the globe to investigate the spread of social prescribing to over thirty countries, she meets people personifying its revolutionary potential: an aspiring novelist whose art workshop helps her cope with trauma symptoms and rediscover her joy; a policy researcher whose swimming course helps her taper off antidepressants and feel excited to wake up in the morning; an army vet whose phone conversations help him form his only true friendship; and dozens more. The success stories she finds bring a long-known theory to life: if we can change our environment, we can change our health. By reconnecting to what matters to us, we can all start to feel better.
336 pages, Hardcover
Published June 11, 2024
179 people are currently reading
5531 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
August 4, 2024
Thank you, @simonbooks #simonbooksbuddy, for the gifted book. I also purchased the audio from @librofm, so I could read and listen. The audio is narrated by Lessa Lamb, and she does a fantastic job.
I’m super grateful I was pitched The Connection Cure because it had not been on my radar previously, and it’s already had an impact on my life, my amazing octogenarian mom, and also one of Mom’s health care providers. More on that below.
About The Connection Cure: “In this combination of diligent science reporting, moving patient success stories, and surprising self-discovery, journalist Julia Hotz helps us discover lasting and life-changing medicine in our own communities.
Traditionally, when we get sick, health care professionals ask, “What’s the matter with you?” But around the world, teams of doctors, nurses, therapists, and social workers have started to flip the script, asking “What matters to you?” Instead of solely pharmaceutical prescriptions, they offer ‘social prescriptions’—referrals to community activities and resources, like photography classes, gardening groups, and volunteering gigs.”
The Connection Cure represents a shift in thinking, offering how movement, nature, art, service, and belonging can be medicine through offering connection. Preemptively, Julia Hotz notes she is not anti-medicine, and this is not an anti-traditional medicine book at all. This is simply an offering of a paradigm shift in how we think about healing. As a psychologist with positive psychology training, this fit right into my repertoire, and while I’m familiar with some of the research, I was not familiar with all that Julia Hotz shared and learned many new things. I also think the paradigm shift is invaluable in promoting a more positive, growth mindset.
With my mom as an example, when we went to her recent appointment, I shared with her nurse practitioner that I had been reading this book, and that I thought maybe it would be a good idea for Mom to schedule a monthly or weekly lunch with friends. Mom takes advice from the NP much better than me (we both absolutely love her NP), and the NP agreed wholeheartedly, said she firmly believes in connection as medicine, and was interested in the title of the book because she’s a reader, too, and we’ve shared past reading recommendations. I hope she fills more “social prescriptions” for her patients, including my mom, because it’s such an important aspect of our health, physical and mental, and our overall well-being.
The Connection Cure is well-written, approachable, informative, entertaining, and engaging for a book of this type. I’m truly grateful for my time spent with it and plan to give myself some social prescriptions too. I do have to mention regular movement is part of my daily practice. I don’t exercise to lose weight. I exercise, lift weights, bike ride, kickbox, walk, and dance because it slows down my racing thoughts. It calms my brain and connects me further to my breathing. It lifts my mood and empowers me, making me feel stronger. Any time I have missed movement in my life for more than a couple days, I can hardly recognize myself. It’s gotten me through some really hard times, and I know it will continue to help get me through.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
I’m super grateful I was pitched The Connection Cure because it had not been on my radar previously, and it’s already had an impact on my life, my amazing octogenarian mom, and also one of Mom’s health care providers. More on that below.
About The Connection Cure: “In this combination of diligent science reporting, moving patient success stories, and surprising self-discovery, journalist Julia Hotz helps us discover lasting and life-changing medicine in our own communities.
Traditionally, when we get sick, health care professionals ask, “What’s the matter with you?” But around the world, teams of doctors, nurses, therapists, and social workers have started to flip the script, asking “What matters to you?” Instead of solely pharmaceutical prescriptions, they offer ‘social prescriptions’—referrals to community activities and resources, like photography classes, gardening groups, and volunteering gigs.”
The Connection Cure represents a shift in thinking, offering how movement, nature, art, service, and belonging can be medicine through offering connection. Preemptively, Julia Hotz notes she is not anti-medicine, and this is not an anti-traditional medicine book at all. This is simply an offering of a paradigm shift in how we think about healing. As a psychologist with positive psychology training, this fit right into my repertoire, and while I’m familiar with some of the research, I was not familiar with all that Julia Hotz shared and learned many new things. I also think the paradigm shift is invaluable in promoting a more positive, growth mindset.
With my mom as an example, when we went to her recent appointment, I shared with her nurse practitioner that I had been reading this book, and that I thought maybe it would be a good idea for Mom to schedule a monthly or weekly lunch with friends. Mom takes advice from the NP much better than me (we both absolutely love her NP), and the NP agreed wholeheartedly, said she firmly believes in connection as medicine, and was interested in the title of the book because she’s a reader, too, and we’ve shared past reading recommendations. I hope she fills more “social prescriptions” for her patients, including my mom, because it’s such an important aspect of our health, physical and mental, and our overall well-being.
The Connection Cure is well-written, approachable, informative, entertaining, and engaging for a book of this type. I’m truly grateful for my time spent with it and plan to give myself some social prescriptions too. I do have to mention regular movement is part of my daily practice. I don’t exercise to lose weight. I exercise, lift weights, bike ride, kickbox, walk, and dance because it slows down my racing thoughts. It calms my brain and connects me further to my breathing. It lifts my mood and empowers me, making me feel stronger. Any time I have missed movement in my life for more than a couple days, I can hardly recognize myself. It’s gotten me through some really hard times, and I know it will continue to help get me through.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
December 27, 2024
I loved this book, I didn't want it to end. It's such a thoughtful piece of work from an incredibly talented writer who's traveled the world to show how social prescribing (prescribing nature, art, movement, belonging!, etc) has curative effects for communities on all continents.
As an American living abroad I'm also familiar with the challenge of creating community and feeling a sense of belonging - this book reminded me that there's 101 ways to get involved with your local community (that aren't pub trivia). Also a big believer in the power of intergenerational hangs !!! And these types of interactions, and their health benefits, were tangible and plenty in this book and I smiled all the way through. Thanks for sharing this important message with us, Julia!
As an American living abroad I'm also familiar with the challenge of creating community and feeling a sense of belonging - this book reminded me that there's 101 ways to get involved with your local community (that aren't pub trivia). Also a big believer in the power of intergenerational hangs !!! And these types of interactions, and their health benefits, were tangible and plenty in this book and I smiled all the way through. Thanks for sharing this important message with us, Julia!
June 13, 2024
Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging - five new "pills" we can pop instead of filling a prescription at the pharmacy.
I love this book by Julia Hotz with all her carefully chosen examples of how people suffering anxiety, depression, chronic pain, or other maladies can rally around without pills. Just do what our Paleo ancestors did, and what a lot of third-world citizens still do, and we can find wholeness and better health along with a sense of community and purpose.
If it sounds "Captain Obvious," why, yes, it is! And yet, most healthcare workers, especially in America, are late to the party.
Many of the same insights abound in a book I read in 2018, "How to Happify Your Life: what I learned while living with the happy "poor" people in the remote islands and jungles of Middle America" by Laura LaBrie. (I highly recommend it.)
In the Julia Hotz book, we get pages of names and places, examples, scientific studies, and evidence of how well it works, just to get people moving, out of the house, engaging with others, volunteering, doing things, finding purpose and meaning. European countries are a lot farther along than we are. We have barely even dipped our toes in the water.
Social workers are called upon to shoulder the connection-building and "social prescribing," but if more medical professionals read this book and take it to heart, we might see something revolutionary.
Then again, Big Pharma might find ways to keep everyone seeking the quick and easy fix of an Rx drug instead of the busy work of taking a walk, finding a new hobby (fishing, painting, crocheting, gardening, music, dance, you name it), and just MOVING and being outdoors instead of holing up, huddled in pain, on a sick bed, getting worse, not better. Let's loosen the grip all these drugs have on us! Let's get on the phone, connect with someone who's lonely, meet our neighbors, take up a new hobby, something, anything, to break the cycle of doctors prescribing pills and procedures when a lifestyle change is in order.
A comprehensive book, well-researched, inspiring, and worthwhile.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.
I love this book by Julia Hotz with all her carefully chosen examples of how people suffering anxiety, depression, chronic pain, or other maladies can rally around without pills. Just do what our Paleo ancestors did, and what a lot of third-world citizens still do, and we can find wholeness and better health along with a sense of community and purpose.
If it sounds "Captain Obvious," why, yes, it is! And yet, most healthcare workers, especially in America, are late to the party.
Many of the same insights abound in a book I read in 2018, "How to Happify Your Life: what I learned while living with the happy "poor" people in the remote islands and jungles of Middle America" by Laura LaBrie. (I highly recommend it.)
In the Julia Hotz book, we get pages of names and places, examples, scientific studies, and evidence of how well it works, just to get people moving, out of the house, engaging with others, volunteering, doing things, finding purpose and meaning. European countries are a lot farther along than we are. We have barely even dipped our toes in the water.
Social workers are called upon to shoulder the connection-building and "social prescribing," but if more medical professionals read this book and take it to heart, we might see something revolutionary.
Then again, Big Pharma might find ways to keep everyone seeking the quick and easy fix of an Rx drug instead of the busy work of taking a walk, finding a new hobby (fishing, painting, crocheting, gardening, music, dance, you name it), and just MOVING and being outdoors instead of holing up, huddled in pain, on a sick bed, getting worse, not better. Let's loosen the grip all these drugs have on us! Let's get on the phone, connect with someone who's lonely, meet our neighbors, take up a new hobby, something, anything, to break the cycle of doctors prescribing pills and procedures when a lifestyle change is in order.
A comprehensive book, well-researched, inspiring, and worthwhile.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.
April 13, 2025
Interesting take on preventative health measures like nature, movement, relationships, and service!
September 11, 2024
Enjoyed this and thoroughly agreed with all of the premises, suggestions, and studies.
That said, it’s extraordinarily repetitive. Some of these chapters could’ve been entirely removed with no impact on the book. The personal stories and anecdotes kept it moving, but at some point it just got stale. Patient A is sick, doctors say pills are the only answer, Patient A joins XYZ social club, Patient A miraculously cured.
I’m oversimplifying. But at some point, i did wonder if this should’ve been an article instead of a story. In any case, Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal is my preferred book on this topic.
That said, it’s extraordinarily repetitive. Some of these chapters could’ve been entirely removed with no impact on the book. The personal stories and anecdotes kept it moving, but at some point it just got stale. Patient A is sick, doctors say pills are the only answer, Patient A joins XYZ social club, Patient A miraculously cured.
I’m oversimplifying. But at some point, i did wonder if this should’ve been an article instead of a story. In any case, Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal is my preferred book on this topic.
August 23, 2024
I loved the personal story at the end and I feel so inspired after finishing this that I’m looking up social groups in the city to join! We bought another copy and I think we might leave it in one of the little free libraries around town so another lucky soul can have the opportunity to read it! Julia is such a talented author and I am already looking forward to reading whatever she comes out with next!
March 15, 2024
Having followed the development of this book, I am confident it will be life changing for many! So excited to get my hands on this. Julia is an exceptional talent.
August 15, 2025
Almost gave 4 stars but realized my issue is with privatized insurance and not with the book. I would really recommend this book to most people looking to expand their definition of health and community. Wellness being viewed as something you can maintain throughout a life time rather than achieve with healthcare is a comforting idea. I wish I was a social prescriber link worker :(
July 6, 2025
the content was amazing but this could’ve been a 5* read if it were 1/4-1/3 the length and stuck to data driven examples and made the anecdotes more concise
June 14, 2024
Made my way through this beautiful book, and I am totally struck by the alternative viewpoint it presents on well-being.
In an age where we are increasingly bonded by what is going wrong, I found a sense of liberation in exploring and opening up to how we unite ourselves in what makes us well, rather than rallying around our shared definitions of ill-being.
This book doesn’t pander. It’s not trying to please everyone—it makes a cogent, scientific point about wellness, community, and belonging. I found it utterly refreshing. An antidote of sorts from your typical self-help.
In an age where we are increasingly bonded by what is going wrong, I found a sense of liberation in exploring and opening up to how we unite ourselves in what makes us well, rather than rallying around our shared definitions of ill-being.
This book doesn’t pander. It’s not trying to please everyone—it makes a cogent, scientific point about wellness, community, and belonging. I found it utterly refreshing. An antidote of sorts from your typical self-help.
October 14, 2024
Loved this book - so many thought provoking examples and great reporting on case studies of social prescribing from around the world. I have already recommended this book to multiple people in my life and am also looking forward to journaling about it because it really resonated.
September 15, 2025
I really enjoyed The Connection Cure. Julia Hotz mixes her own story with science and examples from around the world to show how powerful human connection can be for our health. What I liked most is that she doesn’t just stay in the abstract—she travels, talks to people, and shares how different countries actually approach loneliness and community. It was fascinating to see what’s already being done elsewhere, and it gave me some hope that the U.S. could move in that direction too.
Even though the topic (mental health, isolation, anxiety) is heavy, the book doesn’t feel depressing. Hotz writes in a way that’s hopeful and relatable, and she makes the research easy to understand. It had a personal, almost “let’s try this together” vibe. We can all find more meaning in movement, art, service, belonging, and nature as she shares examples throughout the book.
If you’ve ever felt like something was missing from the usual conversations about mental health—or if you just want some inspiration about how connection itself can be healing—I think you’d really get something out of this one.
Even though the topic (mental health, isolation, anxiety) is heavy, the book doesn’t feel depressing. Hotz writes in a way that’s hopeful and relatable, and she makes the research easy to understand. It had a personal, almost “let’s try this together” vibe. We can all find more meaning in movement, art, service, belonging, and nature as she shares examples throughout the book.
If you’ve ever felt like something was missing from the usual conversations about mental health—or if you just want some inspiration about how connection itself can be healing—I think you’d really get something out of this one.
October 21, 2025
This was a life changing book that has piqued my interest in the relationships between social connection, the arts, exercise, and health! I really appreciated how Julia laid out the research about Social prescribing in this book, and it has led me down so many more rabbit holes to learn about the different studies mentioned. Even though it has a lot of information, it was still enjoyable and light to listen to as an audiobook while driving.
June 3, 2025
This book ...life-enhancing in the best way! Julia Hotz gives us stories, statistics, and personal experiences to remind us of the five areas that will make our lives richer, more connected....and just, well, better.
I find myself, in moment of disconnection or discomfort, asking myself..."hmmm, what am I needing? Movement, nature, art, service, belonging?" And then I take a few moments to get that element back into my life.
Social prescribing, even self-prescribing. Highly recommend this book!
Fun and informative to read!
I find myself, in moment of disconnection or discomfort, asking myself..."hmmm, what am I needing? Movement, nature, art, service, belonging?" And then I take a few moments to get that element back into my life.
Social prescribing, even self-prescribing. Highly recommend this book!
Fun and informative to read!
December 5, 2024
"The Connection Cure" by Julia Hotz is a thought-provoking book that explores a "holistic" approach to health and wellness. Hotz takes five pretty much common-sense approaches to get into the right relationship to your mental and physical health. Starting with movement and time in nature to improve your overall mental outlook and some physical strengthening. She then talks about healing through the creative act in producing art, however simple or complex that maybe. Finally moving beyond yourself in doing service for others and having a group to belong to. I enjoyed the book and I have used some of the techniques described here for years because I’ve found a form that works for me. What’s new here, I believe, is her suggestion to treat each of the five steps as a doctor prescribed activity. It is a thoroughly researched book but my only problem with the book is the number of studies cited. The research data can start to blend together when too much detail and too many results are cited. But that’s a minor criticism of a great book. I recommend it to anyone who would like to learn a powerful addition not only to their traditional medical treatment but to one’s overall orientation in life. Starting from your own center and reaching out in ever larger circles of important people in your life.
June 14, 2024
I absolutely love this book. I work in healthcare and so many of the themes resonate with all of the issues we are dealing with in the healthcare system. Not only does this book teach the reader about ways to improve their health and well-being, it does so with beautiful and personal stories that paint a picture of what holistic healthcare can look like. In particular, I loved the chapter about mental health and the pharmaceutical industry. The author does an amazing job of telling the history of the development of psychiatric medications in this country in a way that is engaging and informative. She weaves this information into stories of patients who have benefited from alternative therapies through social prescribing. She does this in a non judgmental way, and emphasizes social prescribing as a complement to traditional medicine, emphasizing the benefit of utilizing all of these treatment strategies in caring for the whole patient. I strongly recommend this book for any reader, as the themes are so relevant to all of us. It is a breath of fresh air and an inspirational call to change for providers working in our struggling healthcare system.
August 14, 2024
Written by Union College graduate Julia Hotz, a young writer on a mission to promote change in the way we look at medicine. Her debut book asks the reader to challenge the first question doctors often ask:
What is the matter with you?
Might a better opening line option be instead:
What matters to you?
In Part One of “The Connection Cure,” Julia shares person accounts of prescriptive “connection” medicine success stories told in her own voice. She writes of her personal encounters with the people (patients) and organizations around the world whose “connection” cures move away from traditional medicine.
The second half of the book gives a more detailed history of socialized medicine, and also presents some of the research behind “social connection” medicine alternatives.
Julia’s new book offers the readers hope and possibility as she challenges our medical systems (and insurance companies) in the USA to explore funding alternatives for treatments that not only improve lives, but also have the potential to lower the costs of medical treatment.
All in all, this book is delightful to read and told in the voice of a young visionary trying to make a difference in the world.
What is the matter with you?
Might a better opening line option be instead:
What matters to you?
In Part One of “The Connection Cure,” Julia shares person accounts of prescriptive “connection” medicine success stories told in her own voice. She writes of her personal encounters with the people (patients) and organizations around the world whose “connection” cures move away from traditional medicine.
The second half of the book gives a more detailed history of socialized medicine, and also presents some of the research behind “social connection” medicine alternatives.
Julia’s new book offers the readers hope and possibility as she challenges our medical systems (and insurance companies) in the USA to explore funding alternatives for treatments that not only improve lives, but also have the potential to lower the costs of medical treatment.
All in all, this book is delightful to read and told in the voice of a young visionary trying to make a difference in the world.
September 11, 2024
This book is an absolute must read for all! Hotz’s beautiful and honest storytelling drives the reader to see life in a fresh perspective. It dares us to think beyond the constructed norms of not only healthcare but life itself.
From page one, Hotz’s words embrace us like an old friend and provide a safe space where we can ask ourselves some of life’s most important questions. What makes me truly happy? What makes me feel most alive? How can the answers to those questions help me live a happier and healthier life?
But Hotz doesn’t just hold a mirror up to our own lives, she immerses us in the journeys of countless others who dared to ask themselves the same questions, proving to us that we were never alone.
Never has a book impacted me in such a way, I carry its lessons with me daily and I implore everyone to pick it up and discover Hotz’s brilliance for themselvevs.
From page one, Hotz’s words embrace us like an old friend and provide a safe space where we can ask ourselves some of life’s most important questions. What makes me truly happy? What makes me feel most alive? How can the answers to those questions help me live a happier and healthier life?
But Hotz doesn’t just hold a mirror up to our own lives, she immerses us in the journeys of countless others who dared to ask themselves the same questions, proving to us that we were never alone.
Never has a book impacted me in such a way, I carry its lessons with me daily and I implore everyone to pick it up and discover Hotz’s brilliance for themselvevs.
September 12, 2024
This book is so important and timely. We are at an inflection point in our country where peoples suffering is at its worse and we as a society are more disconnected and separated. This book gives me HOPE. I have always thought that the way we care and treat folks was all wrong. We are focused on what drugs they may need, or what disabilities they have instead on what matters to them. As a leader in the long term care industry, I see so many missed opportunities by defining folks and siloing them in ways that just compound the suffering. I am personally using this book as a blueprint for solutions. Share this book with as many people as possible and lets get down to work on making social Prescriptions part of our lives and for all those in our communities.
December 24, 2024
Never have I felt as inspired reading a book as I have this one! We are offered a very refreshing view on what medicine can look like if we only switch the question from “What’s the matter with you?” to “What matters to you?”. Through a variety of stories and well-researched statistics, we are shown that sometimes our best cures are not found at the bottom a prescription bottle, but rather through our everyday community interactions and engaging with our passions. This book is truly an engaging and fun read that left me immediately closing out of all of social media apps and instead making plans to go out and actually see the connections in my life!
August 10, 2024
A great book detailing how to treat the underlying issue instead of the symptom. Hotz does an excellent job of outlining how people are taking action in their own lives to social prescribe and then details how various countries are using this approach. The real treats of this book lies in the personal touches of Hotz detailing her experiences with various characters and finally incorporating these learnings into her own life. I really appreciated the openness and vulnerability to show how the social prescription approach can handle things as large as losing a loved one to the day to day anxiety of changes to someone’s life.
Highly recommend!!!
Highly recommend!!!
July 1, 2024
I'm trying to convince everyone in my life to read this book!
This book is an antidote to the difficult times we're all going through. The writing style makes it accessible yet never bland or superficial. The research is deep, and there's just enough detail to make every person cited feel real but also move the narrative.
I really appreciated the organization, which really proved that social prescribing can be developed in many kinds of societies.
I hope there's a part 2 because I feel there's a lot more to be explored i.e. how developing nations are exploring social prescribing.
This book is an antidote to the difficult times we're all going through. The writing style makes it accessible yet never bland or superficial. The research is deep, and there's just enough detail to make every person cited feel real but also move the narrative.
I really appreciated the organization, which really proved that social prescribing can be developed in many kinds of societies.
I hope there's a part 2 because I feel there's a lot more to be explored i.e. how developing nations are exploring social prescribing.
June 14, 2024
This book feels like the best of conversations - one you
have with a brilliant and witty friend who shares personal reflections and funny stories while also teaching through fascinating history and modern research. I found myself immediately looking up local run clubs, volunteer opportunities and simple outdoor events, realizing just how powerful adding one of these to your weekly calendar can be. It feels like old wisdom and modern medicine all in one. Highly recommend!
have with a brilliant and witty friend who shares personal reflections and funny stories while also teaching through fascinating history and modern research. I found myself immediately looking up local run clubs, volunteer opportunities and simple outdoor events, realizing just how powerful adding one of these to your weekly calendar can be. It feels like old wisdom and modern medicine all in one. Highly recommend!
September 4, 2024
The Connection Cure offers the reader incredible insight through the history, facts, stories, and self-practice of social prescription. The journey starts with rewording the question, "Whats the matter with you?", to "what matters to you?". This book encouraged me to take the time to consider the things that make me my happiest and healthiest self. I encourage everyone to add The Connection Cure to their reading list!
November 4, 2024
What an amazing read! Julia does a fabulous job balancing the personal and the collective in this important contribution to the field of social prescribing. My own research on creative aging intersects with social prescribing and this was a welcome read–I learned a lot and enjoyed the process. This is essential reading for those who want to make a change in caring for their own health as well as in healthcare as a system.
July 1, 2024
The author, Julia, does a beautiful job on her journey sharing exactly what is critical in our lives, and more importantly, how to get there. Additionally, TCC is a wonderful summation of the current state of affairs within the burgeoning world of Social Prescribing. Like the others who have reviewed this great book, I highly recommend it!
August 26, 2024
“Eye opening” doesn’t do this book justice. The author takes you through an alternate - yet possible and happening!- approach to health but it’s compelling, witty, funny, and honestly “earth shattering” (but in a good way) throughout. Can’t recommend this book enough.
June 15, 2024
Thorough, easy to read, fun and insightful
September 7, 2024
Audiobook
We all need more social prescriptions in our life, and definitely in our health care system!
We all need more social prescriptions in our life, and definitely in our health care system!
November 14, 2025
4.5 stars. I loved this book! It got fairly repetitive in the middle, but Part III really tied it all up together very well and drove the point home. The message of this book is more important than ever these days. I'll definitely be revisiting her questions and charts at the end of the book in the future.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews