Author Reading w/ Julia Hotz

The San Francisco book launch for journalist Julia Hotz's The Connection Cure, researching the scientific effects of 'social prescribing' and its positive impact on health and wellness.

About The Connection Cure: 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. And as health care’s de facto cycle of “diagnose-treat-repeat” reaches a breaking point, social prescribing has proven to reduce patient wait times, lower hospitalization rates, save money, and reverse health worker burnout, too. 

Praised as “provocative” (Adam Grant), “hopeful” (Dr. Andrew Weil), and “filled with humor and great storytelling” (Dr. Michael Dixon), THE CONNECTION CURE brings these life-changing benefits to life. Through diligent science reporting, moving patient success stories, and surprising self-discovery, journalist Julia Hotz helps readers rediscover a time-proven truth: 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.