September 2024 - Music is the great connector and at so many levels. It is around interpersonal connection made through the arts and other basic human staples that Julia Hotz explores in her new book, The Connection Cure. The reader experiences a global kaleidoscope of the emerging practice of social prescription, a nonmedical resource or activity that aims to improve a person’s health and strengthen their community connections.

Hotz, an American journalist, investigates how social prescription is being used to treat social determinants of health with specific stories and programs from ten countries. The basic tenet is that we’re not wired to live disconnected from our environments.

Moving our bodies, observing nature, creating art, serving our neighbours, and seeking belonging are core ingredients to reclaiming human interconnectedness for our wellness. Hotz says it this way: “We know that what really matters in the grand scheme of life are the connections in our environments: the joy and meaning we experience, and the relationships we build.”

Hotz is clear to point out that social prescription doesn’t replace medicine, rather complements it by reconnecting us to our sources of wellness. She relates stories of individuals living with type 2 diabetes, PTSD, depression, panic attacks, dementia and other ailments who have participated in unique community programs with life-changing outcomes. Hotz weaves relevant research throughout in an easy-to-read, comprehensive style.

Notably in chapter 7, there is a shout out to Dr. Kate Mulligan and the work being done at the Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing. Mention is made that the Ontario-based Alliance for Healthier Communities launched Canada’s first formal social prescribing pilot in 2018 called Rx: Community.

Piqued your interest? If you are looking for a better way of thinking about medicine and healing, then this is a must read. Highly recommended.