Are the people around you supportive of your health goals? If you were to embark on a new routine, would your friends be a help or hindrance? For today’s episode, I was delighted to welcome my good friend James Maskell for a conversation around friendship, community and the concept of ‘group medicine’.

James is a health entrepreneur, author and community builder. He studied health economics and it’s now his mission to curb rising healthcare costs across the globe with a model that puts people first. His latest book, The Community Cure, looks at how helping groups of people with common health concerns come together can solve the very problems they share – an idea similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. He runs virtual health coaching groups in the US, which have been successful for everything from autoimmune disease to depression, chronic pain to digestive disorders. And he believes there are few conditions that couldn’t be helped by a collective mentality.

We discuss a 2006 NHS version of this concept, which famously saw patients work together to reverse their type 2 diabetes through diet. It saved one practice £70,000 a year in drug costs, which would have equated to £270 million if rolled out across the UK.

But it’s not just health-focused communities that can feel the benefit of coming together in groups and James and I discuss the profound benefits of men’s groups. When people share their experience, solutions and support each other to live well, amazing things can happen. I hope this conversation encourages you to reach out, find your tribe, and see what you can do for each other. 

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Show notes available at https://drchatterjee.com/287

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