Better with Dr. Stephanie

019 James Maskell – On Functional Medicine, Community, & Health Empowerment

Episode Summary

Serial healthcare founder, speaker and innovator, James Maskell joins the podcast to discuss his experience with functional and holistic medicine. Dr. Stephanie and James talk about his latest book, The Community Cure and the role of community in influencing health outcomes. James provides eye-opening statistics about loneliness and its impact on disease. He breaks down the seven steps of The Therapeutic Order, including case studies that highlight this concept. Finally, Dr. Stephanie and James talk about the many benefits that accompany treating patients within group settings.

Episode Notes

00:48 – Dr. Stephanie introduces today’s guest, James Maskell

05:49 – James’ background and origin story

11:29 – The Functional Forum and James’ first book, The Evolution of Medicine

22:47 – Statistics on loneliness

30:44 – How group visits work

38:50 – James breaks down the seven steps of The Therapeutic Order

45:05 – James recalls a story about Frome, a town in the U.K.

51:10 – Profitability

59:58 – Scaling up functional medicine

1:03:38 – Tips and strategies for getting patients to open up within a group setting

1:07:48 – James talks about the release of his latest book, The Community Cure

1:10:07 – Where listeners can follow Dr. Stephanie and subscribe to her newsletter

TWEETABLE QUOTES

“Having grown up in such a different health environment I just sort of had a moment where I realized maybe some of what I was born into is a part of the solution. And maybe I’m not born here to be an investment banker. Maybe I’m here to follow a different kind of a path.” (09:14)

“And, just to take a step back, it’s really healthcare where the goal is self-efficacy. And, what that means is the goal where people can take care of themselves and they don’t need a doctor and they don’t need medication.” (14:10)

“There was one stat that I have in the book which is that if you’re subject to a targeted rejection – which is someone intending to break a social bond with you, like a divorce or you get fired from your job – your risk of depression goes up by twenty-two times.” (25:05)

“The reason why I think it makes sense to reestablish those groups in healthcare is that, eventually, everyone comes across some sort of health issue. And that’s a moment where we can sort of bring them into a group if they need it.” (32:15)

“And the Therapeutic Order comes from naturopathic medicine, and all it says is ‘we should start with the least costly, least invasive interventions first and then work our way up to drugs and surgery as a last resort.” (40:44)

“So ultimately, my vision for transforming healthcare is really to create this bottom layer of empowerment groups that facilitate turning on the body’s healing mechanisms and dealing with weakened systems that have been weakened as a result of malnutrition and so forth.” (44:20)

“Here’s the thing. If you teach someone to meditate and you do it ten percent wrong, what is the downside risk of that? It’s nothing. If you give people the wrong drug, the downside risk could be death.” (1:01:13)

“I think that, for practitioners who are involved, I think you really have to realize that your expertise is not as valuable as your ability to help people help themselves.” (1:04:36)

LINKS MENTIONED

Better! Website

Dr. Stephanie’s Website

Dr. Stephanie’s Twitter – @dr_stephanie

Dr. Stephanie’s Instagram – @dr.stephanie.estima

Dr. Stephanie on LinkedIn

James’ Website

James’ LinkedIn

James’ Instagram – @mrjamesmaskell

James’ Twitter – @mrjamesmaskell

James’ Facebook

James’ Books - The Community Cure: Transforming Health Outcomes Together & The Evolution of Medicine

Functional Forum

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