Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Jonathan Leary.
Hi Dr. Leary, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have been working on Remedy Place since 2012. It was always my dream practice idea from the moment I started my business plan. I knew that I wanted to create something different from anything else out there and I wanted to cultivate an environment different from anything else I saw in normal healthcare.
Previously, when volunteering in hospitals during my pre-med studies I saw the chaos and stress constantly (not only for the patients but also for the doctors and hospital staff) and I knew there was a huge opportunity for improvement.
At the end of 2015, I completed the original business plan during my four years of doctorate studies, but when it came time for funding, I quickly found out business loans were not an option. I was then forced to pivot and then opened my own concierge practice, which I had for five years before the first club opened. During this time period, I constantly updated the business plan after listening to my patients, seeing what worked, what didn’t work, what they were willing to change, what they were not, what stressors they all experienced, etc. This data and clinical evidence shaped the foundation of Remedy Place and put me in the perfect position to look at all of the issues I saw in the industry, and then create the solutions to them while making sure it was also a smart business.
In short, my findings were: environment plays a major role in the healing process (based on the quick success in my patient’s homes), alternative medicine, preventative care & lifestyle changes were the only way to fix the root cause of my patient’s health issues (based on over 1200 patients success stories over the years) and lastly almost every single patient I had said because of their healthier lifestyle changes they felt restricted and sometimes lonely because it restricted their social life. The solution – make self-care a regular practice, make an environment that is designed to heal and make it social (so we can enhance their health and social life at the same time)
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Remedy Place was developed over a 10 years span and for the first ¾ of that decade, no one understood how important self-care is as an essential daily practice (just like working out or eating well). People are more stressed than ever, life expectancy is going down, people are sicker than they’ve ever been. Remedy Place is teaching people that self-care is an avenue towards living optimally through preventative care that decreases stress, calms the body, and develops resiliency.
The larger issue that Remedy Place is facing is that our current healthcare system has leaned very heavily into surgery or drugs without the attempt to start fixing people’s health concerns naturally. In order to fix the root cause of most issues, lifestyle changes have to happen and for most health concerns the first line of intervention before surgery and drugs should be natural remedies (unless an emergency or acute situation). Remedy Place is helping to make that switch from prescriptive to preventative healthcare.
It has been a continual uphill battle trying to legitimize and create credibility behind alternative medicine practices and alternative medicine doctors. Many people have a preconceived notion that holistic care has no scientific research or proven benefits, but that is simply not true. Remedy Place is backed by years of my clinical research which supports the entire business model and the clubs’ offerings. That is finally changing (the Global Wellness Institute just released it 2023 trends report with the majority of trends encompassing self-care and/or holistic practices).
At Remedy Place, we’re not only improving the world’s healthcare but also changing the narrative around alternative medicine by cultivating the best up-and-coming doctors in the world (that happen to be holistic), growing a platform to educate people on how to take care of themselves, and developing research for alternative medicine.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Remedy Place is the World’s First Social Wellness Club, with a short-term goal of having every guest feel better than when they walked in, my mission is to ultimately change the state of standard healthcare. By bringing together top alternative medicine doctors, ancient practices, and modern technologies, Remedy Place gives people the tools and support they need to take control of their health by integrating self-care into their daily and, most importantly, social lives.
We offer an assortment of holistic self-care “remedies” including the world’s first commercialized breathwork ice bath class, a new and improved chiropractic treatment, acupuncture, cupping, vitamin drips, a lymphatic infrared sauna and functional medicine. There are two locations currently: the flagship club in West Hollywood California and its newest 7,200-square-foot club located in the Flatiron District of Manhattan. Now Remedy Place is set to scale around the world.
Everything in the club, although you can do it by yourself, is designed to be experienced with someone else, something Remedy Place has coined/trademarked ‘social self-care’. I believe human connection is the most important form of self-care, so Remedy Place offers experiences that serve as ‘social substitutions’. Happy hour takes the form of a cryotherapy session; date night starts with a guided breathwork ice bath; while a team brainstorm is held over a vitamin drip.
The goal with every club is to bring back hospitality into healthcare and give an unparalleled experience like no other place in the world in our category. Most health spaces such as hospitals and clinics have a negative physiological effect on the body – something called ‘white coat syndrome’ where your body tenses up and heart rate increases. This means that tradition medical environments can actually make a patient feel worse.
Applying these theories of human psychology and physiology, I wanted to create a club that positively enhances visitors’ physiology from the moment they walk in the door. From the aromatic rituals to the minimalistic and balanced design, materials, layout, furniture and lighting, all of the design and experiential elements have a purpose.
What does success mean to you?
It’s simple, success is whatever makes you complete and happy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://remedyplace.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/remedyplace/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@remedyplace
Image Credits
Madeline Tolle (shot LA club) Benjamin Holtrop (shot NY club) reference photo file names for club locations
