This commentary published in Medical Education illustrates how the sociocultural nature of communities can be harnessed to nurture psychological well‐being and resilience in surgical trainees. More specifically, the article describes how the heterogeneous nature of medicine leads to formation of communities and subcultures, the traits and norms of which are internalized into the social identity of the individuals who aspire to join the community. Membership of a professional community and intrinsic link between social and professional identities is demonstrated to be a protective factor against psychological difficulties. Therefore, social identity should be a focus in combating burnout and psychological distress.