It’s ok not to be ok
Diabetes care
As a team, we’ve been massively impressed by the resilience, resourcefulness and flexibility families have demonstrated during the pandemic, adapting to manage your diabetes in some very different ways, without the usual level of face-to-face support from the Diabetes Team. The return of schools, colleges and universities, the return to work for many parents and the return to some face-to-face hospital appointments are positives in many ways, but they can also require more planning and effort as well as bringing other challenges, alongside all of the ongoing difficulties and uncertainty.
We want you to know that we recognise and appreciate the potential significance of these challenges, and we know that at times this may understandably impact your diabetes care. We would like to invite you during appointments to highlight to us:
- any specific challenges you are experiencing
- any dips or changes in your diabetes care
- how you think we (i.e. you as a family, and the Diabetes Team) could best care for your diabetes at present.
Whilst the team have lots of knowledge and experience with diabetes, it’s important to remember that you are the experts in your lives! Help us to help you by letting us know what’s going on for you. We know that your diabetes care may not be what you would like it to be at present, and we welcome open and honest discussions about this. In return, we will strive to provide blame-free and judgement-free support, in order to find manageable and sustainable ways to maintain your long-term health and well-being.
Emotional wellbeing
Life can be challenging enough for all of us, at any time. We know that long-term health conditions like diabetes can also make life more difficult. When additional challenges (such as COVID-19) come along, it is understandable that things can at times feel overwhelming, and the effort needed for diabetes care can feel unmanageable. Please remember that this is an entirely understandable response. However, whilst it’s understandable, it can also feel very uncomfortable, and can prevent you from getting the diabetes care you need to stay well and doing the things that are important to you; for these reasons, we would always aim to support you to avoid feeling this way for long periods.
We would recommend having a watch of the following youtube link; click here - it's about 45 minutes long so you might want to make a brew first!. This video is not aimed at children, but it might be helpful for interested parents or young people over the age of around 14. This video is a talk from a Clinical Psychologist who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at six years old. She talks about her experiences with diabetes both personally and professionally, including “diabetes distress” (the emotional burden which can come from living with and managing diabetes), and strategies she’s found helpful with this.
Please also remember that extra help is available if needed. Have a look at some of the other resources in the emotional well-being section on this website below.