This week is National Diabetes Week, and the theme from Diabetes Australia is ‘Heads Up on Diabetes and Stigma’. This campaign aims to start a conversation around the impact of diabetes stigma on a person’s mental health and emotional wellbeing. According to Diabetes Australia, nearly 50 per cent of people with diabetes have experienced mental health challenges in the last 12 months.
National Diabetes Week is a perfect chance to shine the light on this invisible disease that affects many people in our community.
At Monash Health, we offer a wide range of services to patients with diabetes. Our diabetes team is an internationally recognised research arm that offers evidence-based and patient-centred clinical care to minimise the increasing burden of diabetes. Our dedicated diabetes team includes a committed team of educators devoted to supporting people with diabetes across all Monash Health campuses.
The team at Monash Diabetes operate out of clinics at Monash Medical Centre, Kingston Centre and Dandenong and Moorabbin Hospital and manage over 45,000 episodes of care per year. They aim to support the mental health of diabetes patients through a variety of programs, one being the Complex Care Program. This program employs a multi-disciplinary and holistic approach in addressing health and other life issues in clients with diabetes who present to Monash Health Emergency Departments. It aims to link patients to appropriate services and support networks offering a more comprehensive service.
This week the diabetes education team want to share the message that diabetes impacts not only the body but also a person’s wellbeing.
Lauren Cole, Diabetes Nurse Consultant, said, “we as health care professionals often focus on the physical problems that come with diabetes, but a person’s health very much needs all areas supported to manage the condition successfully”.
Moira Devos, HARP Diabetes Nurse, said, “as a diabetes nurse educator, it is my role to appreciate that diabetes does not exist in isolation. Therefore I work with clients to promote self-management. If clients are experiencing situations such as financial hardship, chronic health complications, low mood or social isolation, optimisation of diabetes is often a low priority”.
National Diabetes Week is a great time to start a conversation about the impacts diabetes stigma can have on a person’s mental health and the importance of receiving adequate care.
Approved by Marg Harley.