Counselling

[mountaintom]

Hi all,

Just “asking for a friend”. Has anyone used a counsellor post diagnosis to help with the emotional strain of T1D? If so, can you recommend it or give any insight into how it helped you.

Thanks.

 

[Jaylee]

Hi @mountaintom ,

I've done counselling once.. Diabetes didn't realy come into it for me. (Was referred by a GP? From memory.)
Long story. I needed to sort my head out after a failed attempt at sorting someone else's head..

Yep, I neglected my own health during this process. So indirectly, the diabetes aspect was being dealt with at the same time by me... More focus on what mattered, thus get my act together.

A little cryptic I know. But you don't want to know about my history with an Amy Winehouse type.

Yep, it worked for me. I chopped some logic into it.

 

[mountaintom]

Thanks Jaylee. Glad you came through that mill ok.

 

[**shell**]

Morning @mountaintop
I am currently see someone to help me cope with the day-to-struggles of living with diabetes. I'm still just in the early stages of appointments (ok, so I've had one) but already I feel a little more more in control and I feel like I can justify why I feel the way I do.
I suppose it can't hurt to try x

 

[mountaintom]

Fantastic. I think my “friend” could make good use of having someone to chat with even if it’s not a diabetes expert.

 

[LooperCat]

I was referred for counselling after a slightly self inflicted DKA, I’d basically used poor diabetes care as a way of self harming. Didn’t help with that per se, but it did result in an Asperger’s diagnosis, which then made an awful lot of things clear about some of my behaviours. I’ve done a lot of reading around the subject since and learned ways to rein in some of my more self destructive tendencies. So it can be really useful, even if not in ways you might expect.

 

[Bic]

Hi, Mountaintom!
Yes, I used to meet a good counsellor at the diabetes clinic but it was a long time ago and it was not exactly all about diabetes (when I was dxd I was struggling with a difficult situation at home, I was very young and my mom had taken to drinking and things weren't good in so many ways…). She was an expert in T1, though, and that was a great advantage.
Recently I've been trying to find a good counsellor again, but there seem to be no T1 expert available any more… not in my place at least. But you could be more lucky where you live!
Perhaps try and visit a website called 'Beyond Type one': you will find a post about professional counsellors who are T1 experts as well, that might be useful. Unfortunately I don't live in an English speaking country and we don't have many such professionals, but I hope you will find one. Of course it's just my personal opinion, but I think it makes things easier if you can talk with someone who already knows quite well about living with T1: it saves times, for one thing, and will help you feel better understood, as a whole.
Best wishes!

 

[mountaintom]

Thank you so much for all your input!

 

[DCUKMod]

Thank you so much for all your input!

Mountaintom - If your friend can't find a counsellor they like, or think are any sort of expert fit, they still might find other types of interaction useful.

I haven't had counselling related to diabetes, but I've had a few experiences with a variety of therapies. One thing I found really useful on a couple of separate occasions was hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy isn't all about losing weight, giving up smoking. I used it to help me find a bit of additional headspace, and headspace to step away from a very pressurised situation.

To be clear, I don't mean walk away from anything, I mean a way of finding half an hour to relax and think about other things.

There are lots of interesting therapies out there your friend might like to try.

 

[badmedisin]

I've seen loads of counsellors, shrinks, etc but didn't find any of it useful. Maybe because I have bipolar...
But I know plenty of people who've had great results from various therapies.
Just bear in mind that there a lot of different types of "talking therapies" and that each individual has their own style, so if you don't find it helps, you can always keep trying different things til you find something that helps. Hope your friend finds a good one...