Diabetes and Emotional Health: Welcome New Handbook

A wonderful and welcome new handbook and toolkit all about diabetes and emotional health has been published -  in Australia but relevant in large part to all countries - to help health professionals support adults living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in this vital, but sadly often neglected, aspect of their lives and care.

The handbook has 9 chapters, covering diabetes distress, anxiety, depression, eating problems, referring to mental health services, and many more.  It's written in a friendly style, with up to date references easily accessible.  

The handbook is accompanied by stand-alone factsheets which help health professionals see what they need to do, and what skills to use, in a variety of situations.  They all use a similar '7 As' model, standing for 'Awareness; Ask; Assess; Advise; (Assign); Assist; Arrange', so making the steps easy to bring to mind.

The toolkit also contains validated psychological questionnaires for use and, importantly, some factsheets for people with diabetes themselves, with information and tips for their own emotional healthcare

Rosie Walker contributed to the development of one of the chapters in the handbook, on communication and engagement, and so SD is extremely proud to be associated with the finished article.  We give huge congratulations to the authors and sponsors of this toolkit for their foresight and investment in creating it and and we warmly recommend it to everyone involved in diabetes care!

How can you obtain your own copy, we hear you ask! the handbook and toolkit for health professionals are available free of charge and electronically via this link under the title 'Diabetes and Emotional Health Handbook' in the listing (currently top but you may need to scroll down)

The factsheets for people living with diabetes can be obtained via this link

NB: You will need to register your details in order to download the resources, this is simply so that evaluation of how many copies are being requested,  by whom, in which countries etc can be made.