This website is for all people living with diabetes, their families and friends. It includes private counselling via e-mail, group discussion forums, chat rooms and blog and a range of groups, such as our Weight Matters groups.

There are some links and resources, information about health professionals and an opportunity to share your story and read other stories about life with diabetes. Follow and contribute to our YouTube channel, photo gallery, Facebook pages and Twitter. Let us assist you in planning your next holiday via our Diabetes Travel Well Consultancy.

The service is based in Australia and is intended for Australian residents. We are a small Australian charity.

Overseas requests -If contacting us from outside of Australia we may be able to assist with counselling but must charge a fee for this service. Currently the fees are set at $250 AUD for up to 6 hours worth of email counselling. You can pay via Visa, Bank Deposit, or PayPal - details will be provided should you choose to proceed. We can offer general support for free via our forums and chat rooms. Please note we can not provide specific referrals to other services or medical advice in overseas countries.

When using this service, please respect each other's privacy and that of health professionals during any public discussions by not mentioning individuals by name.

Any ideas for health professionals to add to the resources list are welcomed and can be sent via email to add to the list. Thank you!

While this service is mainly provided via the website, you can contact by phone during normal office hours on:
(08) 8365 4424
Mobile: 0410 301267
After hours messages can be left.

Please note the telephone contacts are not a 24 hour crisis line. Please contact your usual doctor with any urgent medical concerns and/or attend your local Emergency Department in a medical emergency. We are a small charitable organisation and at times there can be delays in our response to telephone messages. Please be patient!

National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS)

This service was partially funded under the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) administered by Diabetes Australia Ltd from 2004 - 2009.

Our services remain FREE to use and we aim to keep it this way. As we have no funding, there are presently delays in counselling services. We will always reply so please be patient.

Please assist us in our work by visiting our donations pages Diabetes Counselling - Donations to make a donation; our Sweet Talk pages Diabetes Counselling - Sweet Talk to find out about our gala dinner and online dinner you can hold at home; and Channel 9 Telethon fundraising pages Diabetes Counselling - Events and fundraising to find out about how to buy lottery tickets and get involved in other great competitions and special deals.

We recommend that you do register with the NDSS, as it provides valuable services and reduced costs in regards to supplies for your diabetes products, such as syringes and blood glucose testing strips and it is free to join. We highly recommend you register with the NDSS if you have not already done so.

You can access the NDSS forms here and take to your doctor or diabetes educator for submission: http://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/ndss/

Diabetes Counselling aims and principles

This service operates from the belief that people with diabetes are "ordinary" people who are living with an "extraordinary" situation. This means that if you are experiencing difficulties or problems you are not seen as the problem, or as having something wrong with you. The problems are always seen as being outside of you and as something that can be tackled.

This service aims to:

• Provide short term counselling by working out with you what the problems are, naming the problem/s and determining how these problems are affecting your life;
• Identifying alternatives and developing solutions to the problems, which will make the problems smaller;
• Provide support, encouragement and connections with others;
• Work with you towards developing new ways of coping, building on your successes and positive experiences in living with diabetes.

With on-line diabetes counselling:

• You can bring up anything that is a concern to you;
• At your own pace, we will try to help you to work out what the problems are and how you may tackle them;
• It can sometimes be helpful just to talk to someone about your concerns;
• You can create new ways of thinking about your life living with diabetes and your "life story".

Amount of Personal Counselling sessions you can have with our service

As we are a not-for-profit charity with limited funding and high demand for services, we need some guidelines as to how long we can provide personal counselling. This has been set at up to 6 hours worth of counselling time.

One session is considered to be an email from you and a reply from us. Some of these "sessions" might be very short, others might take an hour or so. In this way some people might have many emails and some, only a few.

Once the counselling reaches 6 hours of time spent by the counselling team, we will contact to negotiate up to a further 4 hours if needed. Usually after this point, we will need to refer you on to someone else.

Most people find this is enough time to deal with the issues, along with using the other areas of the service. If you have any concerns about this, please let us know and we can chat about it. We will keep an eye on how long we are spending each time we email you.

Mission Statement

Diabetes Counselling Online sees itself as:

• a major contributor to improved wellbeing, psychosocial health and self management for all people with diabetes;
• a unique, innovative and creative psychosocial counselling service for people with diabetes;
• a leader in community advocacy and awareness raising for people with diabetes;
• a major contributor to public awareness of the psychosocial problems and needs of people living with diabetes;
• a contributor to research into psychosocial problems and needs in diabetes care.

Values and beliefs

Diabetes Counselling Online values above all else the wellbeing of all people living with diabetes.

• Diabetes Counselling Online believes that all people with diabetes should have access to high quality, free and easily accessible psychosocial counselling and peer support
• Diabetes Counselling Online operates from the principle that people with diabetes are ordinary people dealing with an extraordinary situation.
• Counselling is provided against a background belief that people are not the problem. If a person is experiencing difficulties or problems that person is not seen as the problem, or as having something wrong with them. The problems are always seen as being outside of the person. Counselling explores and addresses these problems as separate from the person;
• Diabetes Counselling values the pursuit of the highest standards of professionalism, quality and ethics and its Counsellors practice under the standards of practice of the Australian Association of Social Workers; Australian Diabetes Educators Association and Australian Psychological Society, as appropriate.
• In everyday interactions with clients and the community Diabetes Counselling Online values fairness, honesty, open communication, transparency, confidentiality and integrity, of all those associated with the organisation.
• Diabetes Counselling Online aims to work in collaborative partnerships with the community, government, non-government and like-minded organisations.
• Diabetes Counselling Online welcomes the diversity and roles of all involved with the organisation and encourages community participation in an online “diabetes community” – communicating and connecting.
• Diabetes Counselling Online will operate from an inclusive philosophy, exploring and developing services to support Indigenous communities; Non- English-Speaking-Background communities; and vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
• Diabetes Counselling Online will strive for continuous improvement and innovation in its practice.

In pursuit of better wellbeing for people with diabetes, Diabetes Counselling Online Inc has a number of goals based on a number of frameworks.

Australian Commonwealth Government’s National Service Improvement Frameworks

The Diabetes Counselling Online’s practice is underpinned by the Australian Commonwealth Government’s National Service Improvement Frameworks, which includes the framework for diabetes, and which are intended to encourage the delivery of more person-centred, equitable, timely, effective, affordable and cohesive health care for all Australians.

The frameworks are intended to:

• prevent and limit the progression of chronic conditions such as diabetes;
• slow the onset of the complications that can cause severe disabilities and be life threatening;
• reduce preventable hospital admissions;
• reduce variations in care that appear:
• across different clinicians and health care services;
• across people from metropolitan, regional, rural and remote areas;
• in the care provided to disadvantaged groups.
• Aust. Commonwealth Depart. Health and Ageing; National Service Improvement Frameworks

Diabetes Counselling Online meets a number of specific National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) objectives:

• It improves the capacity of the health system to deliver services for the care of people with diabetes by providing an innovative and relatively low cost service, which is not constrained by geography;
• It provides “efficient and effective” delivery of Scheme Services, “including the use of contemporary communication, information technology and management systems”;
• It improves health related quality of life for people with diabetes, through psychosocial counselling, connection with peers, development of self management skills and linking people to further support;
• It delivers “high quality care to people with diabetes through provision of appropriate information, education and support services, to maximise the capacity of the person to manage their diabetes”;
• It lowers the potential for diabetes complications by “developing and delivering diabetes health management programs that are aimed at maintaining or improving health of people with diabetes and reducing their future call on health funding”, through providing easy access, to a service targeted at encouraging better self care and wellbeing;
• It supports and encourages people to make connections with their health care teams regarding diabetes management, working closely through “strategic partnerships” and “has as its focus people with diabetes, their families and friends, general practitioners and other health workers”;
• It advances knowledge and understanding about the care of diabetes, by providing evaluation and research into the psychosocial impact of diabetes and how we may address such concerns.
• Australian Commonwealth Department Health and Ageing; NDSS Objectives; http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pbs-healthpro-supply-ndss.htm

Statement of purpose

As a free, national, web based counselling service, Diabetes Counselling Online will work with people with diabetes, family members and care givers, communicating and connecting, to enable better wellbeing, through:

• identifying problems, exploring their effects and developing strategies to address them, with individuals, groups and communities;
• identifying barriers to diabetes self management and developing strategies and tools for addressing barriers;
• identifying and sharing tools for increased wellbeing with individuals, groups and communities;
• developing a range of consumer and educational resources;
• encouraging and enabling people to seek and maintain contact with primary health care providers and other support services; and
• enabling and encouraging connections between people with diabetes.

Australian audience

Please be aware that this service is based in Australia. Counsellors are trained in and adhere to the legislation and practice guidelines of Australia only. This makes it very difficult for the service to provide appropriate personal counselling for overseas visitors.

If you are visiting from outside of Australia, you are welcome to use the Discussion Forum and Chat Rooms freely. If you are visiting from outside of Australia and you choose to submit a request for personal counselling it is entirely the discretion of the service as to whether your query can be dealt with and you will be advised of that. It is also not possible for the service to refer overseas visitors to face to face services. There are some links here to International sites where you may find more appropriate services.

Cost

The service is currently free of charge and we hope to keep it this way - your support will enable us to do so. We currently work with more than 60 new people each month and receive in excess of 11,000 hits per day to our website.

Please see our Sponsors page to find out more about all of our supporters and sponsors and to become involved in supporting us.

Many thanks to Artifact Interactive for the original design and support for this website
http://www.artifactinteractive.com.au

Many thanks to Vmedia, Adelaide SA, for the current design and ongoing generous support of this website as one of our major donors of their services
http://www.vmedia.com.au

Medical advice

Diabetes Counselling Online Inc provides information and advice as a social work and counselling service only. Diabetes Counselling Online Inc does not give personal medical advice. Information on this site should not be used for diagnosing or treating diabetes. Nor should information found here take the place of the advice of your doctor or medical team. Always see your diabetes specialist if you have concerns about your diabetes care. Links to information about the medical aspects of diabetes can be found here, but Diabetes Counselling Online Inc takes no responsibility for any information obtained via any link. Diabetes Counselling Online Inc and any person involved with providing this service takes no responsibility for any advice provided by another member of the public in discussions held in forums and chat rooms. It is up to you to make your own decisions about such information provided in these forums.

Honesty in advertising & editorial policy

Diabetes Counselling Online does not display advertising for commerical purposes. Diabetes Counselling Online does not receive any funding or income from advertising or purely commercial relationships.

We do however, display links, logos and information about partner organisations; sponsors and supporters.These organisations provide funding or sponsorship without direct commercial gain. Any articles or links provided by such organisations will be of an educational nature and not connected to a commercial venture.

We will never promote one particular product over another, but rather provide information about all options for management of diabetes and wellbeing - with it being up to the consumer as to their choices. The fact that one company may sponsor us does not necessarily suggest their products to be superior.

"Friendly" links, or partner organisations are provided for the use of consumers in seeking other resources and avenues of support. These are not advertisements.