From July 22 to August 26t, the “Slow Diabetes (1)” virtual program focuses on the mental health of people living with diabetes. Objectives: to raise awareness of the importance of this theme in the management of this disease and to offer practical tools to alleviate the mental burden of patients.
The program will cover several approaches to mental health, developed with Coline Hehn, health psychologist at the Federation:
– “Cultivating a peaceful relationship with the body during the summer”;
– “Feeling of guilt: how to avoid it?”;
– “Eating disorders: understanding and identifying them better”.
A focus on mental health, why?
« Mental health is an important theme to discuss in the context of a chronic illness, especially diabetes, where the pathology affects various aspects of daily life. Learning to live with diabetes, discovering it, making it your own… all this requires effort from patients and it is necessary to support them in order to break the taboo around mental health in order to offer better care » explains Coline Hehn, health psychologist at the Federation. In 2021, no less than 12 million French people lived with a chronic illness recognized within the framework of the long-term illness system (ALD), which are all reasons which convinced the Federation to open this new module.
In addition, during the summer, bodies become naked and for chronic illnesses requiring medical devices such as diabetes with continuous glucose sensors, body image can be affected. “ Each person has their own life story and will emotionally invest in their medical device in their own way. Several factors can play a role, such as discussions with health professionals for a medical aspect but also sharing with peers who face the same journeys and the same questions. » explains Coline H. Through her different Slow Diabetes programsthe Federation wanted to highlight the experience of patients with diabetes but also start the discussion with health professionals.
Why register for the Slow Diabetes program?
« There are several types of support that can help a person living with diabetes not to feel alone in the face of the pathology. ” explains the psychologist. Through the Slow Diabetes program, two types of support are mobilized:
– peer support which can prove to be a strong resource because ” It is by talking with people who live the same daily life that we feel understood and that we can allow ourselves to ask certain questions. “. The Federation is at the origin of several initiatives in this direction such as the Slow Diabetes Movement which is available via a private Facebook group built around a warm atmosphere and allowing everyone to express themselves;
– the support of professionals, particularly mental health. Indeed, ” Having a space for caring listening, receiving advice for managing anxiety or simply talking things through with a neutral person can lighten the burden that people with diabetes have on their shoulders. “. The Slow Diabetes Movement makes it possible to modify certain beliefs that program participants may have in relation to health professionals, which can go as far as making an appointment or changing daily habits.
By registering for the program, for five weeks, participants will receive free of charge, in their mailbox, numerous practical resources on various themes: heat and diabetes, summer diet, mental health, going on vacation, adapted physical activity or the section “ Did you know “.
To register for the program, go to the website of the French Diabetics Federation
• Launch of the new “Slow Diabetes” program: an approach promoting the consideration of mental health in the management of diabetes. Press release from the French Federation of Diabetics, June 25, 2024.
(1) Slow Diabetes was born from the formalization of ideas and tools put in place during the first lockdown by the French Federation of Diabetics, to allow diabetic patients to live, as serenely as possible, this troubled and often distressing period for chronically ill people.
Given their success, these online meetings have become a series of thematic programs, organized under the name Slow Diabetes, which offers diabetic patients the opportunity to change their outlook on diabetes.
