ADS NDSS Projects

The following Australian Diabetes Society project was funded under the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS). The National Diabetes Services Scheme is an initiative of the Australian Government administered by Diabetes Australia.

Enhancing Your Consulting Skills - Supporting self-management and optimising mental health in people with type 1 diabetes

Support by health professionals to help people with type 1 diabetes to optimise both their diabetes self-management and their mental health is critical, but the skills involved are not necessarily intuitive. Although there is evidence that these skills can be defined and acquired, just as in any other area of clinical expertise, there have been few resources available in Australia to help health professionals develop the required expertise. The training resource “Enhancing Your Consulting Skills: Supporting Self-Management and Optimising Mental Health in People with Type 1 diabetes” has been created to help meet this educational need. It has been specifically developed for advanced trainees in adult endocrinology in Australia, but will also be a helpful reference for their supervisors and other interested health professionals involved in diabetes care.

The development of this resource has been a combined initiative of the Australian Diabetes Society (ADS), the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) and Diabetes Australia (DA). The lead author, Dr Jennifer Conn, is a member of the ADS Council and is Chair of its Health Professional Education Committee. Other major contributors have been Dr Christel Hendrieckx (clinical psychologist) and Dr Carol Silberberg (liaison psychiatrist).

It is now available in electronic format through the ADS website at: [http://diabetessociety.com.au/download-request.asp]. It can be downloaded free of charge for individual use. Please Note that you will be required to submit a request for download and obtain your password prior to receiving the download link. Hard copies of the resource are available from the ADS Secretariat.

For further information, please contact the ADS Secretariat (02) 9256 5462

Citation:

Conn JJ, Silberberg CL, Henrieckx C, Nankervis AJ, Cheung NW, Jenkins AJ, on behalf of the Australian Diabetes Society. Enhancing your consulting skills - supporting self-management and optimising mental health in people with type 1 diabetes. Canberra: National Diabetes Services Scheme; 2014.