Introducing Mindful Diabetes
(a new kind of coaching program)
For the last few months, I have been thinking about how I want to impact the diabetes community in a deeper, more sustainable way.
Since becoming a Certified Diabetes Care & Education Specialist this past June, and long before that, I have considered the needs that I see in the community along with the strengths that I have as an educator and behavior change specialist.
And I noticed a few things.
As someone with an expertise in the “mental” side of diabetes, this is something that comes up a lot in social media and in conversations I have with patients and providers alike. There just isn’t enough discussion and support on what I call the “mental management” of diabetes - the thoughts, beliefs, decisions, and emotions of PWDs. So there’s a relevance problem.
Diabetes education is provided… when the patient goes looking for it. The PWD has to ask the questions (and remember all their questions between appointments!), and if there isn’t someone readily available to answer, the question might never get answered. So there’s an accessibility problem too.
For the past few years, I have run both group coaching programs, that generally last 8-12 weeks, and I have also taught classes, usually 2 to 4 weeks (sometimes a little longer). I love connecting with people, I love addressing issues that really matter to them, and I love providing a fresh take to diabetes education material.
But I don’t love how temporary those things are, and I don’t like that it can feel like luck of the draw as to whether or not a program is enrolling or that you can afford it.
After doing a lot of market research, I finally came up with something:
Mindful Diabetes.
Mindful Diabetes encompasses the 3 things that I find absolutely essential in managing diabetes:
nonjudgemental awareness and acceptance of our experiences (literally, mindfulness).
a clear understanding of our values and priorities
a willingness to experiment and explore the best action plan to achieve both short-term and long-term goals.
Much of this are elements taken directly from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a psychotherapy approach I use in treating clinical mental health issues as a licensed therapist.
But guess what?!
They also work for identifying blood sugar patterns, improving our diabetes decision-making system, and developing a better relationship with our diabetes and a more compassionate relationship with ourselves.
The Difference.
Mindful Diabetes is a membership, rather than a coaching program, which means it runs as an ongoing subscription. Each month, you’ll get:
2 calls
a workshop-style training on a different topic related to behavior change, mindset, or diabetes management
a group coaching call where we will discuss how to implement the concepts and interventions we learned about in the workshop
a community forum where you can ask questions and share updates
monthly challenges to help you practice and explore what we’re learning about
plus other bonus calls and events as we move through the year
The total investment is as low as $30/month if you commit to the whole year ($35/mo for 6 month subscription, $50 if you go month-to-month), so you can see how this is really set-up to support you for the long haul.
Life with diabetes doesn’t have an end point, and ideally, neither will this group! The community will exist whenever you need it to help you grow and develop into the kind of PWD you want to be.
Enrollment for the January calls opens December 18 and it will only be open through December 29! Enrollment will re-open for February in late January. Our first call of the 2024 will be on… How to Set Compassionate Goals.
You’ll be hearing more about this topic in the coming weeks!
Join the waitlist today so you don’t miss you, PLUS you’ll get some great bonuses:
a 30 min call with me! (Or a 30min credit for a full-length coaching intake)
a Future Me handout to vision-board your 2024
25% code to the Your T1D Pregnancy course
and one month FREE (get your 2nd, 6th or 12th month complimentary).
As a total aside, I am going to be sunsetting this Substack at the end of 2023 and moving all of my marketing over to Flodesk. If you enjoy receiving my emails, make sure you resubscribe. I will NOT be transferring emails as I want to make sure only people who really want to hear from me are a subscriber.