I mentioned Diabetes Mentoring on Twitter, two days ago. I had no real intentions of discussing it let alone to write a blog post about it but here we are. I wrote about it in passing as I tweeted what was an unusually busy few days of Diabetes related things involving focus groups, podcasts and commercial interests. Then, yesterday, I took a video call from somebody I am mentoring and, as is my want, I tweeted what was a positive experience for me. Again, no real intentions to discuss just an outlet for some positiveness which can be rare for people managing Diabetes. The response has been very encouraging!
Most of my tweets get a few likes and a few comments and that's cool. The mentoring tweet appeared to get more than average engagement, with a couple reaching out to me in direct messages to ask how they can help. Amazing! So, let's get into how this began and where it might go...
...I try to be an open sort of fella on social media. If you tweet me then I'll try to at least acknowledge it or reply to you. If you direct message me then I'll nearly always reply. Why not? social media is about engagement, for me and if you talk to everyone then you can form better, rounded, views of your preferred subjects, for me, mostly Diabetes and mostly T1D. Because of my openness, I've been approached for help and guidance on many Diabetes related issues and I'm very happy to try to help or signpost to someone else who could. Recently, I suggested to one person that it might be better to talk about their issues via a phone call or a video call. That conversation moved to the suggestion of a more frequent "catch up" with each other and so began a mentorship which has progressed well to date.
Of course, I am only one person and there are some who might welcome a mentor but not me! I get it, I won't take offence at that, so where can that be addressed? It seems apparent that such a thing is needed and if I take into account the interest expressed in helping by others then there is no shortage of potential mentors.
Safety must be a high priority in such ventures. In my 5 years of Diabetes online engagement, I've seen evidence of horrendous things done and said by individuals who were seen as role models, respected advocates and to this day still hold positions of power and influence within Diabetes organisations. Scary, huh? So, it's vital to never put a single person at risk of exposure to individuals who have nefarious motives.
Some discussions have taken place within the #GBDoc community already. However, that community (in which I'm very active) has seen some big changes in the last year and things are still in the process of settling down. A new and potentially large step in the direction of peer supporting will likely take some time and a lot of energy. Still, that would seem the best avenue to direct individuals needing one on one support and potential mentors, while offering a safe environment for all concerned.
Potential helpers/mentors, I have noted your names and I will keep you up to speed on developments. Please be patient and remember that we're all volunteers within #GBDoc. If you're interested in helping then please let me know.
Do you need support? Then do feel free to send me a direct message on Twitter or you can email me - daddiabetic@gmail.com I can't offer support to everybody but I will try to direct you to someone who can help you if I can't. Obviously, I don't offer medical advice or counselling - If you do need those things then I will direct you to the right places.
That's it for today. A short blog that was too long for a tweet and I hope it sheds some light on that particular subject. Fire any questions at me should you have any. Mentoring is a feel good thing to do. Do you know what else is a feel good thing to do? Helping those who are literally fighting for their lives in war zones such as Ukraine...
...As you might have seen, a conflict has broken out in Ukraine as Russia has invaded that country. The scenes on TV and on social media are horrifying. What can we do? Well, I don't think there is a wrong way to help if you donate to charities who are active in helping the people of Ukraine. I support many charities but one which has always had my heart is MSF. Medecins Sans Frontieres translates as Doctors Without Borders. When it comes to the health of others in disaster areas, war zones and the like then I think we all have a duty to do what we can to help and help those who directly help! such as MSF. With that in mind, all donations to me via Buy Me a Coffee and all the pennies generated through the ads dotted around my pages will be donated to MSF. I will make up the difference for the fees taken by PayPal and Buy Me a Coffee. That will run until further notice, no time frames and possibly until Ukraine is a free country again. Thank you for reading my blog.
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