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JUST DUK 1T

Youth led project using social media to engage with young people and offer peer support

Watch the website launch, made in partnership with Young Scot's 'Truth about Youth' project

Last year, Diabetes Scotland received funding from Kwik-Fit Insurance Financial Services, after one of their colleagues passed away due to complications from Type 1 diabetes. Tammy Battles was only 22 years old, and hadn’t told anyone she worked with about her condition. With this money, we felt it would be appropriate to work with young people with Type 1 diabetes on developing a resource which could provide those living with the condition with the information and support they need to effectively self-manage, whilst engaging in the everyday activities of a young person.

JUSTDUK1T.org.uk was developed fully by a group of young people with Type 1 diabetes across Scotland. They feel the brand that they have created gives them and their peers a strong identity and creates a network in which they can connect with each other – sharing understanding, learning, and support.

 

To complement this they have active social media pages, which allows the group to start a two-way conversation with other young people with the condition, and widening their reach.

 

The website itself has had over 23, 000 hits since Sept 2013, has 312 followers on Twitter, and 425 likes on Facebook.

 

The group regularly update content on all 3 sites, and do as much as they can to promote the project by holding talks at local schools, community groups, events, conferences, and handing out promotional materials in their communities.

 

This year, we have undertaken a new phase of the project after discovering that there are many issues which affect young people with Type 1 diabetes. It seems that young people are not engaging with their health care services, and subsequently are missing crucial health checks and screening which could potentially minimise many complications of the condition. Therefore, we have secured funding to work with diabetes clinics in 4 Health Boards in Scotland to increase youth engagement in their services.

We are in the process now of again working with a group of young people, to develop a ‘Youth Engagement Toolkit’. This will encompass a series of skills and techniques which healthcare professionals can work through to improve the way they engage with young people in their diabetes care. As part of this, we are encouraging young people to set up ‘Young people’s groups’ in their area, in which they can provide peer-support to each other. This is accompanied by ‘Facebook Groups’ which will be run and owned by young people, and supported by their diabetes clinics.

These Facebook groups normalise the condition, they destroy the isolation which prevents young people from properly self-managing because of the discrimination they face from the wider community. Connection with others helps to empower young people to move past the denial and anger that can follow diagnosis and haunt the years that follow and accept their type 1. This acceptance and the confidence it brings is vital to self-management of the condition.

 

"Facebook groups have changed my outlook on diabetes, it has allowed me to live with diabetes and not just ignore it. I think that's because I can see the amount of people that are in the same position as me and dealing with the same things"

- Teenager from Tayside

Hopefully through these groups, young people will start engaging with their diabetes care and getting the support they need to manage their condition.

                                                                                             Dani Cochrane, Youth Development Worker, Diabetes Scotland

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