Welcome to our "Men's Shed" - for men living with diabetes
This "Men's Shed" for men with diabetes has been added as part of our new project supporting men living with diabetes in rural and remote areas of Australia - "Widening the Net" - but is open to all men living with diabetes.
The idea is to create a "virtual" Men's Shed - a place where men living with diabetes can find information about diabetes, wellbeing and mental health and the ways men can be affected by diabetes, as well as information and links out to other resources.
Online Counselling for men living with diabetes
You can access free, private online counselling via email with one of our counsellors here. Please let us know on your counselling form if you are interested in participating in our study about men in rural Australia living with diabetes. All of our counselling services are free and all of our counsellors live with diabetes themselves.
If you are a man with diabetes living in a rural or remote region of Australia and you would like to join our new programme "Widening the Net" - please click here for the flier which gives more information.
First we will see if it is suitable for you to come into the programme and if so, you will either be offered counselling immediately, or placed on a waiting list for 3 months. You will be able to use all of the other areas of our site in both cases. This is to see if there are benefits of our online counselling, in addition to the other areas of our site. Of course if you need immediate counselling this will be provided and we will not place you into the programme. We will also aim to refer to a face to face counselling service if this is more suitable for you.
Forums
We have a range of group discussions at our forums here, including a "Men's Shed" forum - we encourage you to post and share your story with other people living with diabetes.
Men's Chat
We are now scheduling a time for men to chat with a moderator present, from Wednesday 26th October 2011 8 pm AEST (check daylight savings times) in our Men's Shed Channel in the chat rooms. You will need to register with our site to join. Hope to see you there!
Facebook - Australian Men with Diabetes Group
We have started a group just for Aussie men with diabetes. Please join us!
http://www.facebook.com/groups/AussieMenWithDiabetes/
Men, sheds and supporting each other!
The Australian Mens Shed Association describes the modern Men's Shed as an "updated version" of the shed in the backyard that has long been a part of Australian culture. This movement has seen Men's Sheds groups starting across Australia. Men can catch up with each other and join in and learn skills like restoring furniture, restoring bicycles for a local school, fixing lawn mowers or making a kids cubby house. These groups also offer a place for a cuppa and a comfortable place to sit and have a yarn. Our aim here, is to make a place you can do this online. You can hop across to our forums and chat rooms to find other people to chat to, access counselling on our online counselling pages and take time out and chill on our games page.
Men often don't want to talk about their health, or any problems they may be experiencing. We often tell young boys to "man up" and there is a myth that men should not cry and should be "tough". It is true that men and women can be very different from each other, but they can also be very similar - after all, we are all human beings!
Men and diabetes
It is even more important for men living with diabetes to have good support systems. This is because diabetes is a very tough disease to live with and problems such as depression are common. In addition, particular problems, such as erectile dysfunction, can be common and are often are not talked about.
Men in the rural and remote areas of our country tend to have even less access to health services to help with their diabetes and their wellbeing.
There are many additional pressures and stress for men living with diabetes.
At Diabetes Counselling Online we are keen to make sure this is a place that is useful and accessible to all men.
Diabetes is the fastest growing non-infectious disease in the world. Alarmingly, for every person who has diabetes, there's another person who has the disease and doesn't know it yet.
Understanding diabetes
Glucose is the basic fuel for the cells in the body. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that is released into the blood and allows glucose to move into the cells.
- Type 1 diabetes is an auto immune disease, usually first diagnosed in young children and young adults (but can be in all ages), and was previously called 'juvenile diabetes'. In type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin as the auto immune process kills the insulin producing cells;
- Type 2 diabetes, previously known as 'non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus' is the most common form of diabetes, and occurs when the body's cells don't use the insulin effectively, causing blood glucose levels to rise.
Type 2 diabetes was thought to develop only when a person was middle aged or elderly, however, with childhood obesity in developed countries reaching epidemic proportions, the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents is rising.
Type 2 diabetes accounts for about 85 per cent of all cases of diabetes, usually developing in adults over the age of 40. About 80 per cent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight, while a family history of the disease also increases an individual's chance of contracting it. Rates in our indigenous population are seven to eight times higher than in other segments of society.
Here is a game that is a bit of fun and can help with managing diabetes http://apps.facebook.com/healthseeker/
Online Mens Shed
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheShedOnline
Mens Shed Online has great resources, general forums and a you tube channel you can check out above! We are aiming in our website, to offer diabetes specific advice and support so you can utilise both resources. You may also find support via organisations such as Beyond Blue, Black Dog Institute and SANE Australia. Mensline is another great resource for men and men's health support.
We are currently developing this page, so check back soon!
