Hello, my name is Helen Edwards. I was born in 1967 and have had type-1 diabetes since 1979, when I was 12 years old. I live in Adelaide in South Australia. I am married and have 2 children.
I qualified with a four-year degree with Honours in Social Work at the University of South Australia in 1988 and am an Accredited Social Worker. I am also a registered Mental Health Worker under the Medicare Allied Health Initiative. I have worked as a Social Worker in the areas of health and welfare since 1989. This has included individual and family counselling, project work, community development and training and education.
You can check my credentials by contacting the Australian Association of Social Workers on: FREECALL: 1800 630 124. They can verify that I am a registered and Accredited member of the Australian Social Work Association and a registered Mental Health Worker with a provider number under the Medicare Allied Health Initiative.
I studied Diabetes Education and Management at Flinders University in South Australia in 2004 and am a qualified Diabetes Educator and a member of the Australian Diabetes Educators Association (ADEA), Australian Diabetes Society (ADS), Australasian Society for Pyschological Research in Diabetes (ASPRID) and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
I am able to offer my personal understanding and experiences of living with diabetes over a long period of time, as well as my professional skills and expertise.
Part time Counsellors
Kay Philp
Kay is a registered Psychologist and has extensive experience in counselling, teaching and supervision. She lives in Qld and is fully registered with the Qld Psychologists Board. Kay has also had type 1 diabetes for 35 years so has personal experience of living with it.
Kay provides part time personal counselling up to a day a week. All personal counselling requests will come via Helen Edwards who refers them on to Kay as appropriate. We will let you know Kay's email address if you are to work with her.
Karen Smit
Karen is a regular member of the Diabetes Counselling Forum and has been posting here for many years. She has been a valuable support to many people. Her daughter has type 1 diabetes so she has personal experience in parenting a young child with diabetes. Karen is also a mental health nurse and has many skills in counselling as well as clinical knowledge of diabetes. Karen provides support/advice here at the discussion forum and is one of our forum moderators.
Helen Wilde
Helen has a
Bachelor of Arts; Bachelor of Education, Dip T (sec) and has 10 years counselling experience in secondary schools. She also has Type 2 diabetes and is the parent of a child (now adult) with type 1 diabetes. Her teaching experience and training
includes drama, with strong elements of narrative and psychology. She is an experienced educator and counsellor and provides personal counselling of up to a day week. If you are to work with Helen, we will send you her email address so you can have conversations with her.
