Volunteering with Diabetes Counselling Online
As a small charitable organisation volunteers are vital to our work with people with diabetes and their families. We are building our volunteer group all the time and would love you to join us!
Please download the Volunteer_Registration_short_version (2) and email our Volunteer Manager Lorraine on lorrainepitman@diabetescounselling.com.au You can also post to us at Po Box 4004 Tranmere Nth SA 5073.
There are many ways you can help. You can chat with Lorraine about how and what you might be interested in doing.
This includes fundraising and assisting with moderation of our forums, groups and facebook groups. Our programme “Sweet Relief” will be starting later in 2013 – 2014 and will involve training to provide peer counselling to other people with diabetes. We will also be seeking people interested in development of our Youtube channel across 2012-2013.
Fundraising includes assisting with selling Channel 9 Telethon lottery tickets among your personal and professional networks. It is easy to do, we send you the books and you have plenty of time to place in shop fronts, sell at work and among family and friends. All proceeds of the Channel 9 Telethon lotteries go towards our counselling services.
Faces of DCO
Our new “Faces of DCO” volunteer programme is starting in 2013! We are seeking volunteers in each state to represent us at various diabetes events, local shows and field days and anywhere else it may be important for Diabetes Counselling Online to have a face.
Please email lorrainepitman@diabetescounselling.com.au if you can help. There will be training about what we would like you to do and how to represent us, as well as the support you will receive such as travel costs to attend a rural show in your state (for example).
Meet our Volunteers!
We have a small team of volunteers who provide moderation of our group forums and online chat sessions via Facebook. Without these people we would not be able to offer the services we do. Our volunteer group also includes those who support us at fundraising events and provide their time freely to help us to raise much needed funds. We thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts for sharing our passion and supporting others living with diabetes.
Meet some of them here!
Chris (Redadare) is our primary moderator on our DCO forums. You will see his posts in reply to many people who use the forums. He has been helping us for a number of years and brings a lot of personal experience. “Red” was diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes in 2005 when the hospital found he had a BGL of 27.1 mmol. A blood test a few days later showed that he was on the verge of having a heart attack with HbA1C 13.5% and Cholesterol , “especially the bad one” LDL, at 3.8. All that at age 56. With the benefit of hindsight Red says he reckons the onset of diabetes happened in Aug 1998 while he was working in Darwin. Because he was so high in blood glucose levels for so many years, it meant that tablets alone weren’t going to be the answer and he was put on insulin 6 months later. Its only from the start of this year that Red says he has gotten serious about getting fitter and losing weight as he has the “Sword of Damoclese” hanging over his head threatening dire actions on failure actions that will not only hurt the body but also the back pocket at the same time!
We thank Red for his continued wisdom, caring, humour and time.
Janene (Nene ) has been on our moderator team for many years, although with personal health problems she has not been able to be around for a lot of 2011-2012. She is hoping to re-join us in 2012-2013. Nene has type 2 diabetes and many related conditions. Nene has been a major support to people over time on the forums and chat sessions and brings a sense of humour and personal experiences of struggling with multiple health conditions.
We thank Nene for her generosity and caring in supporting people on the DCO site.
Sharon (Shadon5) joined us in June 2012. She has been an active member of our community and you will notice her posts to many people on the site so we thought it was time to formalise her role! She shows great insight into the ways diabetes can impact on your life and you can find great support at our forums in discussions with Sharon and our team.
We thank Sharon for taking time as always, to consider other people’s need to chat with others who understand.
Marg has been a long time supporter of families with type 1 diabetes and a volunteer moderator for DCO. She now moderates on our Facebook group for parents with kids with diabetes. Marg is a parent of an adult son with Type 1 diabetes who was diagnosed at the age of 10. She lives in Adelaide with her husband and both adult children live in Adelaide.
Marg was involved in JDRF fundraising since her son was diagnosed until recent years. She is proud of the fact that she and her daughter have attended every Adelaide (Glenelg/Brighton/Glenelg) Walk to Cure since 1996 when her son was diagnosed and just loves the Walk. She works part time in aged care having previously worked in legal offices originally. She recently became an Enrolled Nurse after part time study.
Catherine, Mum of a teenage daughter with type 1 diabetes and also a Senior Volunteer with JDRF brings a wealth of knowledge to our parents group. She has recently begun to assist with our regular chat sessions and will be an invaluable part of our team.
Kellie is a long time supporter and volunteer with us and works hard at many of our events and behind the scenes. She is a busy mum of 2, a 14 yr old son and 11 year old daughter. Kellie is studying Cert IV in Children’s Services (and loves it!) and have been volunteering for DCO for several years. She has several family members and friends with diabetes and know how important it is for people to have access to support when its needed.
We thank all involved for their time and generosity in offering this to other people living with diabetes.