Join me as I sit down with Courtney Kellett, a licensed therapist and Type 1 diabetic, to uncover the expectations and benefits of therapy for those living with Type 1 Diabetes. In this enlightening conversation, we explore the factors that determine the fit between a client and a therapist, and how trust is established within the therapeutic relationship. We also discuss the role of therapists in setting goals and collaborating with clients, as well as the unique ways therapy can support parents of children with type 1 diabetes. If you're seeking support or looking to build a strong network within the diabetic community, this episode offers valuable insights and guidance. Don't miss out on this empowering discussion!
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Join me as I sit down with Courtney Kellett, a licensed therapist and Type 1 diabetic, to uncover the expectations and benefits of therapy for those living with Type 1 Diabetes. In this enlightening conversation, we explore the factors that determine the fit between a client and a therapist, and how trust is established within the therapeutic relationship. We also discuss the role of therapists in setting goals and collaborating with clients, as well as the unique ways therapy can support parents of children with type 1 diabetes. If you're seeking support or looking to build a strong network within the diabetic community, this episode offers valuable insights and guidance. Don't miss out on this empowering discussion!
Courtney on TikTok
Resources:
Join our Facebook Community
Follow me on TikTok
Follow me on Instagram
Welcome to the Type 1 Unscripted Podcast. My name is Sean and we are pulling back the curtain on the true experiences of life with Type 1 Diabetes. Together, we will explore the highs and lows of living with Type 1, sharing stories of inspiration and triumph, educating and learning and, most importantly, fostering our amazing Type 1 community. As a reminder, anything you hear on the Type 1 Unscripted Podcast, or any episode, should not be taken as medical advice. So before making any changes to your diet, insulin or health care plan, please consult with your physician or medical professional. Welcome to another episode of Type 1 Unscripted, and to say that we are excited about today's episode would be probably an understatement, because we're going to talk about something that is very near and dear to me and that is the whole idea of therapy and therapy for Type 1 Diabetics. And on today's show, I'm so excited to invite Courtney Kellett. Courtney, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Thanks, sean, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:You're so welcome and I'm going to state the obvious this is not going to be the first time that Courtney is going to be here. We have a few episodes planned a series, if you will and I'm really excited about this because not only are we going to be talking about just therapy, but like other things that kind of go along with therapy, and diabetes, like ADHD Courtney and I both suffer from that. We were just talking a few minutes ago about our medications and all the stuff. So, yeah, it's going to be a really good episode. So Courtney has been a therapist for six years and not only is she a licensed therapist, she's also a Type 1 diabetic. So, courtney, you said I think you're a 28 years old now. You were diagnosed at the age of two, so this has been your whole life. This is all that you've known is being a Type 1. So tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so a bit about my diagnosis story. So I was like two years old when I was finally diagnosed, but the road to getting the diagnosis was actually a bit rough. You know, it was back in the 90s. I don't think they had as much knowledge about diabetes and kind of what to look for as they do now. So my mom had noticed the telltale signs. I was peeing a lot, drinking a lot. Obviously I was losing a lot of weight. She was very concerned.
Speaker 2:We went to the hospital and the attending physician he kind of had this air mom was saying of like sort of brushing it off. So he diagnosed me with croup, which I don't know how. That was the diagnosis that was formulated. So I got sent back home, continued to decline. Mom brought me right back. Thank goodness there was a new attending physician. He actually went on to be my family doctor. He looked at me and right away he's like yeah, anyways, like get this girl a glucose test. They tested me and it was off the charts. So that was kind of my story. My mom bless her is a saint. My youngest sister was just born at the time too. So imagine, you know, caring for this newborn baby and then a child who's just been diagnosed with diabetes.
Speaker 1:Yep, and so see, my story is so different because I was just diagnosed in the last couple of years, and so it's been a new change for me. I used to know life as you know, life without diabetes. And now it's this whole thing of just that switched over nine.
Speaker 1:And somebody asked me one time you know what's the difference, is it better to be diagnosed as a child or as an adult? And I think there are pros and cons to both. I think as an adult you don't have to go through the stress of, like, managing diabetes in school and all those things and, like you, get to live a normal life. You also have a little bit more appreciation of life and a maturity of life, whereas, you know, a teenager may not appreciate that as much, but then also, this is all you know. Like it's not a. You know you grow. You grew up learning about type one, how to manage type one, and where adults who have like onset have to have that crash course and it's completely overwhelming.
Speaker 2:I almost sort of view getting a diagnosis as like a grieving process and the way of it rocks your world and things aren't how they used to be. Like there's so many changes, it's a loss of the way things were. So you know, that can be quite an adjustment and I guess I am fortunate and not sense that because it was my sense of normalcy and whatever that means. I felt like I didn't have to go through that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's. That sounds like a really good sick way to therapy.
Speaker 2:I would say so.
Speaker 1:We did not plan this, by the way, but before we do that, though, I want to talk a little bit about you and kind of what you do. I've been licensed therapist for six years, as we said a few minutes ago. Yeah, I also have here in my notes that you did a little bit of social work in the local hospital with a diabetic care team for Pete, so tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:Oh yes. So that was a really amazing experience. It was something that when it was posted, I just felt like there was this calling deep within my soul like you have to do this, you have to pay it forward, because growing up like I had a pediatric diabetes team as well and my social worker from that team always stood out to me and I thought, you know, it was a unique experience just living with the condition myself. It gave me a real edge in being able to develop rapport with families and children because I understood exactly what they were going through. So I really, really enjoyed my time there. It was so valuable and actually it was kind of that experience there that really opened my eyes to just how prevalent mental health struggles are in the diabetes community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you did that for a amount of time and now you run your own practice. So how does that gap become rich? How did you get from one point to the other?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So actually you know, I started doing private therapy kind of as a side game. To be honest, I think when COVID happened, a lot of people kind of made that jump and when you know I started doing that, like I realized it was the actual like delivering of therapy, talking and connecting with other humans. That was my favorite part of the work that I did. So I really think, like you know, if you can find a job that you're passionate about, it makes it a lot easier to show up and do that job well. So it just seemed like a natural transition for me. It just took some time to kind of build up a case load where I felt like I could make that jump. And since I've done it I've been doing that for it's been over two years now. I haven't looked back Like it is so rewarding and the people yeah, people that I get to meet like they've changed me.
Speaker 2:I've learned so much from my clients and, you know, I hope they learned some stuff for me too.
Speaker 1:So that that's really exciting, because not only do you I think this is two fold here because you get that you have the therapist side and then you have your diabetic side, so you really get a good understanding of how helpful it can be, which is kind of the whole point of today's episode. We want to talk about therapy and why it's needed. I would go as far to say it's needed for everybody, no matter what you're going through.
Speaker 1:But for the purpose of today's episode, we want to talk about chronic illness and people who are living with diabetes or type one diabetes, maybe even type two diabetes as well, because it's all difficult, it's a lot to manage, it's a lot to take in and it can be very traumatic.
Speaker 1:And we have a whole nother episode, if you're listening. There's a whole nother episode that we plan on doing just about trauma alone, like just the idea of depression and how that could be very traumatic. Or maybe you had a very traumatic experience with a certain low or a certain high and all that can tie into. But today we're going to kind of script the surface, if you will, just the importance of therapy, why it's so special and why it's needed. So let's start there. Courtney, in your opinion, or in your idea, why is therapy so essential for individuals living with a?
Speaker 1:chronic illness such as type one diabetes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I guess. So to start with that, just acknowledging what you sort of already said, like I think therapy is a universal thing in the sense that anyone, provided that they're ready and open minded and willing to try the process, can benefit from it. I do think, especially you know, people who are living with something like a chronic illness, including diabetes. Therapy sort of all the more important, and I think, for a number of reasons. So what we know about the nature of diabetes and mental health is that just given sort of the round the clock care that's required, different things like a focus on control, rigid, you know, sort of rules around food, it makes us much more likely to develop, you know, something like a mental health concern. I was just looking actually at it was the CDC. They had an article published for depression alone, which is a pretty prevalent mood disorder. Diabetics on average are two to three times more likely than the general population to experience something like depression or diabetes despair. So I just think that statistic alone we're at a heightened likelihood of experiencing mental health struggles and I think you know it makes a lot of sense to me.
Speaker 2:This is just me kind of pulling from my own experience, but I can remember as a young girl being in the pediatric world. I hope it has since changed, but I don't know. I remember there being a real emphasis on the need for tight control and really like there was a use of scare tactics. It was like if you didn't get these numbers, like worst case scenario is gonna happen you're gonna be on dialysis, you'll lose your vision, your limbs. So for a young child, it was like it almost primed my nervous system to be hypervigilant and anxious about numbers and control and feeling like so much was out of my control. Because that's essentially diabetes, right, there's so much that can influence it. It's not always an easy thing to manage. You know, I also think diabetics, uniquely like, have a likelihood of mental health problems we wouldn't see in other populations. So, to give you an example, I don't know, sean, if you've ever heard of the term diabolemia.
Speaker 1:I have not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, so let me give you a little rundown of this. This was actually why I started my TikTok channel, because it's not something that's talked about really at all, and that's because I think there's a lot of ignorance, sort of just, in the medical community and the mental health community through no fault of their own. It's because it's not being talked about enough. So, essentially, diabolemia it's a combination of the word diabetes and bulimia nervosa, which is an eating disorder. In bulimia, what you would see would be episodes of sort of eating regularly or overeating and to avoid weight gain, there's compensatory behaviors known as purging. So that's where you would see things like throwing up laxative use, overexercising.
Speaker 2:But did you know that omitting insulin is another form of purging? So when you omit your insulin, it does build something called ketones in the bloodstream, and ketones and the lack of insulin prevent our food from being absorbed and used as energy. So what happens is we pee it out in our urine. So that is a thing that happens in the diabetic community that no one's talking about. Is that oftentimes it's younger girls who are concerned about body image and weight and engage in omitting insulin as a way to lose weight?
Speaker 1:So, when this happens, how does therapy play this role? So how does someone recognize this? And let's say they recognize that this is a problem and they're interested in therapy, but they're not sure exactly how therapy is going to help them. Like, what role does?
Speaker 2:therapy play in this Right. So I would say, in the case of diabolemia, I mean, therapy should play a huge role. I think part of the problem is because it's not talked about enough or because, like, our understanding of what constitutes as a needing disorder is still shifting. People often don't realize that it is a problem. They know that they're doing something that's unhealthy by omitting their insulin and they know there's long-term consequences, but if they don't have a name to it they can feel pretty isolated in that. So I think part of it is the education and the awareness piece. Then I think the other part is sort of figuring out where to look right, like, where do we? We acknowledge that there's a problem. That's sort of the hardest part of it. It's the biggest part of it, but then it's okay.
Speaker 2:What are the resources? Private therapy is always an option. The trouble with that is that it can be expensive. Community therapy is an option. I don't know what it's like over there, but in Ontario there's really long wait lists. And I mean beyond that, if we're speaking specifically to the Diabolemia piece, there's not a lot of resources in the community. I can think of one and it's a hotline which I will share because I think it's such a valuable resource, but it is something that, yeah, it's a huge problem within the community, but it's not being talked about.
Speaker 1:It's well. I feel like there's a lot of emotional issues with type of diabetes that are not being talked about, so you got Diabolemia is one. What would be some other common emotional issues or challenges that someone? Might face, where also therapy would be super beneficial to them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, so really good question. So I think you know what I've seen before, and certainly kind of experienced it as well, is just the kind of frustration and sometimes hopelessness that can come with having to pay so much attention to every single decision we're making and like how much time that sort of occupies in the brain Diabetes burnout, like I don't know if you've heard of that is something that's?
Speaker 1:yeah, experiences it very often oh me too.
Speaker 2:Me too, you know, and it is just that like, not unlike because it's a full-time job, right, like if you work lots and you don't have good boundaries you're more susceptible to burnout. But diabetes is tricky because it's like you never really get a break, right? Yeah, so I think just that frustration, maybe depression or low mood that comes from hopelessness, like that's a pretty common thing I would see. Certainly, I think diabetics are more likely to be anxious, not just about the condition, but because they're kind of primed to be more anxious because of things like the perfectionism and need for control, but then also like experiencing, like you were saying really really high blood sugars or really really low blood sugars.
Speaker 2:You know, I couldn't imagine, as you know, a new, newer diabetic. That must have been so, so confusing emotionally but also physically, like just to.
Speaker 1:Well, I I went through a misdiagnosis phase for a year and a half.
Speaker 1:So for 18 months or so I was sick and you know the the first time I went to the doctor's office it was because I was there for a well check and they just ran a lot of labs and like oh hey, your blood sugar and a 1c is a little elevated. I was in pre diabetic range at the time and Like this is just a red flag, let's watch it. And like I want to recheck this. And you know, a couple months I come back, we recheck it. A once easy, even higher. I'm in diabetic range.
Speaker 1:All of a sudden and I've done, I I was, you know, my diet was good. Like she warned me about my diet, I was like, hey, you don't have to say you're saying anything twice, right, because I I won't be on top of this. I do not want to go down that road. And my a1c just kept climbing and climbing with every check, no matter how much I worked out, no matter how much I controlled my diet. We tried metformin. My body did not do well with that. We tried ozimpy I didn't do well with that, nothing was working. But nobody seemed to Like, hey, maybe this is not type one. Nobody seemed to cross that, that question. And of course I was uneducated.
Speaker 1:I was, I had, you know, very little awareness about what questions I should be asking, so I didn't know to ask about asking for type one right because I have the same common Thought that most people do, that this is something that's developed as a child, that's what people teach or they have taught, and so it was a very traumatic experience for me. I, I myself, went through Major clinical, major depression. I had. It took me, it took me a long time to accept the fact that I needed therapy. I Did not want to and I think this is really important to talk about now We'll get your insight on this because the one of the big things for me was I did not want to be vulnerable, I did not want to cross that barrier, I didn't want to open up that part of my life, because not only was I dealing with the idea of feeling alone as far as being sick, but, as we all know, if you're, if you're, if you're a diabetic, you know that high blood sugars, uncontrolled, can control your personality, it can control your temper, and that was affecting my relationship with my family, with my friends, everyone around me.
Speaker 1:My job I had previously, before my depression really cranked up, had lost my job. Also, I lost a really close friend who had passed away, and so all of it would just kind of bundled up and then you throw on hey, you're sick. We don't know why. We're not really looking into it that hard, but here's what's going on and it was just everything came crashing down and you know, we'll call it like it is and I think we'll save a lot of this for our episode on the trauma part. But you know, suicidal thoughts kind of create things, the idea of like hey, I Don't want to deal with this anymore, I'm tired of it. And that was just me going through a misdiagnosis phase. Right, I can't even imagine. You know, there are people out there who have been living with this disease for years and years, and years and they're just done like I you know I'm done so if we can.
Speaker 1:You mentioned diabetic burnout. I kind of want to break that down a little bit deeper, because I feel like that's the that's the terminology that a lot of people are the most familiar with and that can happen whether you've been a diabetic for 20 years or if you've been a diabetic for a year. I think burnout can happen just like that, a snap of a finger yeah.
Speaker 1:So let's break that down a little bit. Maybe you know it's open up the idea of what burnout is. And then I kind of want to talk about If someone was to come into a therapy session and that's what they're dealing with right now how would therapy help them get through that stage of their life.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I guess I can start with the burnout piece, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a start there, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the way that I would conceptualize like diabetes burnout and it's certainly something I've experienced Myself, I've seen it in some of the kids that I used to work with it's really In sort of simple terms, like wanting to take a vacation from diabetes. So with that, you know it can just come. You know, some of the symptoms might be like lack of motivation to Do all the blood sugar checks or to give insulin To follow like the insulin carb ratios, so things can start to slip. It might be a sense of hopelessness just around the condition and long-term management. Irritability is something that we see a lot like with burnout. It's not unlike sort of the burnout you would experience, say, from doing a job.
Speaker 2:We're taking on too much. The difference in where it gets tricky is that you know there's some real adverse Consequences that can occur the longer the burnouts there. Yeah, so that that's sort of how I would conceptualize burnout. Hints to kind of look for is would be like you know what are the blood sugar levels, what's the A1C like? Those are kind of things that I feel are teen right should check in around. There are no changes in patterns.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, those are kind of the early signs and, in my experience, you know, combating the burnout, like there's a couple of things that you can do.
Speaker 2:I think reaching out To your care team and letting them know that you're struggling could be a really good first step, because maybe, you know, maybe you have to look over Things like I don't know sensitivity or carb ratios, or maybe we need to connect you kind of with another resource, like maybe there's too much on your plate, you know, so modifications could be made there. And, and you know, that might be a good end to, to be able to meet with someone like a therapist or a social worker, like hey, I'm just so exhausted this feels impossible. I also think being able to connect with others who are in the same boat can be helpful, you know, and and self-care is huge, especially because diabetes is, unlike work right, like we can't really take a vacation from it. So Trying to make sure we're being kind and gentle and caring for ourselves in the other areas of life where we can, which I know is easier said than done- yeah, I was actually gonna.
Speaker 1:I want to ask about that because yeah, I feel like that was a challenge for me was I Don't care about myself, I don't care about what other, I didn't care about what I thought about myself. I didn't care what others thought about myself there was just there was no self-love to be found and. It took some. It took some very Straightforward talk from my therapist and I asked her to be real with me. Like you know, cut me no slack, Tell me like it is.
Speaker 1:And I think for some people. So I think there's some people who takes a different approach for me. I kind of needed to the slap in the face, just just a little bit, and in some people may not respond to that and we'll talk about you know, choosing the right therapist.
Speaker 2:We'll be in this episode.
Speaker 1:but um, how does one come to realize that there is a lack of self-love? And that's what's needed. How can they recognize that?
Speaker 2:So I think when we're talking about something like, like you were saying it was a depressive episode, you know that can present its own set of challenges, in the way that when we're feeling so low, you know, depression not only changes our mood but our thinking patterns, our behaviors and motivation is usually the first thing to go, like the drive to get out of bed. And the drive to, you know, just do day to day things can seem almost impossible. So I could, you know, to even be able to kind of, in that state one, not only recognize that you were needing therapy, but then two showing up for therapy. You know that's.
Speaker 2:I mean that's pretty impressive because that can be hard for a lot of people. As far as knowing sort of when you're ready and where to look, I think on the readiness piece, it really is sort of something. I think, two things. I think it's that subjective kind of gut instinct, right Like knowing you know that whatever's happening right now like isn't your usual self, kind of listening to instinct.
Speaker 2:But then you know, I think, like in my own case of like therapy, and like I'm open about that and I don't want to speak for everyone, but I know for me, like just even connecting with others in the community, learning about you know, okay, they're struggling to, so I'm not alone in this, and you know this is something that happens to other people and you know this is worked for them. So why not try it? I think, as much as we've come far with mental health, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done. I think some people are still rigid in the thinking that only certain kinds of people need therapy, or only I've heard it before but, like, crazy people need therapy and that's just not the case, right, a lot of people think of shrinking or they think of the shrink that terminology and I think it's so painful to hear that because it's the exact opposite of that when it comes to, you know, psychological behavior and therapy and talking it through.
Speaker 1:But when it comes to depression, though, like you said a minute ago that there was a statistic out there about diabetics are more than likely to develop some form of depression or kind of enter into that realm. What are some signs of depression, like what?
Speaker 2:would be this is.
Speaker 1:I think this right here is the key, or it could be icing on the cake for a lot of people, because to realize that you know what, I might be a little bit depressed, like I might be.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Because I feel like there's a lot of denial with this. There's like that's not me, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm okay, everything's fine, like in reality it's not you know. And so what would be? What would be some signs that to anyone listening right now, that would help them realize that they might be in this depressive state.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's a really good question. So I guess, to start, I'm going to distinguish the depression is different from sadness. Sadness is a normal human emotion. We all experience that at different times in our life. The difference between the two, though, is that depression is long standing right, meaning like we're going to in order to make a diagnosis. It's going to have to be there, like the minimum is at least for two weeks, where it's like this, just pervasive low mood. So, yeah, you can be sad or you could be grieving, but not necessarily be depressed, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:It does, it does.
Speaker 2:Really about sort of the the temporary nature kind of of emotions like sadness versus something like depression where it is long standing. So some things to look out for when we talk about depression, as I said, so motivation is usually at an all time low. It's really hard for some people to do basic things like get out of bed. Proper hygiene in the case of diabetes management like that can definitely slip. When we're feeling depressed, our thought patterns change, so we're a lot more likely to be pessimistic or hopeless when we think about the future. Our sort of waking and sleeping patterns change as well, so sleep might get disrupted.
Speaker 2:Maybe we are sleeping more sort of like a coping strategy because waking life seems too painful. Sometimes in waking life we present as being really restless or you can go the other way and really like slow down, like it's sort of one or the other Thoughts of suicide, right. This is much more likely to happen when we're in a depressive episode Increased periods of crying you might notice like gosh, I'm really crying a lot, like what's more than normal, like what's going on here, and this could be a slow, progressive thing too.
Speaker 1:Right, like it can. Like you know you could start off. I know for me the first thought of depression was it was in the month of June or July. I know it was in the summertime and I'm like I wonder if that's what I'm going through and I think the idea was I think I might be depressed, but it wasn't until the following April, when it was full blown, you know, diagnosed as clinical major depression, right.
Speaker 1:So for me I don't know how other people if that's the thing, is it always slow progressing, or can it progress really fast, or is it kind of just very?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, the long and short of it is very like mental health. When we think about it I always like to explain it to clients is like it's on a spectrum. You know there's a cluster of symptoms that we would look for, but how it presents in each individual person like looks differently. If we're making a diagnosis for something, you might not have to have all the traits right to receive a diagnosis. Now, that's not my realm. I don't do any diagnosing, but what I do is educate clients. So it's like you know, okay, you're feeling this way. Well, that's, let's look at more into this. And if we think there's something like you know, that's where you can kind of follow up with your care team.
Speaker 1:So let's, let's fast forward a second, and all that's just super fantastic, because For one Recognizing there's a problem. Right, I have a problem as one and then. I would say, you know, I kind of do this a little bit backwards here, but like recognizing that, okay, I might, I might be depressed, I might have a problem. And then recognizing, okay, well, now I need help now I need to talk to somebody about this now Let me be clear.
Speaker 1:I don't think you have to have depression to get therapy as a diabetic, like I think you could be. You don't even have to have burnout.
Speaker 1:I think it's just good to talk through things, because you may not realize this, and I'm sure you do but sometimes, when you put it in, when you say it out loud, it just kind of becomes reality. Everything that you do on a daily basis and taking care for yourself, right? You wake up, the first thing you do you check your blood sugar. You get the shower, you get dressed Guess what? You're checking your blood sugar again. And then you're making, you're making decisions throughout the day About where your blood sugar is and how you affect your mood and how you feel can I work out now?
Speaker 1:Can I take a walk now? Maybe you try to manage your doctor's appointments. You know what you're gonna eat for breakfast, what's gonna eat for lunch? Your friend contacted you. Hey, we're going out to dinner tonight and but we don't know where. So you're freaking out because you don't want the restaurant is. You don't know what you're gonna order. You can't pre-bowl this because you don't know what you're going to eat, because you don't know what's on the menu. Whoo, like that's a lot right?
Speaker 1:and that's just that's just a very small portion of some people's day and I think that I think that's just being able to just talk through things. This is where I'm at. This is how I feel, because I feel like Therapy. Correct me if I'm wrong, and please do correct me from wrong, but can it. It can help prevent Depression right. Can it help prevent or maybe not prevent I'm not sure if that's the right term but can it help. Can it help people kind of avoid going down that road?
Speaker 2:Hmm, I definitely think like, depending on sort of where it's implemented. Like I sort of think of your story right, where it was like very layered and it was a lot of things happening in your life, like you had mentioned the job stuff and then the friend stuff, and then you know just so much happening at once. And I Wonder like if you know there was an earlier intervention right, like if the intensity of sort of the episode or Clinical presentation would have looked different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I same here and of course you can't live in the past and we don't want to do that and play the what if game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm curious too, like you know, I think, I would like to think, I would like to think that you know, if you're a person living with type 1 diabetes and if they're actively in therapy, it doesn't have to be a weekly thing, but like you, know, maybe it was just once a month, you know or whatever, just even like a check-in just a check-in and I think that the therapy, the beautiful thing about this is that the therapists they're are trained to recognize patterns of Mental deterioration or whatever it may be, and that's kind of the whole point of the job there, like that. But yeah one thing I do want to ask is let's say, we get from point a to point B, we we get into therapy? What can someone expect from a therapy session?
Speaker 1:because I think, this is the fear, right? They don't. They have no idea what to expect. They don't know what's going to be said, what's gonna be, part of them. You know, I think you see you like. You see on TV or the TV shows, where you know the person's laying down on the couch and they're just building their beans about their life. Like I think there's a lot of misconceptions about therapy. So what can someone expect from a therapy session?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I absolutely think like our idea of what therapy is is largely kind of distorted by the media. I've never had a client laid out on my couch. I know that's a story and segment of already to do that. You know analysis. But We've come. You know it's definitely looks different. So I guess I can just speak to sort of what my Session kind of looks like and also what I've seen in the therapist that I've worked with.
Speaker 2:So essentially, like what to expect out of a first session. Like really the goal kind of going in Is is to see if the therapist feels like a good fit for you. So that's crucial because, more than anything, the degree of fit that you have with the therapist is the greatest indicator of how successful therapy is gonna be for you. So what determines fit? You know you're gonna want a person that you sort of feel safe with, that you can talk about things and not feel judged. It could come to down to things even like the sex of the therapist, right. Like we all kind of have Sort of different preferences and that's okay, that's a human thing.
Speaker 2:But yeah, in the first session, like that sort of, you're kind of healing out each other, right. The therapist is doing the same thing, like they want to make sure that they're a good fit for you. So it's a little bit of that. It's really just getting Kind of to know the person. So I like to kind of ease into it. You know, I like to start with the positive, like tell me a little about yourself, like what you know, what do you have going on, what do you do for work, what are your activities, things like that.
Speaker 1:You're building a real, you're building a relationship right, though that's what essentially what you're doing. You're building a level of trust.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep, and just trying to really break the ice so that Eventually they are able to kind of open up around some things. And I make that very clear. You know, at the outset I explain what they can expect. Like we're getting to know each other. I ask you know a lot of questions.
Speaker 2:But, with that being said, if we're talking about something that, for whatever reason, you just don't feel ready to go there, especially when we're working with, like trauma patients, like know that at the end of the day you're in control and we don't go there, we'll kind of compartmentalize it, put it on the shelf and then maybe we can come back when it feels better. So yeah, it's a lot of just Questions around. Once we get past all of that, like so you know what? What brings you in? What do you feel Right is maybe not going right in your life right now, and then that's where you can get a pretty rich narrative In that, you know I might do some history, taking questions like we'll tell me about how long you've been feeling this way. Is there a family history of depression? Just getting an idea of mental health history? Maybe, depending on where the session goes, we talk a little bit about family dynamics. But I like to end it with a discussion of okay, like we've talked about these things, I have a sense now who you are and what's going on.
Speaker 2:Some clients go deeper than others in the first couple sessions because people have different degrees of readiness. Yeah, but the goal is that by the end of the first session, we have some sort of path forward, and I like to work collaboratively as well on defining what those goals are. I'm pretty transparent on my clients. It's like you know, yes, I went to school and yes, I have the degrees, and it's not to minimize that, because that is important. But you know, at the end of the day, my clients are the expert of themselves in their own lives. So it's important that when we're crafting goals, it's gonna fit for them. There's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to therapy, and they should have input on on those goals. Yeah, so I guess the long and short of it would be getting to know each other, discussing what's bringing you to therapy and what you'd like to do about it.
Speaker 1:And you mentioned about the whole getting to know each other and the part and the trust factor. You know it's okay to shop around, it's okay.
Speaker 2:Oh, the same, the same thing with doctors and endocrinologists.
Speaker 1:Like, if you don't feel that trust, it's okay to say you know thanks, but I might look at another direction. I'm sure plenty of therapists have had that happen, where they learn not to take, you know, take it personal.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I had it happen, Yep.
Speaker 1:Now I wanted to sidestep this for a quick second, because I just realized that we've been talking about this whole episode about people living with type 1 and Needing therapy. But what about? We have a lot of people in our community group we have a lot of people that follow on on tick tock who are parents of type 1 kids. I can personally say that you know, I got people in my life who Experience caregiver burnout and I'm sure that's that can happen with parents just as much so yeah well, what about the benefit of parents of children who have type 1 diabetes?
Speaker 1:I'm sure therapy is helpful to them, right?
Speaker 2:Oh, 100%. Yeah, I absolutely think that is the case. I, you know so I don't have any children on my own yet. So I mean I'm not speaking from personal experience but from other parents that I've worked with Outside of like having a child with any sort of mental or physical health condition. I'm just the pressure that's put on parents is immense and, I think, Unrealistic in a lot of ways. You know that sort of be a perfect parent. Don't, don't screw your kids up.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, I guess they're like their life changes to overnight, just like someone who's living with type 1 their life, yeah, changes, changes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So then you know we're already in a society that puts a lot of pressure on parents and then to have a young one living with a chronic illness, like I just couldn't imagine that would be so stressful and I think maybe some of the Experiences that we would see in like our type 1 clients, I think the parents would also go through something similar, like if we talked about the grieving process and the adjustment to this like new life and grieving the old life and you know the burnout, the caregiver burnout, depression, like oh, anxiety is huge yeah.
Speaker 1:I can't even imagine, because I do have a. I do have a child with a syndrome who's got? A Deletion syndrome with a chromosome called 22 Q. So he has some disorders and and yeah, it's not. It's not type 1 diabetes, but same thing. There's constant doctors offices and ER visits. No, when he gets the flu, it you know, it's not just having the flu, it's everything else that's coming along. What's a flu? And the secondary infections and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah heart surgery, all the things like you'll have. He had open heart surgery in his three months old. He'll have a couple more before he's an adult and yeah, like I get it. Yeah, and you know, there's somebody that we're gonna have on our episode, on an episode hopefully in the next week or two. Her name is Christine Stewart and she is the mom of Two twin boys. I think there are three or four, I can't remember, but they have type 1 diabetes and Her husband has type 1 diabetes. So she is in a house full of type 1. She's the only one that's not. And you know I definitely now have all the questions to ask because, like I can't even imagine what she's going through.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know day-to-day she's playing caregiver, you know, to her family. Yeah, you know it could be one day that you know one of her boys is having a really rough day and lows and highs in the next day. It's he's doing fine, but the other twin is having some issues and maybe her husband and others overlap there. So, yeah, I would imagine in, not just cases like that, but you know even if you're just a parent of a child with something like type 1 just being able to Vents and get it out of your system and talk through some things and help prevent you struggling with.
Speaker 2:Emotional issues as well. Yeah, and sort of vent without judgment, right that it is hard and acknowledging like, yes, you're gonna feel burnt out and things are gonna be hopeless, and like there's gonna be some days what's like. I wish I didn't have to deal with that and that doesn't make you a bad parent or a bad person.
Speaker 1:No, that makes you a human.
Speaker 2:That just makes you a human.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I want to say this.
Speaker 1:I want to say this we often, as diabetics, say you don't know what we're going through, because you're not walking our shoes and that is true, right, I think people out there they want to care and they care so much, but at the end of the day they're not gonna know what you're going through because they are not walking through your shoes. But I do want to remind you, if you're a person out there living with type 1 diabetes, guess what? You don't know what that caregiver is going through either because you're not walking in their shoes. You, living with type 1 is different than caring for someone with type 1, and if you're caring with something, if you're caring for someone with type 1, that's different than living with type 1. So it takes this yin and yang, like back and forth of a relationship and trust to to kind of understand that, and I think that's another avenue where therapy could be Super beneficial.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. And and to speak on like the trust piece, like that is something as well, like going into it. It might take some time to develop, especially if you know we see it a lot with like people with an extensive trauma history. You know it's really hard to be able to trust in others, trust in yourself and like the world. So you know being gracious and patient with yourself during the process and and like you said to Sean, like it is, and I encourage every client like you want shop around, make sure that you know there's someone who you feel Understands kind of the nature of what you're coming in with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think a good clinician is someone who knows what's outside their scope and who can admit when they don't know something and refer on to someone who is a better fit. But yeah, I think trust is something that it's. Like any relationship it takes time and and you'll know when it's there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can feel it, it's evident. It's, it's. You can feel it just somewhere deep in your soul that this, this works. Yeah, because I think you'll, I'll think you will leave that first session and you'll be like, wow, I did not even know that I needed that even when yeah, and that's just scraping the surface. Imagine.
Speaker 1:Yeah you get to really dive in deep. So yeah, again, therapy is just so. I was about to. I was about to say therapy is therapeutic, but that doesn't that kind of you know is we're saying but it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah for sure. So I want to start kind of landing this plane a little bit, but as we do, we can see the runway here and again we've got a few more episodes. We're really gonna dive in deep about very specific topics, such as trauma, adhd, all of the stuff. But for those who are just needing to Find a therapist or find therapy or anything in this realm, what are some Ways they can do that? What are some accessible resources for them? How can they begin this journey?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think that's an important question as well. There's a couple of different avenues, I think Connecting with your care team, whether that's like your family doctor, if it's your endocrinologist, diabetes, educator you know they Often know of a lot of resources that are local, which is awesome, yeah, and you know, depending on the nature of therapy, sometimes there are referrals needed, so they would be the ones who would be able to like sign off on that. Private therapy is also an option, of course, better for folks who do have insurance. I completely understand it can be very expensive out of pocket, but the easiest way to connect, whether Privates are paying out of pocket or if there's Community resources like I'm not sure what the situation is where you're located, but like to like community mental health resources are those free to use.
Speaker 1:Yes, we do have some Available through our, through our hospital system. Okay, I believe, probably, I would like to think that a lot of your major hospital networks have some form of Free work resource out there now is going to lead actually to me, to my next question. Is it when it comes to finances? If that's a problem because I've heard of things like better help and resource like that is what kind of resources are available for people who may not be able to afford?
Speaker 2:That's their big concern is just money, yeah, yeah. So that would be where I would want to tap into some of the ones offered in the community. Or if you're like you know, I'm really adamant about just seeing like one therapist. Something that you can ask about is sliding scales, so it's kind of dependent on what your income is and you work at an agreement with the therapist to To offer the therapy at a reduced cost so that it is more affordable, because no one should really be turned away From therapy because of finances. There's a couple of I can't really speak so much to better help. I've never, like I've certainly heard of it.
Speaker 2:I I don't know firsthand how effective it is sure but things like you know hotlines, like there's the, for instance, the Diabolina hotline I'm sure you know Google would be your best friend in the search like that's where you could Google and find Therapists near me. And then it kind of pops up Psychology today is actually a good search engine to find a therapist. I don't know if it's offered in the States, but we use it here in Canada and that's cool because you would put where you're located or put sort of the presenting concern, and then it pulls up therapists with availability and sort of their area of specialty, so you can kind of go in sort of knowing what their focus is. I think, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, go ahead.
Speaker 2:So support groups I think are Super helpful, like there's 12 step programs for almost anything you can think of, like eating disorders, anonymous If substance use is a comorbid issue that we're having with diabetes, like there's lots of that. Yeah, I think I think just Googling, seeing what's kind of in the area, talking with your team, they would be good custodians to be able to like link you where you kind of need to be Really just research, that's sort of what it comes down to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I will make a point to put some of this information in the show notes. Courtney and I can collectively put some links together for you guys to be able to Quickly click on and get to some places, if that's something that you're looking forward to as far as resources go. So, as we end this episode, as we kind of tie the bow, this is, this is. This is a big one, and I save this for last, because we talked about the importance of therapy, why it's needed, how to detect things like depression or whatever it may be, or even if you're not depressed, why therapy is important. Now here's, here's the big one, this is the one. This was the hardest thing for me to do, and that's taking the first step. So what advice would you give someone who is living with type one, or a parent of a type one child? How can they take the first step? What, what kind of encouragement can you give them to get there? To Cross that thresholds is to say, hey, this is what I need to do, and yeah.
Speaker 1:I just need to do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think the first thing I would say and it's something that I actually say to any new client that I have is that what you're feeling right now you know about reaching out or even Hearing up to me. Have your first session, like with your therapist. You know the nervousness, the being unsure, like that is a very Normal response. I can't really think of another situation, or essentially we'd be meeting a stranger for the first time and be like and here's all my life problems like that just happens, so that's very normal.
Speaker 2:I almost think it would be abnormal if we were feeling like completely you know.
Speaker 1:Hi, nice to meet you. Yeah, here's my life, yeah yes.
Speaker 2:So just like I think normalizing, not experience, you know also Normalizing just seeking out therapy like it really is, and I like that. You touched on the point like you don't need a clinical mental Health diagnosis to benefit from therapy. Everyone's got stuff going on in their life stress, you know physical health, mental health, relationships. We all think thoughts and we all have feelings and we can learn how to sort of better work with that. So you know, going to therapy and and seeing someone does not make you crazy. I always just say you know it makes you human, it really like and Therapists go to me too Like I'm transparent about that as well, like I'm not perfect.
Speaker 2:I struggle in different, different areas of my life and having someone to connect to is is been invaluable for me. You know, and and also know that At the end of the day you're in control of it. So if you do meet a therapist and you're like you know what they're really nice, but I don't think it's a good fit, you don't have to go back. No, I would say, don't sort of use that one experience to paint kind of all of therapy. I think good point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think in a lot of ways, like Therapists can almost be like antidepressants in the way of sometimes you need to try a Few different ones to finally find the one that you're like and you'll know it's like okay, it's just natural and it fits correct.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you've had a shop for an endocrinologist, it's the same thing and yes. I think it's important we're talking about you know mental health here. I'll just kind of add this in that, when it comes to your health care as a type one, shopping for the right doctor is also Smart to do because, I have talked to many people just in the last month or two, since I've been making tick-tock videos of people who have had traumatic experiences with their care team.
Speaker 1:The only thing I can say is if that's not a healthy relationship, we get out. We got to find something that is like that's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, getting into a healthy relationship with your doctor is super, super important, and as is therapy in all of it, like just having the right fit. You know you have the right, the, the right fit of the glove, and and I'm making this analogy up as I go, but I'm just thinking about it like you get, you got that. You know, you got that all the other, all the holes for all the fingers Right. Everything has to work together though, yeah, and if it's a bad fit, it's not gonna.
Speaker 1:It's just not gonna work as Effective as it should right, yeah but, courtney, thank you so much for being here, and this is not the end of this road to be.
Speaker 2:We're gonna be collaborating.
Speaker 1:We're gonna be putting some together ideas on some more podcast episodes and some tiktok content and all the goods. If you're listening, as always, I will plug this because I'm a huge believer in it and I think this episode kind of makes it more important than the not, and that is Joining a support group. By no means do I think a support group should be a substitute for therapy. So here when I say that it should not substitute for any form of therapy whatsoever, but it's a start right. So there are plenty of ways to get involved in support groups. They're all over Facebook and social media. There are apps out there for it as well.
Speaker 1:We currently have one called type one unscripted. It's the same name as the podcast. If you go to Facebook, you can find it just by searching type one unscripted. It's also a link in the show notes as well. Courtney is in there, she's in the group and I'm sure she would be more than willing to help answer any questions around this whole topic. And yes, we are so excited to move forward with some of this information with you guys, and I'm looking forward to the the episodes in the future. Just remember, though, courtney, if I mean, let me restart that. So, courtney, any last-minute thoughts as we end. What's any final thoughts on the idea?
Speaker 2:of.
Speaker 1:Diabetes in therapy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, just you know, I Think it takes a village right like diabetes, around the clock, care, full-time job and then some and it shouldn't be something that you feel isolated or alone in. So you know it can be so important to reach out and feel like you have someone there, whether it's to listen, to kind of act as like a sounding board to work with some of those emotions and thoughts. It's, you know, a lot to deal with and you shouldn't have to struggle alone and you're not alone.
Speaker 1:No, no, and you're not. And again, Connecting with there's, there's, you know, connecting with other type of ones is super beneficial too. That's where that support comes into play and that's for you know, it doesn't matter if you live with type one, if you're a caregiver, like, just get involved, like.
Speaker 1:You know, you know, maybe, if your town has a local JD RF walk or something, just be involved in the community. It's a very minimum being involved in the community and you'll feel, you'll begin to feel that love and support from others, which is super, super great. Well, as we end today's episode, here is what I want you to remember that that seeking out therapy as someone with type one diabetes or seeking out therapy in general, it's not a sign of weakness. I repeat, it's not a sign of weakness. However, it is a step towards strength. Acknowledging our emotional needs and taking that very first step can be hard, but it can be the game changer and not just managing but truly embracing our diabetic journey. Therapy can be the tool that helps us navigate, understand and even grow. Stay inspired everybody. I love you guys and I will see you on the next episode.