{Interview} Dr William Polonsky, President + Co-Founder of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute

Beth Edwards Nutrition | Nutritional Therapist | Type 1 Diabetes Expert | Interview with Diabetes Psychologist Dr Bill Polonsky

Hello one + all!

I am beyond excited to be sharing today’s blog post with you. As someone who lives with T1D day in, day out (as I know many of you do too), it’s not usually the physical stuff that gets to me.

Sure, a bleeder that ruins a pristine white shirt, or a screaming Omnipod aren’t on my list of Top 5 Fun Things, but they’re much easier to manage than the psychological burden.

This is why I am so in awe + grateful for the work done by Dr Bill Polonsky (diabetic clinical psychologist) + his team at the Behavioral Diabetes Institute in San Diego. For the last 30 years, Bill has listened to the frustrations, struggles + challenges of living with this funny old chronic condition + is now able to advocate on our behalf. That may be providing communication training for health care professionals, or offering direct clinical services for people with diabetes (e.g. diabetes-specific psychological support programs and behaviourally-based education + training in diabetes self-management).

Bill very kindly jumped on a Skype call with me - I hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed chatting.

Click here to listen.

To find out more about Dr Polonsky’s work, please visit the Diabetes Behavioral Institute’s website here.

I’d love to know your experiences of living with T1D - does it affect you emotionally? Have you ever suffered from burnout?