Emotional support for kids with diabetes

Pediatrician Jamie Wood, MD Clinical Diabestes, shares advice for parents on the importance of emotional support for a child with diabetes and what a few of the best support resources are for children with diabetes
Emotional Support Advice For A Child WIth Diabetes
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Emotional support for kids with diabetes

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Emotional support is vital for a child and a family and siblings living with diabetes. There are many opportunities for support – the first avenue for support are friends and family and teachers and the community, the family's church. I encourage families to talk about their diagnosis with really everybody who is going to come into contact with their child, so that really the family and the community can rally around that child and give support. The second is that most diabetes clinics and healthcare providers have access to emotional support in terms of family support professionals, social workers, psychologists. At Children's Hospital Los Angeles we offer support groups for our families, so they can come together with mental health professionals to talk about the diagnosis and living with diabetes. Diabetes camps are fun and an amazing source of support for a child with diabetes and it really is a must do for every child living with the diagnosis. And there are camps across the country who focus on childhood diabetes. There are also national organizations who focus on diabetes such as The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and The American Diabetes Association who have local chapters that provide support groups and family outings and get-togethers at bowling allies, skating rinks, picnics, coffee nights for parents to get out and interact with other parents raising a child with diabetes that are really helpful. It's really about bringing the family together with other families who are also raising a child with diabetes.

Pediatrician Jamie Wood, MD Clinical Diabestes, shares advice for parents on the importance of emotional support for a child with diabetes and what a few of the best support resources are for children with diabetes

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Jamie R. Wood, MD

Pediatrician, Clinical Diabetes, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Dr. Jamie Wood was born and raised in Vermont, where she also attended medical school. She completed her pediatric residency at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, and her endocrine fellowship at Children’s Hospital Boston and the Joslin Diabetes Center of Harvard University. She moved to the Los Angeles area in 2008 and is now the Director of Clinical Diabetes Programs at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Dr. Wood’s specialty is the care of youth with type 1 and type 2 diabetes—a field she fell in love with during a medical student rotation at a summer camp for youth with diabetes.  She also enjoys gardening, cooking, hiking, and playing with her husband and two children, Jackson and Olivia.

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