We guide healthcare professionals in a solution-focused approach so clients can embrace possibilities, opportunities, and a fresh vision for the future.
Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season from us here at A Fresh POV for You!
A stop at The Drake Hotel in Chicago – always beautiful during the holidays!
We’re taking a few weeks off but will be back in the new year with more fresh points of view to guide and support healthcare professionals in implementing a solution-focused approach to practice so clients can embrace possibilities, opportunities, and a fresh vision for the future.
We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!
If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients.
Follow us on Twitter @AFreshPOVforYou
Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
In our personal lives, one of our favorite places to be still and listen is oceanside
Be present in all things, and thankful for all things.
~ Maya Angelou
Today we wrap up a 4-blog series called, “Be REAL”, revisiting 4 powerful words from our 2020 series on the power of words. Here are the 4 words that make-up the acronym REAL, today closing out with LISTENING.
The only way to listen is to be truly present and in the moment. Often, as healthcare professionals (HCPs) we have our “agenda” or “very important information” that we feel needs to be addressed, discussed, and prioritized. However, our clients/patients goals and priorities may be different than ours. Sometimes the best course of action is to be quiet, and to listen. In that moment we are present in the encounter, we hear what people are saying, we can then address their most pressing concerns, fears and challenges. Granted, this can be a challenge for an HCP (ourselves included) with so much information that we want to impart. The reality is that when we have our agenda in our head and are planning our “presentation of facts” we are not present.
Check out our previous post on Listening and how it can transform interactions. Engaging in a solution-focused approach is not possible without enhanced listening skills. Our role is not to solve problems, but to help people understand their individual situations and identify solutions to help them move forward in their lives, goals etc. When we listen, we can help them to discern what works for them, and help them to see where they have strengths.
As we challenged back in 2020, we challenge our readers to actively focus on listening before speaking with clients and ensure each encounter is focused on their concerns and what is important to them:
Listen for clues and cues that highlight exceptions, current resources and strengths the client identifies. Maybe open the conversation with a simple question, such as, “What’s been going on in your world?” It’s broad, enables the client to take the conversation where they wish, and can provide insight into other aspects and impacts in their life.
As the conversation evolves, use the clients own language to help the client envision their preferred future
We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!
If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients.
Follow us on Twitter @AFreshPOVforYou
Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Duke Kahanamoku statue at Duke’s restaurant, La Jolla, CA
When there is Aloha in your heart, nothing is insurmountable.
~ Yoshio
Today’s word in our Be REAL series is Acceptance!
When we started our series on solution-focused words back in 2020, Acceptance was our first post in the series. We believed, and still do, that acceptance is the key underpinning of everything in healthcare and in life. We wrote about both self-acceptance as well as healthcare professional (HCP) acceptance of what people living with diabetes are able to do. We all have different capacities and priorities, and we might not agree on what these are. Our role as an HCP is to understand and support people sharing their experiences with us and help them to live in acceptance of the decisions they make. Our goal is to support and not enforce.
Why did we start our blog with an image of Duke Kahanamoku? He was known as the Ambassador of Aloha. An Olympic swimmer and surfer from Hawaii who spread the spirit of Aloha and the acceptance that Aloha brings. Aloha means welcome, but also means love, peace, compassion and fellowship. What a great way to embody acceptance?
In today’s crazy world, acceptance can mean so many things. So we’d like to use Aloha as a simple way to think about how we accept ourselves and each other.
In our original blog series we suggested weekly “challenges” to our readers. Here we revisit our challenge from 2020 and add how we can position acceptance along with the spirit of Aloha.
Here are 5 solution-focused questions you can incorporate to focus on building acceptance:
Could you tell me about your strengths and qualities you are happy about?
What is one thing you have come to accept in your life that took some time to process?
How did you feel when you were finally able to accept that challenging situation?
How could you use those experiences and feelings to move you forward to accept a new challenge now?
How can I help you come to realize acceptance in your life?
As an additional challenge, we encourage you to accept the spirit of Aloha as you engage in your daily life,at work and at home, with people you know and with those you don’t. Be an example of accepting differences in the world with love, peace, compassion and fellowship.
Join us next week as we focus on the L in Be REAL: Listening!
We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!
If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients.
Follow us on Twitter @AFreshPOVforYou
Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
“Don’t ever diminish the power of words. Words move hearts and hearts move limbs.”
-Hamza Yusuf
In our last post we began a 4-blog series called, “Be REAL”, revisiting some powerful words that can advance a solution-focused practice. The 4 words we’ll focus on make up the acronym REAL:
Resilience
Experts
Acceptance and
Listening
You can catch up on our last post on Resilience, the R in REAL on October 25, 2023.
Today’s word is EXPERTS
According to Dictionary.com, an “expert” is a person who has a special skill or knowledge in some particular field.
So in the world of diabetes care and education, a diabetes care and education specialist (DCES) may first come to mind as the “expert”. Yet, we challenge you to think beyond that. Have you heard the term “expert patient”? That refers to the inherent knowledge that individuals living with diabetes (or other chronic conditions) have about their condition, its impact on their life, and what decisions they feel comfortable making. People with diabetes (PWD) are the true experts in their lived experience with diabetes.
That said, just because one has a chronic condition does not imply that they have expertise in dealing with it. That presents the opportunity for the DCES to step alongside the PWD as a “think partner”. In a solution-focused interaction, the relationship between the healthcare provider and the patient/client is different. Instead of a hierarchical position, in solution-focused relationships, the DCES and the patient/client are considered “think partners”. They work together to identify solutions to move that individual forward towards achieving their goals. The DCES helps develop solutions by asking their patient/client questions and helping them to use their own personal strengths to create solutions that work for them.
Be a think partner: 7 questions to try
What do you know about yourself that lets you know you can achieve what you want?
What would success look like for you (e.g. in life, in living with diabetes etc.)?
What strengths do you have and use to help you manage your diabetes every day?
How can you use your strengths to create opportunities for success?
What is one thing you have come to accept in your life that took some time to process?
How did you feel when you were finally able to accept that challenging situation?
How could you use those experiences and feelings to move you forward to accept a new challenge now?
For more on EXPERTS, here is our first blog we wrote on EXPERTS back in 2020: Experts
Join us next week as we focus on the A in Be REAL: Acceptance!
We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!
If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients.
Follow us on Twitter @AFreshPOVforYou
Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
“If we understood the power of our thoughts, we would guard them more closely. If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative. In our thoughts and words, we create our own weaknesses and our own strengths. Our limitations and joys begin in our hearts. We can always replace negative with positive.” ~Betty Eadie
Back in February 2020, just before we knew how the world was going to change through the pandemic, we launched a series on the power of words. Our goal was (and still is) to evolve solution-focused vocabulary among our readers to inspire, motivate and provide practical guidance to change messages so we can help people embrace possibilities, opportunities and create a vision for the future.
Today we begin a 4-blog series called, “Be REAL”, revisiting some of those powerful words and our important messages. The 4 words we’ll focus on make up the acronym REAL:
Resilience
Experts
Acceptance and
Listening
Today’s word is RESILIENCE
Resilience is one of the skills essential for people with diabetes to develop in order to live well with diabetes. And yes, resilience is a skill. Research shows that resilience is a skill that can be developed over time with practice and support. We think about resilience as the ability to “bounce back” after challenging times. It’s having inner strength when life throws you challenges and still being able to hold your head up.
Living with a chronic condition like diabetes means living with chronic stress, and that can make managing diabetes more challenging. That’s where building resilience comes into play. Our last blog shared 5 ways to cultivate mental toughness, helping to build resilience.
When a diabetes care and education specialist engages in a solution-focused approach to practice, the ability to build resilience is not only possible, but highly likely. When we reinforce and recognize positive behaviors and strengths, people tend to do more of those things more often. In solution-focused practice we call these “exceptions” or times when problems don’t exist and life is working well.
People who see themselves as being resilient are typically those who have suffered adversity, faced significant challenges and were able to come out of their struggles stronger and with a different perspective on life. Often those who have faced the biggest challenges are the most resilient. Tami recalls a patient that she worked with over a several year time frame. This individual lived with long-standing diabetes, lost her husband at a young age, dealt with some significant health and financial challenges, and then lost everything she owned in a house fire. Despite the many life challenges she’d experienced, she had developed the ability to bounce back, persevere, and maintain focus on managing her diabetes. Life seemingly brought her a lot of “lemons”, so to speak. (We wrote about working through “when life gives you lemons” in our blog here)
A key focus in building resilience is on recognizing stressors and building plans to work through the stressful situations and setbacks, and come out on the other side feeling successful, even if it is just one very small success.
What’s REAL in 2023?
Who knew how much resilience we would all need and how important our “VIPs” would be in life coming through the pandemic in the time since we wrote our original 2020 blog on resilience! If you didn’t catch it, you can find it here: 2020 Resilience blog.
Please take a moment and Be REAL with us – share your impressions of resilience and what changes you’ve noticed in the past few years. How has resilience been important to you?
Join us next week as we focus on the E in Be REAL: Experts!
We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!
If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients.
Follow us on Twitter @AFreshPOVforYou
Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
“Oh, yes. The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it…or learn from it.“
~Rafiki from The Lion King
A view Deb captured during a summer visit to Meteora, Greece
The quote above from the movie The Lion King is a favorite of Tami’s, as she watched the movie a gazillion times with her son when he was growing up. For those of you Lion King fans, doesn’t the picture above look something like Pride Rock in the movie? Actually this rock formation above is in Meteora, Greece (rather than Africa) and Deb captured this picture back in the summer.
So how can we learn from the past rather than run from it? What we term “mental toughness” definitely plays a role. You might think of mental toughness as determined, resolute or strong-willed. When we think about mental toughness, the Navy SEALS come to mind. They are fearless because of the training they go through. While in San Diego this time last year, Tami witnessed with fascination a group of SEALS training on one of the beaches.
Diabetes impacts mental and psychological well-being. Just as the SEALS progressively build strength and mental toughness, so can individuals with diabetes train their mental toughness.
We like to think of mental toughness like a muscle – the more it’s exercised, the stronger it becomes. It’s been noted that threats to mental toughness include perfectionism, negative self-talk, self-doubt, and the inability to control emotions and fear. To help hold off those threats today we share 5 ways to cultivate mental toughness.
5 ways to cultivate mental toughness
1- Embrace a “progress not perfection” mindset. Learn from the past, not run from it. Learn what worked and what didn’t. We wrote about adopting the “progress, not perfection” mindset here. This mindset encourages focus on smaller achievements…instead of focusing solely on the end goal. It can help us lean into the realistic and practical, and acknowledge, accept and enjoy things.. even if they aren’t perfect. Managing diabetes is not about being “perfect”. Life happens. But progress is the goal. For instance, progress toward achieving a healthy A1C or progress toward spending more time in range.
2- Use affirmations. Life with diabetes is without a doubt challenging on many levels. It’s critical to be good to yourself and keep self-talk positive. One way to to do that is through using affirmations. I will not worry. I have no need for fear. Read more about the power of affirmations and some of our favorite most impactful affirmations in our blog here.
3- Practice mindfulness. You may have seen the results of a meta-analysis published in Diabetic Medicinewhich showed that mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches to diabetes education may more effectively reduce A1C levels, anxiety, depression, and diabetes distress than education as usual. This impact was noted both immediately and up to 1-month post intervention. Mindfulness improves the ability to slow down and choose a response that works for you rather than to quickly react off the cuff. In helping your clients find what works for them, and build on that, mindfulness apps can be another tool in your solution-focused “tool box”. We shared some favorite mindfulness apps in our blog here.
4- Keep a journal. Sometimes the simple act of writing things down so we can see them allows us to consciously and unconsciously start working through them. We’ve shared some of our personal experiences with journaling and how it’s benefited us here and here. This can be a small step toward feeling in control, when things may otherwise feel out of control.
5- Embrace the power of “can do”. When faced with a challenging situation, rather than fearing it and running from it, approach it with a “can do” perspective. Reflect on the past. If you HAVE done it in the past, you KNOW you can do it, so you CAN do it again and you WILL do it. Find more reflections on “When life gives you lemons” in our blog here. Encourage clients to learn from the past. Think about and celebrate the successes (even small ones) they’ve had managing diabetes. Recalling the good stuff helps get through the tough times.
Another point of view in Meteora, Greece
We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!
If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients.
Follow us on Twitter @AFreshPOVforYou
Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
“We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‘to-do’ list.”
~Michelle Obama, former First Lady
Restoring work-life balance some months back in a rooftop igloo during a weekend escape to Nashville
Coming from two highly driven multi-taskers, work-life balance has been top of mind lately. Tami recently has found herself waking up in the middle of the night with work issues running through her mind. Deb’s been racking up skymiles lately traveling (happily) for work, yet family life pulling at her time and attention while planning her son’s wedding rehearsal dinner party and her mom’s surprise 90th birthday party. Sometimes we both find our lives a little out of balance. In talking about life recently, it gave us pause to think about those living with diabetes…not only is there the need to maintain equilibrium between work and life, there is the added challenge of managing diabetes.
What does work-life balance look like?
That’s the million dollar questions. In short, work-life balance is prioritizing one’s career equally to the demands of personal life. Work-life balance can look different to each person as we each have different life commitments. What tips that balance for you? And what about for the clients/patients that you work with? Work-life balance is a factor to assess and consider in your diabetes care and education encounters.
It’s said that a good work-life balance has numerous positive effects, including less stress (which could translate into blood glucose spending more time in range with diabetes), a lower risk of general burnout (and diabetes burnout), and a greater sense of well-being.
4 tips to help restore balance
Today we’re sharing 4 tips that you can add to your solution-focused tools and tactics to use with your clients/patients with diabetes (or put into practice yourself) to help restore balance.
1 – Prioritize your health. It’s easy to put work before health. We both have been guilty of doing so. But working beyond physical and/or mental limits can result in poor work quality and increased health risks. Building on the solution-focused tenet of doing more of what works, prioritizing physical, mental and emotional health can make one a better employee and person. Find a healthy way to get work done without exhausting your body or mind. Prioritizing health can be as simple as fitting in some physical activity or daily meditation.
2 – Plan personal time. It’s said that achieving work-life balance requires intentional action. A mentor of Tami’s instilled that if you don’t schedule your personal time (such as date night with a spouse, girls/guys night out with friends, or family time) it likely won’t happen. Planning and prioritizing personal time is as important as planning for work. We have to remind ourselves that ultimately we have control of our time and life (at least for the most part, although sometimes we may forget that!).
3 – Take time to unwind. It’s critical to success. Unplugging from the outside world from time to time allows us to recover from stress and gives us space for other thoughts and ideas to emerge (read some of our past blogs on nature, being with friends, and rest). Unplugging can mean something simple like reading a book for pleasure, binging a new streaming series, or practicing gratitude on your way to and from work, instead of thinking about work. Taking that time to unwind can help prevent burnout and help you feel more energized when at work
4 – Strive for a realistic balance. Some days, you might focus more on work. Other days you might have more time and energy to spend time with family and friends or enjoy a favorite hobby. Keep the big picture in mind – that balance is achieved over time, not each day.
We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published.
If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients.
Follow us on Twitter @AFreshPOVforYou
Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own
Self-care is how you take your power back. – Lalah Delia
We recently returned from the ADCES23 conference in HOT Houston and are still processing all that we heard and learned from the speakers and exhibitors! This was an extra special conference as we were celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Association. As Past Presidents, both Tami and Deb were recognized on-stage during the opening session. There were so many special events and opportunities to network with colleagues and friends, both old and new.
As we close out our summer self-care series, two sessions that particularly resonated with us that we want to share were presented by. Lauren Plunkett, RDN, LD, CDCDES, Frame a Healthy Relationship with Food Using Nutrition-Focused Language Skills and an engaging presentation by co-presenters Dr. Natalie Bellini, Dr. Diana Isaacs, and Dr. Sean Oser, Use Time in Range to Congratulate, Celebrate, Recognize, Align and Partner. (Lauren’s presentation is available On-Demand if you registered for the conference and didn’t catch it live.) All of these speakers emphasized the power of words and how we, as healthcare professionals (HCPs), can inspire self-care through the words that we use by using empowering language.
Optimistic Coaching & A Positive Food Vocabulary
Lauren, a person living with diabetes (PWD) reminded us that PWD have it in themselves to be exceptional! She acknowledged the significant impact that diabetes has on emotional health and that awareness of emotional health can help sharpen communication skills.She encouraged leading client/patient encounters with a positive attitude and engaging in “optimistic coaching” to support self–efficacy and quality of life. GIven that she’s an RDN, her particular focus was around addressing immediate needs and using positive food vocabulary, such as “colorful”, “flavorful”, “nourishing”, and “abundance”. She reframed food as “energetic nourishment” and that eaters focus on quality and addition (such as eating more plants, more fiber) rather than subtraction.
Asking Questions and Focusing on the Positive
During the discussion on time in range (TIR) the speakers emphasized that getting to know your patients can help to understand their daily lives which will lead to a greater understanding of their challenges and successes with diabetes management. When reviewing ambulatory glucose profile (AGP) data, HCPs were encouraged to find something positive to discuss, no matter how small. Only focusing on the negative is not empowering. As we @AFreshPOVforYou have discussed before, these presenters reminded the audience to not focus on data as “good” or “bad” but as neutral in order to help reduce the stigma often associated with diabetes. In addition, the presenters recommended technology to support people with diabetes in their management. While this ADCES23 presentation is not on-demand, we’re told there may be a repeat at the December ADCES Technology Conference.
We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!
If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @AFreshPOVforYou
Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott
We at A Fresh POV for You! Are taking some time off to celebrate the wedding of Deb’s son Michael to his new bride Elizabeth. We’ll be back soon with more solution-focused information.
We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!
If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @AFreshPOVforYou
Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
The most meaningful way to succeed is to help others succeed – Adam Grant
In a tiny town near Naxos, Greece, the local Artisans support each other by partnering in a weekly “shop walk.” These are handcrafted pottery air balloons Deb saw while visiting this summer.
Helping others is a natural extension of our role as diabetes care and education specialists. As echoed in the words of the great Martin Luther King, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others?” While we continue our summer self-care series and have written in the past about the importance of self-kindness, attention on “other-focused” acts and concern for others leads to a stronger sense of purpose, deeper learning, meaning, happiness and richer relationships.
Today through a solution-focused lens we offer 5 simple ways to help clients/patients succeed:
Inspire self-care with our choice of words. We’ve written several blogs on the power of words and person-first language used in encounters with patients/clients.
Remember the details of other people’s lives. Your ability to be a positive impact increases significantly when the other person knows that you truly care about the details of their life. Maybe you keep notes on patients you’re working with. Tami often uses the “sticky note” feature in Epic electronic health record to make reminder notes about things important to her patients…pet’s name, favorite food, spouse/children’s names, etc.
Share your knowledge. Having just returned from the ADCES23 conference in Houston, TX this is on our minds. We are continually educating ourselves to stay up to date on the latest guidelines, recommendations, and technology so that we can share with others .
Engage in optimistic coaching to support self-efficacy and quality of life. Acknowledge what the individual is doing well and what has gone well. Determine together how they can succeed in doing more of that.
Celebrate successes, big and small. When you recognize successes it’s easier to build upon those. Maybe a client is trying to lose 20 pounds. By breaking that desired 20 pound weight loss goal into smaller 5 pound goals, together you can celebrate the small 5 pound wins together building toward the bigger goal.
We welcome anyone interested in our approach to Subscribe to our blog and we’ll email you when a new post is published!
If you are a health care professional and interested in learning more about our solution-focused practice and approach, when you subscribe to our blog, we’ll send you in return a FREE resource of 10 Solution-Focused Questions to start a solution-focused discussion with your clients.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @AFreshPOVforYou
Deb is employed by Dexcom, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
Tami is employed by the University of Kentucky HealthCare Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, but her words and opinions in this blog are her own.
