This made me crawl out of the shadows and write again today.
In case you didn’t click on it, this is a post from the American Diabetes Association about a presentation at their Scientific Sessions held this past June. Dr. Hilliard is studying strengths in people with diabetes – specifically teens. Yes, you read that right. Someone is putting “strengths” and “teens” and “diabetes” in the same sentence.
How often do we focus on strengths in diabetes (let alone in teens with diabetes)? Instead, we more often hear discussions on weaknesses or deficits. We hear conversations about numbers and benchmarks and “control” and “adherence,” rather than what’s going right or going well.
A strengths-based approach is the theme of the language movement in diabetes. The point is to focus on what people are doing at all, or doing well, and figuring out how those skills and attitudes can be applied in other, more challenging areas. What a simple, yet amazing concept!
So thank you, to all those people, scientists, and clinicians out there who are focusing on strengths. Let’s spread the word about how important this approach is until it’s the rule and not the exception.