Leading the Way To A Diabetes Friendly World - Young Leaders ActionGroup

Over a year ago now I received an invitation to join the Diabetes UK YLAG group of young people. As the title suggests YLAG stands for Young Leaders Action Group and was created and made from young adult representatives from around the UK, either with diabetes or related to someone who has the condition. It was the brain child of Alex the leader who is also the world president of the International Diabetes Federation equivalent of leaders with diabetes from around the globe. Funding was kindly given from the Garfield Weston project to bring all of us young people  with diabetes together to create three exciting projects for other people in the UK living with the condition- fact sheets, a web resource and a peer support program. But not only did we start the ball rolling on the projects, we also took the rest of the world of diabetes by storm!

Background of Diabetes UK YLAG

- Aged 16-30 years old
- 40 + members and support members from around the UK
- Representing England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales
- Meeting every few months over 1 year
- Sharing experiences, expertise and diabetes know-how
- Made up of Type 1 people with diabetes and their siblings

It was a great honour to be asked to participate in the group, I made many friends and learnt so much about diabetes care in the rest of the UK. It was great hearing about the projects other people were working on and how they saw the positives and negatives of diabetes management in the future in the UK. As I mentioned, as well as belonging to the group we all participated in our own projects back at home in our regions. What we managed to achieve in addition to the three projects was:

YLAG Outside Achievements

- Launching the second phase of the Children's Campaign at the Diabetes UK Professional Conference
- Training as facilitator's for child and parent family days
- Facilitating numerous family events for people with diabetes, their parents and siblings
- Creating volunteer and support groups in England, Scotland and Wales
- European and Global representation with the International Diabetes Federation (the first delegates from the UK)
- Public speaking about diabetes in the UK for the BBC and Sky News

So you see, if you haven't come to the realisation through reading my blogs already- that when people with diabetes come together something truly amazing happens then this is surely proof. Many of us mentioned that before joining Diabetes UK's YLAG we hadn't had much opportunity to spend time with other people with diabetes of the same age before. But I hope I can speak for all that I'm so happy that we did!

With thanks to Alex Silverstein, Diabetes UK and the International Diabetes Federation for bringing us all together and showing what young leaders with diabetes can really do. For the full article click here!