Guest Speaker Chats

On the 1st of May 2023, Jacq Allan joined the #diabeteschat as our guest speaker.

Jacqueline Allan is a diabetes psychologist who is also an associate lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London, and has been in this role since January 2022. She has worked at King’s College London as a trainee clinical psychologist until recently. Since 2009, Jacqueline is the co-founder of Diabetics With Eating Disorders (DWED), a charity that provided support, raises awareness, advocates for change, and shares personal experiences with diabetes and eating disorders. Jacqueline completed her first Ph.D. from Birkbeck, University of London, where she studied Eating Disorders in Type 1 Diabetes. She has highlighted the lack of knowledge in this area for people with type 1 diabetes and the need for her to pursue multiple Ph.D.’s to further awareness in type 1 eating disorders. She has also been the PPI Co-ordinator for the STEADY project (NIHR funded) since March 2018. Jacq’s lived experience, work and compassion for the type 1 diabetes community feeling the impact of the combination of this condition tied to disordered eating has been instrumental to the awareness of
the seriousness and prevalence of T!DE. Resulting in official recognition of insulin omission as part of symptoms for disordered eating in the DSM and a section in NICE guidance.

In this podcast episode, Jacq speaks to Mary and Kes and shares her diabetes journey and diagnosis, her career and talks about eating disorders and mental health.

You can also listen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1RDxlaqMBjqKL and use the hashtag – #diabeteschat