Roberta’s road to volunteering started when her son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2017. She joined her local support group and found what she describes as “amazing support for me as a parent and for my son.” Highlighting the group’s ability to remove the sense of being alone, Roberta said: “We attended one of their events where my son said, “look mum they have to do the same as me”. To hear him say this was amazing as he didn't feel he was alone.”

Unsurprisingly, many children experience challenges when they're diagnosed, and Roberta’s son was no exception. “We had a lot of difficulties surrounding needle phobia when he was diagnosed.” Roberta explained: “This is what persuaded me to join the support group and volunteer.”

Fun activities for children and their families

Roberta and the group’s committee, consisting of other parents and carers of children with type 1 diabetes, try to arrange an activity every month so that children and their families can experience the benefits of their community spirit and, more importantly (especially for the children!) to have fun. At the same time, they learn that having type 1 diabetes doesn’t hold them back or prevent them from doing anything.

Roberta gave some examples of what the group has been up to so far this year: “Over the last few months, we have held activities such as pond dipping, climbing walls, Jungleland (a jungle-themed soft play centre), walks in the countryside and a family fun day. All these activities aim to connect families and children to feel supported and gain long term friendships.”

Reasons to be proud

Roberta is particularly proud of the connections she’s been able to make from her volunteering. “I am extremely proud of being able to grow and connect more people across Shropshire and Borders.” Explaining how this has been achieved, Roberta said: “This has been done through advertising, word of mouth, and collaborative working with Diabetes UK and the local paediatric team, all with the same aim of offering support in a fun and educational way.” She continued, “I feel my volunteering has benefitted other families to be able to share the difficulties and proud moments of living with diabetes.”

As for the future, Roberta is clear about what she wants to achieve:

"My future volunteering plans are to continue to grow the support group and to continue to reach out to families and children living with type 1 diabetes."

Volunteering can fit around you

Roberta has advice if you are considering volunteering: “My advice to anyone thinking about volunteering is that it does not mean you have to give lots of your time. If you have ambition to support others living with diabetes, then any amount of time is going to make a difference by being able to reach out and support them. It is an extremely rewarding position to volunteer for such a supportive charity like Diabetes UK.”

While the children in Roberta’s group all have type 1 diabetes, her group, like all those that support families, welcome children with type 2 and their families.

If you have been inspired by Roberta’s story, check out our Volunteering Opportunities.

Looking for support? You can also use our Local Support Group postcode finder to search for your nearest group.

Peter began volunteering at Diabetes UK in early 2024, supporting the work of the Northern Ireland team. For him, this felt like a natural progression and the next stage in his journey since his diagnosis with type 2 diabetes back in 2021. Peter was incredibly grateful for the encouragement and support he received from the South Eastern Trust and the remission peer support group, and he felt giving back something through volunteering would be quite fitting.

Peter reflected on how the staff within the Northern Ireland team discussed volunteering opportunities without any pressure. With his curiosity piqued, Peter stepped into the world of volunteering, enjoying interactions with others and seeing it as a great opportunity to help people.

Connection and inspiration

During his time so far as a volunteer, Peter noted how the people he has met along the way have been highly motivating – from healthcare professionals and the Diabetes UK Northern Ireland team, to members of the remission group and Live Well Hubs. Meeting others and hearing their stories is one of his key highlights – having that contact with like-minded people gave Peter the encouragement to give something back.

Peter thoroughly enjoys his interactions with the Northern Ireland team, inspired by their enthusiasm and professionalism. For him, his experience as a volunteer has given him a fresh focus, following nearly seven years of retirement. Peter says he’s particularly proud to have the opportunity to be part of something personal and helpful to others, as well as to his own health.

Volunteering highlights

So far in his volunteering journey, Peter has provided fantastic support to the Northern Ireland team, particularly by supporting the launches of the Belfast, Lisburn, and Mid Ulster Live Well Hubs. He feels a strong connection with others at the hubs, learning a great deal from their stories and hoping that sharing his experiences was also helpful for them to hear.

Earlier this year, Peter also had the opportunity to visit Stormont, Northern Ireland’s Parliament buildings, meeting the Health Minister on both occasions and sharing his diabetes remission story at the Live Well Hub celebration event in June. Speaking at this event was a particularly proud moment for Peter, where he felt his story offered first-hand experience of what may be achievable for others. He noted that if he could do it, many other people could do the same and that the encouragement he received from his family was invaluable throughout his journey.

"The Live Well Hubs, volunteer meetings, and just listening to people living with diabetes and hearing from the speakers at events gives me great encouragement to do more. The team aspect is something I really enjoy, and there is great support from everyone."

Plans for the future

Peter looks forward to continuing his support for Diabetes UK’s work in Northern Ireland, attending as many events as possible. As part of this, he hopes to develop his confidence to become a speaker volunteer where he’ll then be able to present to businesses and organisations throughout the region.

Peter hopes that sharing his story will help others realise that there are steps they can take, that support is available, and that remission may be possible for some people with type 2 diabetes depending on their circumstances. Peter encourages everyone to consider volunteering, no matter what stage of life they’re in.

If you feel inspired to volunteer, search our volunteer opportunities, talk to your local team, meet the people who are living with diabetes and listen to their stories. As Peter says, “put your intention into action and just go for it!”

You can also read Peter’s story where he shares his experiences of living with diabetes and putting his diabetes into remission.

Deepthi has always had a great aspiration to volunteer, having seen people volunteering since she was young. She is a former international student from India but found it challenging to find volunteering opportunities at home. Deepthi embarked on her volunteering journey thanks to her Master’s Degree studies at Sheffield Hallam University, as volunteering was a mandatory element of her course. She’s already met some incredible people doing amazing things.

As a nutritionist and health coach, she wanted to volunteer to apply her studies and work towards a career in diabetes management. Volunteering has been a turning point in her journey, and she’s supported several events already this year.

“I’m grateful for Diabetes UK and for these opportunities. I’m an international student so if it wasn’t for Diabetes UK, I wouldn’t have so many opportunities to meet people and to learn about diabetes.”

Deepthi believes that “alone we can do little, but together we can do much more”, and that these consistent small acts of volunteering can have a positive impact on people at a large scale.

For Deepthi, it’s not something she wants to do only for the short term, or even for the long term, but volunteering for her is lifelong.

Deepthi’s role in the community

It’s incredible how much Deepthi has achieved and experienced as a volunteer since beginning her journey with us in January 2024. It started with supporting our charity’s North of England Engaging Communities Officer to deliver an online talk, supporting people who are living with sight loss at an event led by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). She’s since attended events for people working in prisons, supported our fundraiser to raise diabetes awareness at their events, and supported health events in the community.

Deepthi says that from her experience speaking in the community, people start to gain more of an interest in diabetes and want to learn about how to prevent or manage it. She believes it’s more important than ever to help people learn the signs and symptoms of diabetes as over 1 million people are currently living with the condition without knowing.   

While attending events Deepthi has noticed there’s a lot of misinformation and myths about diabetes circulating in the community, the internet, and social media. She says people often struggle to get credible resources to help them live well with diabetes. Deepthi enjoys handing out our information leaflets and booklets, telling people about our local peer support groups and signposting to our website and helpline, and she sees how our information helps people. She also uses her professional background to tell people about the NHS remission programmes.

Connecting with other volunteers

Volunteering with other volunteers and organisations has given Deepthi so much joy and motivation, and she feels lucky to have met so many wonderful people this year. While supporting one of our fundraising events, she met an incredible fundraiser aged over 90 years old who’s enthusiasm has stuck with her, as he was so passionate about supporting people living with diabetes.

Deepthi has also had the opportunity to volunteer with the Leeds Diabetes UK Support Group and the Sheffield Diabetes UK Support Group. Some of the members have volunteered for over 20 years and bring a wealth of knowledge which they share with Deepthi. From hearing talks given by group guest speakers, (for example an Indian expert for type 1 diabetes) Deepthi feels she’s always learning about diabetes on a local and global scale. She’s learnt so much from her co-volunteers, they’ve always welcomed her with open arms and a warm heart. Their enthusiasm has inspired her to volunteer more, and she hopes to meet more volunteers, getting to know their stories and experiences in the future.

Highlights whilst volunteering with us

When asked about her highlights and successes volunteering for us, Deepthi shared about an event where she was able to deliver health messaging on eating well when living with diabetes. This was close to her heart given her background as a nutritionist and health coach. She got good feedback and an overwhelming response from attendees, and she really values the opportunity to deliver accurate information provided by us.

When she’s given talks on diabetes and food, she often finds herself “myth busting” because there’s still so much misinformation out there. One of her event attendees said that they’d found so much value in the information that she provided, that they would take this with them for the rest of their life.

Deepthi has learnt so much through volunteering, and she attributes one of the main reasons for her getting a job as a Diabetes Remission Health Coach to the knowledge she’s gained from being one of our volunteers.

Plans for the future   

Deepthi would love to be a lifelong volunteer, to give back to the community. She’s still learning and gaining knowledge every day. She loves meeting amazing people from diverse cultures and would love for this to continue. Deepthi is keen to volunteer more with women living with or at risk of gestational diabetes, promoting early intervention to reduce the likelihood of complications. She’d also like to do more research on diabetes technology such as continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and artificial intelligence (AI) to see how these can help people to manage their diabetes.

Deepthi would encourage everyone to consider volunteering. She says it doesn’t matter for how many hours, or length of time, everyone should feel the satisfaction of helping others without expecting anything in return. Positively impacting peoples’ lives through volunteering is rewarding, and from a professional point of view volunteering gives invaluable opportunities to get exposure of real-world issues and what’s happening in the world. While studying and reading books is great there’s nothing more valuable than real life experience. She also says that volunteering has made her a more compassionate, empathetic, and well-rounded person.         

Deepthi is grateful to Diabetes UK for her volunteering experiences and says that because she came to the UK as an international student, she wouldn’t have had the same opportunities to meet people and learn about diabetes if it wasn’t for teaming up with us. She can’t believe how much she’s learnt about diabetes in India too through volunteering with us, and she’s improved both professionally and personally as a result. She would love to do more volunteering in the future across local and global diabetes.

The North of England team at Diabetes UK look forward to working with Deepthi further and feel extremely grateful and proud of her time with us. She has been a dream to work with, and we see a great future for her, both through her volunteering and beyond. The world is your oyster Deepthi!

If you have been inspired by Deepthi’s story, check out our volunteering and Communities in Action opportunities.

The group was formed earlier this year and Janice, who has lived with type 1 diabetes for 56 years, set up the group after she realised that people in her community needed a space to talk freely about life with diabetes.

How did the group start?

Janice has been involved in volunteering for many years and enjoys being involved in her local community. She said:

“It’s just been my passion, all my life. Whatever work I was doing, even when I was working full time, I didn't even think of not being involved in the community because that's just what I did”.

Janice was previously organising and running local craft sessions when she realised there was a need for a diabetes specific support group. She said:

“Some of the members had diabetes and we naturally talked about it, which showed me that people just needed to talk about diabetes."  

‘Carbs at the Kettle’ was formed, and the group now run monthly meetings alongside other community events.

Why Diabetes UK?

Janice was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1968 and her mother joined Diabetes UK as a member, then known as the British Diabetics Association, to help them navigate Janice’s diagnosis.

Janice said her mother received a lot of support and when it came to Janice wanting to help others with the condition, it was “a natural choice to volunteer for Diabetes UK because I know that the organisation’s resources would really enhance whatever I did locally”.

Highlights

The group has been running since January and has already put a mark on the map for diabetes in the local area. Janice is proud that she’s got the group up and running and has seen firsthand that when people come together, they can use their skills and passions to support each other and the wider community.

One of the main volunteering highlights for Janice was holding a ‘diabetes day’ at the Community Kettle, which was a multi-organisational event attended by local healthcare professionals as well as people living with and affected by the condition.
 

What’s next for the group?

Janice plans to grow the group though promotion and getting the word out about the support they offer. She said: “We’re still quite a new group and we’re really trying to market it out in the community. We get a handful of people at each meeting, and different people come along all the time as well as our regular members.”.

Janice’s next focus is organising a second ‘diabetes day’ event at the Community Kettle, later this year. She plans to host more healthcare professionals and service providers to reach and support even more local people affected by diabetes.

If you have been inspired by Janice’s story, check out our volunteering opportunities.

Ruth Portway, 77, is a retired nurse and health service manager who lives on St Mary’s Island near Chatham in Kent. She has volunteered with us for 10 years. 

Her husband and son both live with type 2 diabetes. Ruth says “I have seen how difficult it can be for people to live with diabetes, both from a professional point of view as a former nurse and from a personal point of view."

Talking to People

Ruth says: “I am a listening ear. I’ve found that taking the time to listen to people helps them think things through and make their own decisions about managing diabetes.

“I help with events and stalls in various locations mostly in Kent (which is a big county!) for Diabetes UK. As well as listening, I’m there to help point people in the direction of help and advice. Sometimes people just aren’t aware of the importance of regular health check-ups, for example, which will give them a better quality of life.”

Looking to the Future

Ruth says: “When people ask me about volunteering, I tell them that I know from my working life that people do better when they have support.

“The good thing about volunteering is that you can give what time you have available but can set your own schedule. And you can stay local or go further afield. If anyone is interested in volunteering, I would suggest they simply look around their own community, their own locality and think about what they can do to help.”

If you’ve been inspired by Ruth’s story, check out our volunteering opportunities.