Florence Findlay White

I have worked in diabetes care for over 40 years, initially as a diabetes specialist nurse in Glasgow for 23 years and later as a Diabetes UK Northern Ireland Care Advisor for 11 years. I now work as an independent consultant in diabetes training and research. My research, conducted with Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast, has contributed to publications on why people with type 2 diabetes do not attend structured education, the personal and professional impact of the Knuston Counselling and Empowerment course on healthcare professionals, and how foundation doctors experience the workplace and use reflection to prescribe insulin more safely.

My professional interests focus on psychological care and patient empowerment. I was awarded an MPhil in 2001 for a phenomenological study exploring the lived experience of empowerment in people with type 1 diabetes. I completed a postgraduate diploma in communication and counselling in 2003, using Transactional Analysis as the underpinning model, and I am currently undertaking further psychotherapy training in Transactional Analysis at the Berne Institute. I have also trained in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and am involved in delivering this intervention as part of a research project supporting people experiencing severe diabetes distress. I have been a facilitator on the Knuston Counselling and Empowerment course in England, Ireland and Scotland since 1988.