Maria Kowalska moved to Dundee from Wrocław in 2021, following her partner's work relocation. She spoke functional English, had a good job lined up remotely, and told herself the adjustment would be straightforward. What she did not anticipate was how difficult it would be to navigate the Scottish health system as a newcomer — or how quickly isolation would begin to affect her own wellbeing. Maria has type 2 diabetes, diagnosed in Poland three years earlier, and the combination of unfamiliar food environments, disrupted routine, and the low-level anxiety of building a life from scratch saw her blood sugar management deteriorate sharply in her first winter in the city.

'I didn't know anyone,' she says simply, sitting in the bright community room at our Stobswell hub where she now volunteers every other Thursday. 'I didn't know how to register with a GP properly. I didn't know what a community pharmacist could help with. I didn't know about the Dundee diabetes support groups. I was managing alone, and it was not going well.' A colleague mentioned Vibrant Health Advocates after spotting a leaflet in a Polish deli on the Hilltown. Maria came along to one of our drop-in health information sessions on a grey Tuesday afternoon in February, not expecting much.

What she found was a room full of people from a dozen different backgrounds, a bilingual health advocate who could answer her questions about NHS registration without judgement, and — perhaps most importantly — a warm welcome that did not feel performative. 'They treated me like I already belonged,' she says. 'Not like a case to be processed. That sounds small but it was not small to me.' Within a fortnight she had registered with a GP, had her diabetes care transferred onto the Scottish system, and had connected with a community dietitian through a referral our team helped facilitate.

Maria's health improvements over the following year were measurable. Her HbA1c — the blood test that reflects average blood sugar over several months — came down from a concerning level to within the target range recommended by her diabetes care team. She credits several overlapping factors: better access to consistent medical oversight, the practical nutrition advice she received through our partnership with Dundee's community dietetics service, and the stress reduction that came with simply feeling less alone. 'When you are stressed all the time, it affects everything — your sleep, your eating, your readings,' she explains. 'When you feel supported, your body feels it too.'

Today Maria is one of our most dedicated volunteers. She helps staff the Thursday drop-in session, acts as an informal interpreter for other Polish-speaking attendees, and has become an advocate in her own community for taking preventive health seriously. She recently completed our volunteer health champion training, which equips community members with the skills to share basic health information confidently and signpost people to appropriate services. 'I know what it feels like to not know where to go,' she says. 'If I can save someone else six months of confusion, that is worth my Thursday afternoon.'

Maria's story is not unusual at Vibrant Health Advocates Dundee — it is, in many ways, typical of what we see again and again. People who are struggling not because services do not exist, but because navigating those services is genuinely hard, especially when you are new to a place, managing a health condition, or simply at a low ebb. Our role is to bridge that gap. To be the room where the welcome is real, the information is honest, and the follow-up actually happens. If you are struggling with your health and do not know where to start, please come and find us. The Thursday drop-in is always open.