End-of-Life Essentials

💬 This Speech Pathology Week, we’re recognising the importance of communication and swallowing support for people receiving end-of-life care - helping them connect, participate and make choices.

💙 We especially thank speech pathologists who help improve the lives of people receiving end-of-life care.

🧡 Grief is a normal response to loss, but everyone experiences it differently. It can affect people physically, emotionally, socially, cognitively and spiritually.

For healthcare professionals, understanding your own experiences and beliefs about grief can strengthen the way you support families and friends before and after a death.

Looking for practical ways to strengthen bereavement care? Download our free 4-page Bereavement Care Checklist for reflection prompts, practical guidance and useful resources.

🔗 Download the Toolkit:https://cdn.craft.cloud/019ef70f-07d3-7073-aa9a-78eeb7d5ae7d/assets/uploads/Bereavement-Care_MyToolkit.pdf

'As nurses, we are not only caregivers; we are also interpreters of experience, translators of complex moments into comfort and clarity. Let us speak with intention. Let us lead with empathy. And let us ensure that our words, like our actions, honour the lives we are privileged to support until the very end.' 🔗 https://www.nursingtimes.net/end-of-life-and-palliative-care/the-way-we-talk-about-dying-must-reflect-emotional-sensitivity-19-08-2026/

💙🧡 Grief looks different for everyone. When someone dies in hospital at the end of life, their family and friends may respond in many different ways.

As a clinician, some reactions may surprise or upset you.

Understanding that there is no single “right” way to grieve can help you respond with compassion, understanding and without judgement.

Learn more in our Bereavement Care module 🔗 https://www.endoflifeessentials.com.au/education-modules/comprehensive-care

Final call: Abstract submissions for АPHС270PСС close today!⏰

Don't miss the opportunity to share your research or practice with the palliative care community from across the Asia Pacific and Oceanic regions.

Submit your abstract today and be part of the largest palliative care conference in the Southern Hemisphere.

Submit now ➡️ https://aphc27opcc.com/abstract-submission/

🧡 'Each person’s grief is as unique as their fingerprints. But what everyone has in common is that no matter how they grieve, they share a need for their grief to be witnessed.

That doesn’t mean needing someone to try to lessen it or reframe it for them. The need is for someone to be fully present to the magnitude without trying to point out the silver lining of their loss'

Read more in our Bereavement Care fact sheet 🔗https://cdn.craft.cloud/019ef70f-07d3-7073-aa9a-78eeb7d5ae7d/assets/private-assets/bereavement_care_types_of_grief.pdf

Roz Hervey wanted to change the conversation around Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD).

In her final message, she encouraged people to talk about VAD more, and for everyone to have access to information about their end-of-life choices.

For health professionals, conversations about VAD can be complex. Knowing what resources are available, understanding your role, and communicating sensitively with patients, families and colleagues can help.

Our free, peer-reviewed 'Voluntary Assisted Dying in Acute Hospitals' module can build your confidence: https://www.endoflifeessentials.com.au/education-modules/collaboration-and-coordination-of-care

Roz Hervey had hours left to live. She asked her family to press record In life as in art, dancer Roz Hervey wanted to push boundaries. She choreographed her own death, and in her final moments made an impassioned plea.

🧡 For health professionals caring for patients at the end of life, grief presents a unique set of challenges. It isn’t simply an aftermath; it often begins well before a death occurs.

Learn more from Kari Langdon at Red Tree Foundation - https://www.endoflifeessentials.com.au/blog/supporting-families-through-loss

National Grief Awareness Month NALAG NSW

After a terminal diagnosis, this simple act brought Matthew joy Biography services bring life back into death for palliative care patients, and they are growing in popularity at home and abroad.

End-of-Life Essentials returned to the road in 2026, bringing end-of-life care education directly to clinicians across South Australia and Victoria. We are so grateful to all who support and share our work.

Read more in 'Supporting Clinicians Where They Work' - https://www.endoflifeessentials.com.au/blog/supporting-clinicians-where-they-work-our-2026-end-of-life-care-road-trip

(Picture: A/Prof Kim Devery at Palliative Care Nurses Forum at Latrobe Regional Health hospital, and Gippsland Region Palliative Care Consortium )