Grief and loss often impact older adults more, which can increase their likelihood of developing mental illness. Felicity Chapman, Mental Health Clinician and Aged Care Specialist, discusses how working with grief is a key part of her counselling with older adults and demonstrates this through a client’s story.

Pharmacists play an important role within an inter-disciplinary paediatric palliative care team. Debbie Rando, a Pharmacist at the Victorian Paediatric Palliative Care Program, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, shares how her role helps children with life-limiting conditions.

Death is something we all have to cope with, however, we seem reluctant to think about, talk about, and plan for it. Professor Jennifer Tieman, Director of CareSearch and the Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying at Flinders University, discusses the aims of Dying2Learn and how the online course offers the Australian general community the chance to learn and talk about death and dying.

As COVID-19 continues to disrupt our health and aged care services, there is a strong case for prioritising advance care planning (ACP) as part of the national response. Linda Nolte from Advance Care Planning Australia discusses how ACP could be better used to manage a surge in healthcare demand during the pandemic, with recommendations on how this might be achieved.

The ELDAC Care Model is a guide to help aged care staff and health professionals meet the needs of older Australians coming to the end of their life. In her blog, Quality, Risk and Compliance Officer and Coordinator of the ANHF-ELDAC Program, Yan Yau, discusses how the Australian Nursing Home Foundation (ANHF) is using the ELDAC Care Model to upskill staff in key areas relevant to end-of-life care.