Sharing Your Preferences
Planning gives you the opportunity to explain your wishes with others should you no longer be able to communicate. To get started here we list some resources that can be useful for everyone as well as resources developed for specific population groups.
For everyone
The Advance care planning Australia website provides information and forms to document your preferences and to prepare should you no longer be able to communicate your decisions.
Share your Advance care plan with others by using the Australian government's My Health Record. Visit the website and scroll down to find instructions on how to log in, control who can access your record and manage your own information.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Planning ahead is important. The Caring for your mob booklet is available from the Department of Health and Aged Care website and explains how to start talking about end of life care and how to turn your wishes into a plan.
Cultural and linguistically diverse people
For older Australians Palliative Care Australia has a dying2talk package, including a discussion starter booklet and cards to prompt conversations in different languages. These languages include Arabic, Croatian, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Maltese, Polish, Simplified Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese. All resources can be downloaded from the website.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex
Planning your end-of-life care can feel like a challenge. The Southern Cross University has developed a 2-page booklet Respect my decisions: IT’S MY RIGHT! Designed specifically for the LGBTI community to plan for end of life you can read this online or print it from the website.
Living with intellectual disability
In this video from the UK group Dying Matters, We're Living Well but Dying Matters, people with learning disabilities share stories and their wishes to support other people with learning disabilities in becoming comfortable in talking about dying, death and bereavement.
Older people
The Dementia Australia website offers videos, resources and tools for starting to talk and make plans. Watch this video on planning to get started. If you would prefer to talk to someone, call the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500 (available 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday excluding public holidays).
Rural and remote areas
From Cancer Council Australia, the Rural Cancer Stories series of videos brings you the stories of country cancer patients. Stories include, how they have coped and continue to cope with cancer, things they wish they knew earlier and practical tips they want to share.
A more comprehensive list of resources for making plans is available.
Page created 04 November 2021