Connection

Graham’s story

It is fascinating but not surprising how experiences of grief can be quite different. “My mother died in a car crash. She drove into the path of an oncoming vehicle about 15 years ago – fully her fault,” Graham said. “We felt no anger at either her or the other … Read more

Farewelling Dot with music

Gavin worked in the music industry for a long time – so music has a special significance to him – and he knew it did for his mother-in-law Dorothy, who as a young woman had strong connections with the theatre. But unfortunately, the family didn’t get the chance to talk … Read more

Reflected legacy

What a wonderful idea! The Reflected Legacy project with artist Flutter Lyon has been started to bring comfort, support and creativity to the Palliative Care Ward at Liverpool Hospital,Sydney. The goal is to transform a grey hospital ward with colour and conversation, and capture the life stories of people who … Read more

It’s not as simple as numbers, says Linda

“Oh dear!”  Linda Hansen groaned as she looked at yesterday’s goodgrief60.wordpress.com posting. Linda is the Executive Officer of Palliative Care NSW and every time a story comes out, like the one I posted yesterday, she frets that the good people working in palliative care will feel undervalued. That posting picked … Read more

The Conversation project

The Conversation Project is dedicated to helping people talk about their wishes for end-of-life care. Statistics show that everything Ellen Goodman says about the American experience is the same in Australia. That is, we have the same gap between the death people say they want and the death they have. … Read more

Things that I might forget on the first flight after my mother’s death

by Katherine Delaney That the captain was a woman with the first name of Rowena. That the mother behind me exhorting up, up, up in a high voice to her young child sounded like she was trying to re-assure herself. That I comforted myself by knowing that the fact that … Read more

Dying to Know Day

  Dying To Know Day is an annual day of action dedicated to bringing to life conversations and community actions around death, dying and bereavement. D2KDay launched in 2013 and has seen 285 events and has sparked thousands of conversations about death, dying and bereavement. Go to the Dying To … Read more

Breaking barriers to dying well – update

~~~ “About 70% of Australians have specific wishes about their end of life care but very few get to put these into practice” says Independent Patient Supporter & Advocate, Dorothy Kamaker. “In the United States it’s estimated that between 25 to 30 per cent of people achieve these wishes but … Read more

Book review: Journeys of the Heart

Journeys of the Heart by Jodi Rose. Arbon Publishing. After losing her husband, the famous Australian swimmer Murray Rose, Jodi searched out the stories of other carers who were there for those they loved, supporting them until they died. Those interviews turned into this collection of stories. The subtitle of … Read more

Remembering Julian today.

Today I’m remembering my brother Julian, who was killed this day five years ago, in a motor-cycle accident near his country property. As our brother, Damian, said in his eulogy for him; “There was an explosion of light too beautiful, and our dear Julian was shot into the Heavens, where … Read more

Grief and letting go

  “Grief is the unavoidable consequence of ‘letting go’,” says Catholic priest Monsignor  Tony Doherty. Tony has sat with families and friends at the bedside of the dying on many occasions during his 50 years as a priest. “One of life’s fundamental human equations goes like this: the more you … Read more