Caring for someone until they die is a major task. When the person dies, there is grief and loss from the death, but there is also the loss of the caring role that has shaped your priorities while caring. You may have not had time for work, friends or hobbies. Now your world has changed. You have reached the end of the caring journey. The resources in this pathway are about you – understanding your feelings, managing grief and loss, and thinking about how to move forward into a new future.
Watch Chris Hall talks about what is grief
Chris Hall gives some tips for managing grief
The resources available below are relevant to this pathway. Most will have a PDF version you can print or save to your device. If you need help now, call the numbers listed under ‘Need help now?’.
Call 000 for emergency services and urgent assistance. If you need to talk, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Call Carer Gateway Contact Centre for support and services (1800 422 737 Mon to Fri, 8am to 5pm).
This pathway outlines resources and tools that can be used when you are no longer caring. (pdf, 389kb)
Download pathway 5
After the death and the funeral there can still be many things to do. This summary can help you sort things out.
Everyone experiences grief in their own way. There is no ‘correct’ way to grieve, and no way to ‘fix it’. Palliative Care Australia gives you some more information on grief.
After the early months of grief and change have passed you may start thinking about the future. This checklist (pdf, 299kb) provides some ways to think about moving forward.
Grief is a normal reaction to a death. For some people, grief and an intense yearning for the person doesn’t stop. This resource (pdf, 337kb) discusses when you might need to talk to a health professional about your grief.
MyGrief app was developed by the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement, it can provide you with a number of tailored strategies to help address your challenges during bereavement.
This module covers:
Get started
These free services can support you to find work or re-train:
Have you considered volunteering?
Curtin University has developed resources for adolesencts:
Grief Australia has factsheets on grief for children of different ages:
Play school has videos for young children:
Have you got a chance to fill out the Checklist and Plan for Moving Forward? Using our resource to make a plan for moving forward will give you simple steps to take to help with your health and wellbeing.
Make your plan
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