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Pathway 5: After Caring - CarerHelp

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Pathway 5: After Caring

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

Key resources

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?’.

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).

Pathway 5 summary

This pathway outlines resources and tools that can be used when you are no longer caring. (pdf, 389kb)

Download pathway 5

What to do following a death

After the death and the funeral there can still be many things to do. This summary can help you sort things out.

Understanding grief

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.

Checklist and plan for moving forward

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.

When grief doesn’t go away

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

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.

After caring module

This module covers:

  • Reactions to a death, including grief
  • Finding support
  • Looking after yourself
  • Returning to work
  • Practical matters after a death

Get started

Work, study, or volunteering

These free services can support you to find work or re-train:

Have you considered volunteering?

Grief resources for young people

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:

My plan for moving forward

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