At any one time, there are tens of thousands of Australians caring for a partner, family member, or friend who is at the end of their life. As someone’s illness advances, they require more care and support with daily life such as personal care, meals, organising medicines and appointments, and emotional support. Carers who take on this role are impacted in many ways by the demands of caring and experience their own emotional reactions to the loss of a loved one.

Carerhelp.com.au is a website with information and resources to prepare a carer for the end of life caring role. Resources vary from managing symptoms and medicines, to self-care, through to how to offer comfort to the dying person. Since its launch in 2019 it has been accessed by around 40,000 Australians, or on average 1,000 new users visiting per month. 

However, we know that some populations of carers are less likely to access information or have unique information needs. That is why I am pleased to announce that CarerHelp now has a range of information and resources tailored to Australian carers from a range of communities, including carers who speak in languages other than English, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers, and LGBTIQ+ carers. Furthermore, CarerHelp has produced resources for support workers who may find themselves supporting a person or their family at the end of life. 

We all need to be understood and heard. Carers need to know, through information, that they can safely be heard, with information that is accessible to them and that they are not alone in the role of being a carer, irrespective of background, language, culture, faith, abilities and limitations, age, or gender and sexual identity.

The new resources have been developed with the input of our National Reference Group of key stakeholders and through consultation with a range of individuals and groups who have insight into the concerns and needs of each of these communities.

We hope that health services will broker these resources with the diverse families they work with. We welcome feedback about the new resources carerhelp@flinders.edu.au and encourage you to tell your friends, family, co-workers and communities about carerhelp.com.au.

Author: Associate Professor Mark Boughey, Deputy Director, Centre for Palliative Care and Director of Palliative Medicine, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne