Our Proudly Prepared End of Life Planning Workshop provided a great opportunity to spend a day going into details more deeply and sharing experience and knowledge. After introductions led by Committee Member Jess Evans, End of Life Doulas and proud LGBTI+ community members Jo Fuller and Shannon Beresford spoke of the importance of having a plan in place as well as back up plans. It is easier for yourself and those close to you if you do this when you’re well, not stressed by health or other issues.
The workshop provided useful information to take the next steps or update existing documents, including ensuring conversations are had with people close to you. Participants were reminded that information was general in nature and to seek expert advice tailored to their own situation.
Jo spoke about the 7 Stages of living we developed as part of our Rainbow Horizons project. Shannon made the point that dying is a human and community event not a medical one and that true person-centred care must include gender identity, name, pronouns and affirmed self-expression.
Speakers addressed the extra layers of issues for trans and gender-diverse people, including the importance of documentation such as legal name change in relation to:
– Change of sex or gender identity for births registered in SA
– Updating records, legal papers and funeral instructions to match affirmed identity
– Death certificate may not reflect your name/gender identity if you do not change through formal channels (Births, Deaths and Marriages – Consumer Business Services).
Danielle Philips, Sage Executor Solutions and community ally, shared tips for being an executor which may include up to 40 tasks. This included getting organised as soon as being named an executor through to dealing with social media accounts to stop AI using them.
The Lefevre Threshold Singers sang to people in groups of two during the lunchbreak after a brief introduction about their role in bringing bedside singing to LGBTI+ people nearing the end of life. More in our October enews.
Jill Huntley shared about the new Rainbow Dog Palliative Care Group and invited others to get involved after Committee Member Pat Pearson spoke about the Project Report.
Overall the workshop was a reminder of the importance of community, and maintaining connections including buddying up with someone else to support each other as advocates when needed.
You can read more about the Workshop here.
Resources from the workshop are available on our projects page.
Photos by Jackie Wurm
