Willow- Community and family support through Voluntary Assisted Dying

18/06/2026

❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

Wondering how to help a grieving friend? Let them be sad.⁣ Really. ⁣Sadness is a natural response to loss, hardship, and death.

The trick to successful grief support is to lean into your helplessness in the face of your friend’s pain. Your job, honestly, is to feel awkward and stay there anyway.

When someone talks to you about how hard this is, notice your impulse to jump in with advice. Then, DON'T DO IT.

Platitudes & unsolicited advice just tell the grieving person that you're not someone they can talk to about this.

When they say, "This sucks," say, "Yes, it does." It may seem to simple to help, but it's amazing how much acknowledgement helps.

It is an unfathomable relief to have a friend who will sit with you and let you feel exactly how you feel.⁣ ❤️‍🩹

16/06/2026

For anyone in the South West - a great initiative to be part of a discussion around end of life and gather information on what this can look like in your local community.

Join us this Saturday for a FREE community event!
We're bringing people together to talk about what matters most: living well and dying well.
Guided by Dr Sue Chapman, our conversations will be led by local experts who care:
• Julieanne Hilbers (SWCCN co-founder with experience in home based death care)
• Michelle Elson (acting Chair, SWCCN and living wake advocate)
• Alice Morison (Voluntary Assisted Dying Care Navigator)
• Dr Sally Banfield & Jodie Butler (Palliative Care clinicians)
• Tasha Kernohan (Community services facilitator)
Let's create space for sharing, learning and reflecting. Together, we can make informed decisions about end-of-life options.

16/06/2026

It's amazing how so many different sensory experiences hold memory - not just words or thoughts, but sounds and music, taste and smells that can all offer unique ways to remember, honour and be connected to the people you love.

Grief doesn’t only live in words.
Sometimes it lives in sound.

A song they loved.
A playlist you shared.
Music playing at a moment you’ll never forget.

Music can bring people back to us in ways that feel immediate and physical. It can comfort. It can undo us. Sometimes it does both at once.

There’s no timeline for this.
No rule about when you should be able to listen.
No requirement to press play if it’s too much.

But when you’re ready, music can be a way love continues to move.

If you feel up to it, share with us:
What song helps you feel connected to your person?

13/06/2026

Less than a week to go until the first community conversation event at The Power of Choice.

Voices in voluntary assisted dying

Thurs 18 June 10am-11.30am
A forum to hear from experts, listen, share and understand more about voluntary assisted dying.
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/voices-in-voluntary-assisted-dying-tickets-1990218233311?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=wsa&aff=ebdsshwebmobile

Beautiful, free opportunity to experience this exhibition over a cuppa and understand more on what this choice is.

Register and join in.

Join us in person to hear real stories and share thoughts on voluntary assisted dying.

13/06/2026

When someone dies unexpectedly - or when you didn't quite get there, or get to say how you felt - grief of their loss can be compounded.

Voluntary assisted dying can create a space to say and do the things that are important before they die, including celebrating their lives with them - creating new memories to hold in the loss to come.

A living wake is a deliberate coming together around a person who is dying, and it's being made more popular, and possible, by voluntary assisted dying.

08/06/2026

Voluntary assisted dying is one facet of end of life planning, but there are so many more. Advanced health directives allow you to have a clear voice when you are no longer able to speak for yourself - and means your loved ones don't have to guess or worry on what you'd want them to choose

Palliative Care WA are able to help you to have these in place, just in case.

Palliative Care WA holds a range of workshops and short courses to suit the different information needs of community members.

This includes:
• Advance Care Planning (My Future Care) workshops
• Advance Health Directive document completion workshops through our ACP Support Service
• PalliLEARN short online courses aimed at equipping community members to learn about palliative care.

Want to learn more? Head to the events page of our website for all the details and the links to book your place.

All of our community workshops are free for WA residents, thanks to funding from WA Health Department. Our PalliLEARN courses are supported through funding from Richard Lockwood.

If you would like to organise an in-person or online Advance Care Planning Workshop for your own community group, organisation or workplace please contact us on [email protected].

06/06/2026

Gentle thoughts for a sunny Saturday on how we hold those we love with us, always.

"Forward"

05/06/2026

This incredible space for reflection, exploration and understanding of what this choice can look like is heading to Perth.

Reminder on the events occuring in the gallery below:

Voices in voluntary assisted dying

Thurs 18 June 10am-11.30am
A forum to hear from experts, listen, share and understand more about voluntary assisted dying.
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/voices-in-voluntary-assisted-dying-tickets-1990218233311?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=wsa&aff=ebdsshwebmobile

In good company: Care and choice conversations
Wed 8 July 10am - 12pm
Informal and respectful conversation, exploring how voluntary assisted dying and palliative care can together support a person's end-of-life choices.

https://events.humanitix.com/in-good-company-care-and-choice-conversations

Willow will be hosting our own opportunity to gather together and share this powerful exhibition for anyone with lived experience on Saturday 4 July - reach out for details - [email protected] - we'd love to meet you.

JUST ONE WEEK: Until The Power of Choice opens at the Holmes à Court Gallery in Perth!

More than an exhibition – The Power of Choice is a storytelling project that evolved into a compelling Walkley Award-winning book. Through Julian Kingma’s thoughtful lens, the exhibition shares powerful portraits and personal narratives of individuals who have chosen voluntary assisted dying and the people who care for them.

Timed to coincide with the 5th anniversary of VAD in Western Australia, the exhibition seeks to dismantle stigma, encourage dialogue, and remind us all of the humanity at the heart of end-of-life choice💞

https://www.holmesacourtgallery.com.au/exhibition/the-power-of-choice/

03/06/2026

Our next meet up is Wednesday June 24 in metro Perth, just before the annual Service of Reflection.

If you'd like to have a cuppa and chat with others who have or are supporting someone they love though voluntary assisted dying, we'd love to meet you - everyone at any stage in supporting someone on this path is welcome.

Join our closed Facebook group or DM us to come along, and we'll pop the kettle on, tim tams at the ready.

03/06/2026

The annual Service of Reflection for anyone touched by voluntary assisted dying is coming up soon on Friday 26 June, perhaps holding additional meaning this year as we journey to the 5th anniversary of the enactment of our law.

Anyone in the space is welcome - loved ones of someone who has died with VAD support networks, health professionals and people exploring VAD for themselves. It's a non-denominational service and a special opportunity to connect with others in the spirit of reflection.

If you are interested in coming along, the VAD Care Navigator Service are coordinating this - reach out to them for details [email protected]

Both in person, and virtual attendance are available and free. Please share with those you know who may want to join in.

Willow will be there and love to meet you if you would like to come and say hello.