End of Life planning
This is such an unpopular subject – nobody wants to even think about it! But with death comes an avalanche of admin and if you don’t think about it while you are well, you may be too ill or otherwise unable to express your wishes.
When you are grieving it is the worst possible time for hard decisions, so early conversations and planning are very helpful..
If there is a plan already in place it makes everything so much more bearable for those left behind and it also allows you to feel a sense of ownership and empowerment around the end of life process.
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Everyone! You are never too young to get involved in decision-making around your own end of life journey. Tragedies happen every day and even young people can die unexpectedly. Making choices around how you want to be treated if something happens to you that removes your capacity to make your own decisions is so important. Everyone should have an Advance Care Plan as a bare minimum.
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It is actually pretty simple to do… the main barrier is a reluctance to think about our mortality! There are some forms to fill out that ask questions about your values, beliefs and wishes and you might also choose to name people as your medical decision-makers or financial decision-makers in the event of your own incapacity. The documents can then be used to make sure your wishes for your own treatment and end of life are taken into account no matter what happens.
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This can be as simple as a short conversation about resource availability and how to access the forms… or you might feel you’d like to talk everything through with me and fill out the forms together. It’s very much up to you how much involvement I have in this process.