Events
Upcoming online and in-person events hosted, organised or supported by network members
9th Public Health Palliative Care International Conference
📣 Planning ahead? Here’s one for your calendar.
Abstracts, workshops, and early bird rego dates are rolling in for the 9th Public Health Palliative Care International Conference — four days of global ideas, practice, and connection. 🌏💬
🔗 Event link: REGISTER HERE
#PHPC2026 #PalliativeCare #PublicHealth #GlobalHealth #ConferenceSeason ✈️📅
The Labor Out Conference: Where Healthcare meets Deathcare
Where compassion meets clinical care. 💛
The Labor Out: Where Healthcare Meets Deathcare at Cleveland State University brings healthcare pros, hospice workers, and death doulas together for real talk, real tools, and more human end-of-life care.
🗓 Oct 28 | 8:30AM–5PM
📍 Cleveland, OH
If you work near death, dying, or serious illness — this space was made for you.
🔗 Event link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-labor-out-conference-where-healthcare-meets-deathcare-tickets-1982391496330?aff=oddtdtcreator
#LaborOut #HealthcareMeetsDeathcare #EndOfLifeCare #HospiceCare #DeathDoulas #HealthcareLeadership #Nursing #WomenInHealthcare #NetworkingEvents
Community & Care | Death & Grief: Practical, artful ways to show up for the end of life.
This four-part online series explores grief, loss, dying and care through lived experience, contemporary knowledge and reflective practice. Rather than positioning death and grief as experiences to fear, avoid or fix, this series approaches them as natural, relational and deeply human aspects of life. In cultures where conversations about mortality are often delayed until crisis arrives, this learning series offers space to build confidence, understanding and practical wisdom before those moments occur. Bringing together leading practitioners in death literacy, community development, creative arts and end-of-life care, each session combines contemporary knowledge with reflective inquiry, practical resources and lived experience. Participants are invited to consider not only how we care for others through illness, dying and bereavement, but also how we understand our own relationship with loss, change and mortality.
Why this series?
As communities, workplaces and families increasingly seek more compassionate ways of responding to grief and dying, there is growing need for:
grief literacy
death and end-of-life awareness
relational confidence
compassionate communities
trauma-informed approaches to care
reflective practice
meaningful conversations about mortality
Whether you work in health, education, community services, the arts, counselling or simply wish to feel more prepared for life’s inevitable transitions, this series offers practical knowledge alongside opportunities for personal reflection.
Presented in partnership with The Death Literacy Institute
This series is presented in partnership with the Death Literacy Institute (DLI), an organisation dedicated to creating a world where death is recognised as part of life. Through education, research and community engagement, the Institute builds the knowledge, skills and confidence that enable individuals and communities to respond more compassionately to dying, caregiving, grief and loss. Together, MIECAT and the Death Literacy Institute share a commitment to reflective practice, relational inquiry and community-based approaches to care. This partnership creates a learning environment that is thoughtful, practical and grounded in both lived experience and contemporary knowledge.
Dates
Sundays | 6.00–8.00pm (Online)
Session 1 – 2 August
Session 2 – 23 August
Session 3 – 13 September
Session 4 – 4 October
All sessions will be recorded and made available to registered participants for four weeks following each workshop.
Participants will
By the end of the series, participants will:
develop greater confidence discussing grief, loss, dying and care
strengthen their capacity to accompany others through illness, death, bereavement and major life transitions
build practical end-of-life literacy, including awareness of resources, planning, rituals and care options
learn from lived experience, professional practice and contemporary thinking in the field
deepen understanding of their own relationship with grief, mortality and meaning-making
strengthen relational and trauma-informed skills relevant across professional and everyday contexts
Session 1
End-of-Life Literacy & Practical Wisdom
Presenter: Danni Petkovic This workshop introduces participants to death literacy as a foundation for living and caring well. Through reflective dialogue, shared inquiry and practical discussion, participants will explore how personal, cultural and social understandings shape experiences of dying, caregiving and grief. Together we will examine what it means to prepare for end-of-life with greater awareness, agency and compassion while identifying existing strengths, knowledge and resources that support individuals, families and communities through life’s final chapter.
Session 2
Meeting Grief: Language, Literacy & Shared Humanity
Presenter: Holly Rankin-Smith Grief is not a problem to solve but a deeply human experience to accompany. Through reflective inquiry, shared storytelling and contemporary grief frameworks, this workshop explores the language, assumptions and cultural narratives that influence how we understand and respond to loss. Participants will develop greater confidence supporting themselves and others while strengthening the relational skills that help reduce isolation and foster connection.
Session 3
Ritual, Meaning & Creative Responses to Loss
Presenters: Danni Petkovic & Kim Karamanian Creativity and ritual have long helped people navigate grief, remembrance and continuing bonds. This arts-based workshop explores how storytelling, memorialisation, ceremony and creative practice can support meaning-making following loss. Participants will engage in reflective and creative activities including ritual design, farewell writing and memory-making while considering contemporary approaches to mourning, legacy and remembrance.
Session 4
Tending as an Aesthetics of Care
Presenter: Niki Read Care is not always about solving problems. Often, it begins with learning how to stay present. This reflective, arts-based workshop explores tending as a relational practice grounded in attention, presence and ethical witnessing. Through observation, creative practice and dialogue, participants will explore ways of responding to vulnerability, uncertainty and grief with greater compassion, relational responsibility and confidence. Participants will leave with practical, creative approaches that can be integrated into both professional practice and everyday life.
Important information
While lived experience is warmly welcomed, this series is designed for education, reflective practice and professional development rather than therapeutic or bereavement support. Participants are expected to take responsibility for their own wellbeing during the workshops. Those seeking therapeutic bereavement support are encouraged to contact us for recommendations to appropriate counselling or grief support services.
Can’t attend live?
All sessions will be recorded and made available exclusively to registered participants for four weeks after each workshop. By registering for this online series, participants acknowledge that sessions will be recorded. You are welcome to keep your camera off and participate in ways that feel comfortable for you.
Supporting research
As part of the Death Literacy Institute’s commitment to research and program development, participants will be invited to complete brief pre- and post-program death literacy evaluation surveys. The findings contribute to ongoing research, strengthen future program design and support funding for community death literacy initiatives.
Your Facilitators
Niki Read works at the intersection of art, death, grief, community and care. For more than fifteen years she has contributed to the death literacy movement through research, arts and health, funeral and doula services, education and community development. A visual artist, writer and creative facilitator, Niki is interested in how people make meaning through stories, relationships, community and creative practice. She is Senior Program Manager with both the Death Literacy Institute and La Trobe University’s Public Health Palliative Care Unit, and is currently completing a Master of Therapeutic Arts Practice at MIECAT Institute.
Danni Petkovic is a Death Literacy Educator and Mortality Doula whose work is grounded in the belief that dying, grief and transition are profound human experiences deserving of care, presence and community. Through her practice, Liminal Being, she supports individuals and families through end-of-life, bereavement and major life transitions using advocacy, advance care planning, legacy work, ceremony and compassionate accompaniment.
Holly Rankin-Smith is a community development practitioner working to strengthen compassionate communities around care, dying, grief and loss. Her background spans the arts, social change and public health, and includes work with La Trobe University, The GroundSwell Project and Big hART. She is passionate about building community capacity and creating opportunities for people to engage more openly with ageing, caregiving, dying and grief. Holly is the creator of the Eulogy Archive.
Kim Karamanian is a Creative Arts Therapist, educator and founder of Creative Beings Art Therapy. Drawing on experience across healthcare, disability, community and palliative care settings, Kim supports people to use creativity as a pathway for reflection, connection and meaning-making. Her work is informed by professional practice and more than three decades of lived experience navigating grief, loss and end-of-life care.
AHFA Presents Dying (well) with dementia at home. One family’s personal story with Lisa Twigg
🏡 What does it mean to die well at home?
Join Lisa Twigg as she shares her family's deeply personal story of caring for her father with dementia at the end of his life—and the power of community, compassion, and connection. 💙
#DementiaCare #EndOfLifeCare #GriefSupport #CompassionateCommunities #Caregiving #AHFA #HomeDeath 🕊️
CfP: ‘Death Down Under: Toward an Australian Death Studies’
💀✨ Death Down Under: Toward an Australian Death Studies ✨💀
Join us for a dynamic, thought-provoking day at the University of Melbourne on 10 July 2026 as the Australian Death Studies Society brings together scholars and practitioners from across disciplines for an exciting interdisciplinary symposium!
Dive into conversations that challenge perspectives and reshape how we understand death, dying, and memorialisation in Australia—from cultural practices and policy to Indigenous experiences and emerging research approaches. Whether you’re an established academic or just starting out, this is your chance to contribute to building a uniquely Australian voice in death studies.
📢 Call for Papers now open! Submit your abstract by 10 May 2026 and be part of this growing field. Options for both in-person and online presentations are available.
Let’s connect, collaborate, and reimagine the future of death studies—Down Under. 🌏🖤
CONTACT US at info@deathstudies.org
#DeathStudies #Symposium2026 #CallForPapers #AcademicConference #AustraliaResearch #Thanatology #UniversityOfMelbourne #Interdisciplinary #ResearchCommunity #PhDLife #EarlyCareerResearchers #DeathDownUnder
AHFA presents Building Community Capacity with Jenny Briscoe-Hough
🌱 Strong communities don't just happen—they're built together.
Join Jenny Briscoe-Hough as she shares how community capacity, culture, and connection can transform the way we approach death, dying, and care. 💚
#CommunityCapacity #CompassionateCommunities #EndOfLifeCare #CommunityDevelopment #GriefSupport #PalliativeCare #AHFA 🤝
NAIDOC Week Webinar
🌿 Grief is experienced in many ways—and culture matters.
Join us this NAIDOC Week as we explore culturally responsive ways to support grief with humility, respect, and care. 🤝💙
#NAIDOCWeek #GriefFirstAid #CulturalSafety #AboriginalHealth #TorresStraitIslander #MentalHealth #CommunityCare #GriefSupport 🌏
Do Your Own Advance Care Directive (ACD)
Split over two days, a month apart, session 1 is an education session which will cover, what is an ACD, what sort of things do you need to know, what things do you need to consider when creating one... and much more. You will leave session 1 with the paperwork, some fact sheets and lots to think about.
In session 2, you will come again with your paperwork. You may have already started filling it out! But if not, that's also ok. Session 2 is where you will put pen to paper, complete your ACD and have it witnessed and bundled up ready to send in for registration.
This will be the best use of a few hours on a Friday afternoon, and there may even be a cuppa on hand. Why not bring something to share for an afternoon tea as we go.
Details
SESSION 1 - FRIDAY 22ND MAY - 11AM - 2PM
SESSION 2 - FRIDAY 26TH JUNE - 11AM - 3PM
The venue will be Limina, 89 Weston Hill Rd, Sorell.
Event capacity will be 25, so register fast!
Date
Friday 22 May 2026 11:00 AM - Friday 26 June 2026 2:00 PM (UTC+10)
Location
Lumina
89 Weston Hill Rd, , Sorell Tas 7172
BOOK HERE
Understanding Grief : Building Grief Readiness in Work and in Life
Grief is something we all experience, yet few of us feel prepared for. 💙
Join us for a conversation on building grief readiness in work and life—because support doesn’t require expertise, just awareness, empathy, and the courage to show up.
🔗 Event link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gDifQQtcThyNerKboYJOmA#/registration
#GriefFirstAid #GriefReadiness
Julian Kingma: The Power of Choice - Sydney exhibition
📸 JULIAN KINGMA: THE POWER OF CHOICE
Step into a powerful and deeply human photographic exhibition by Julian Kingma, documenting the stories of Australians who chose voluntary assisted dying (VAD), alongside the families and health professionals who supported them on their final journey.
Over 18 months travelling across Australia, Julian captured intimate portraits and photo essays exploring hope, courage, struggle, and acceptance — revealing the human face behind Australia’s compassionate VAD laws.
🗓 2 – 25 June 2026
📍 The Fountain Court, NSW Parliament House
6 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000
🕘 Open weekdays, 9am – 5pm
🎟 Free entry
➡ Access via the security gatehouse to the left of the building
Don’t miss this thought-provoking exhibition that invites us to reflect!
Do Your Own Advance Care Directive (ACD)
Split over two days, a month apart, session 1 is an education session which will cover, what is an ACD, what sort of things do you need to know, what things do you need to consider when creating one... and much more. You will leave session 1 with the paperwork, some fact sheets and lots to think about.
In session 2, you will come again with your paperwork. You may have already started filling it out! But if not, that's also ok. Session 2 is where you will put pen to paper, complete your ACD and have it witnessed and bundled up ready to send in for registration.
This will be the best use of a few hours on a Friday afternoon, and there may even be a cuppa on hand. Why not bring something to share for an afternoon tea as we go.
Details
SESSION 1 - FRIDAY 22ND MAY - 11AM - 2PM
SESSION 2 - FRIDAY 26TH JUNE - 11AM - 3PM
The venue will be Limina, 89 Weston Hill Rd, Sorell.
Event capacity will be 25, so register fast!
Date
Friday 22 May 2026 11:00 AM - Friday 26 June 2026 2:00 PM (UTC+10)
Location
Lumina
89 Weston Hill Rd, , Sorell Tas 7172
BOOK HERE
Webinar: Standard Four - Providing Care
Compassionate care is more than a standard - it’s how we help people live well, right to the end 💙
Join us for a deep dive into Standard Four: Providing Care, featuring practical insights and real conversations on embedding quality palliative care into everyday practice.
🗓 Thu, 21 May
⏰ 12PM–1PM PST
🔗 https://events.humanitix.com/webinar-standard-four-providing-care
#PalliativeCare #EndOfLifeCare #Healthcare #AgedCare #HealthProfessionals #CompassionateCare #PalliativeCareAustralia 🌿
Understanding Dementia and End‑of‑Life Care - Moruya
Curious about dementia, dying, and how we care for each other? 💛
Join us for a gentle, community-led screening and conversation this Palliative Care Week—because no one should navigate it alone.
🎟️ Save your spot: https://events.humanitix.com/pcw2026-moruya
#DementiaAwareness #PalliativeCare #EndOfLifeCare #CompassionateCommunities #CommunityCare #GriefSupport #Caregiving #MoruyaEvents
Understanding Dementia and End‑of‑Life Care - Narooma
Curious about dementia, dying, and how we care for each other? 💛
Join us for a gentle, community-led screening and conversation this Palliative Care Week—because no one should navigate it alone.
🎟️ Save your spot: https://events.humanitix.com/pcw2026-narooma
#DementiaAwareness #PalliativeCare #EndOfLifeCare #CompassionateCommunities #CommunityCare #GriefSupport #Caregiving #MoruyaEvents
Carked It! Game Night
Cards. Laughs. Big conversations. 🃏💬
Carked It! is a cheeky Australian-made game that turns life & death into connection, humour, and surprising insight. Come solo or bring mates—everyone’s welcome. Snacks included. 🖤✨
🗓 Wed 13 May, 6–8pm GMT+10
📍 Darebin Intercultural Centre, Preston
🎟 Free (register via link below)
#CarkedIt #GameNight #CommunityEvents #TalkAboutDeath #LifeAndDeath #Darebin #FreeEvent 🎲🖤
National Palliative Care Week 2026
In 2026, with the support of the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, National Palliative Care Week (NPCW) will run from Sunday, 10 May until Saturday, 16 May.
DETAILS HERE: https://palliativecarensw.org.au/national-palliative-care-week-2026/
JOY 3: Evaluating Intergenerational Programs
This course is a stand-alone course from JOY 1 and JOY 2 and is designed for intergenerational professionals who are ready to deepen their understanding of program evaluation; what it is, why it matters, and how to do it well.
This course unpacks the tools, theories, and practices of evaluation through an intergenerational lens. With real-world examples, downloadable templates, and reflective activities, participants will gain practical skills to measure impact, demonstrate value, and confidently report outcomes.
JOY 3 will equip you to assess program effectiveness, advocate for sustainability, and contribute to a growing evidence base for intergenerational practice.
NDAN: Conservation & natural burial, various approaches
About
NDAN is proud to present a panel discussion talking through the different offerings around restoration, conservation and natural burial. This is a rapidly growing space and increasingly more and more cemeteries are turning to natural and eco-friendly approaches to both lessen their footprint and meet the growing community demand to do things differently. Experts from around Australia will come together to talk about the differences in these approaches, what they are offering and why. Represented here is, Fiona from Walaawani Way (NSW), Heidi from Yacca Creek (SA), Joe (Founder of the Green Burial Council USA), and Frank from Geelong Cemetery Trust (VIC).
Date
Wednesday 29 April 2026 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM (UTC+10)
Location
Online event access details will be provided by the event organiser
Deepening Clinical Confidence Road Trip Workshops
For three decades, Grief Australia has shaped grief-informed practice across Australia.
The in-person Deepening Clinical Confidence workshops series brings this national expertise directly to clinicians in their own state, offering three full-day workshops that stand alone or form a structured professional development pathway.
This series is designed to deepen assessment capability, refine intervention strategies and elevate the quality of bereavement care.
Deepening Clinical Confidence
Strengthen your clinical confidence at our in-person, grief-informed, immersive road trip workshops. In 2026, Grief Australia is on the road, around the nation, bringing the education to a location near you.
Check the upcoming Deepening Clinical Confidence Road Trip Workshops HERE.
Road Trip Workshops
Elevate your practice and strengthen your impact. Our workshops are tailored to empower professionals with specialised knowledge and skills to effectively support people through the complexities of grief.
Check the available workshops here: https://grief.org.au/ga/Professionals/Road_Trip_workshops.aspx
Creating Death Care Leaders
Creating Death Care Leaders builds death literacy in rural and regional communities, empowering people to navigate end-of-life conversations, home funerals, and death care with clarity and compassion.
📅 25–26 April 2026
⏰ Fri 9am–5pm | Sat 10am–4pm
📍 Walawaani Way, Bodalla NSW
🔗 Learn more / register: Contact fiona@walawaaniway.com
#DeathLiteracy #EndOfLifeCare #HomeFunerals #CommunityCare #DeathCareLeaders 🕊️
Creating Death Care Leaders
The Australian Home Funeral Alliance, in conjunction with Walawaani Way, and the Death Literacy Institute, this program seeks to build death literacy by engaging both rural and regional communities in education that improves people’s well-being and empowering people to confidently navigate the death system.
Contact Fiona for further information at fiona@walawaaniway.com
IPEPA workshop- Culturally responsive palliative care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
🌿 How can palliative care be more culturally responsive for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples?
Join this IPEPA workshop to explore culture, kinship, community strengths, and culturally safe communication in end-of-life care.
📅 22 April | 📍 Clare Holland House, ACT
🔗 REGISTER HERE
#PalliativeCare #CulturalSafety #AboriginalHealth #EndOfLifeCare #HealthWorkforce #PEPA 🌿
Online Brain Aerobics Experience Session
🧠💡 Keep your mind sharp, active, and energized!
Experience a fun and engaging Brain Aerobics Session by Fit Minds Australia—designed to boost memory, focus, and critical thinking in just one hour.
🗓 Tuesday, April 21, 2026
⏰ Sydney Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
✨ A perfect session for anyone looking to stay mentally active through interactive and stimulating exercises.
📍 Online via Zoom
✏️ Prepare paper and a pen for this hands-on experience!
🎟 Free event | Registration required
Don’t miss this chance to give your brain the workout it deserves!
CarerHelp Online Information Sessions
Supporting someone with a life-limiting illness is a big role 💙
You don’t have to figure it out alone. Join our free online CarerHelp session to get practical guidance, ask questions, and feel more prepared for the caring journey ahead.
🔗 Check the sessions here: https://www.carerhelp.com.au/News/Register-for-online-sessions
#CarerSupport #CarerHelp #PalliativeCare #Caregiving #SupportForCarers #HealthEducation #CommunityCare 🌿
Showing Up for Older Australians
This program builds on the Compassionate Communities model. By engaging rural and regional communities, we aim to provide education that empowers people to navigate the death system confidently and improve their well-being. The goal is to support older and vulnerable Australians, empowering communities and helping strengthen community-based solutions over clinical interventions, alleviate an overreliance upon commercial operators, so that people dealing with end-of-life issues might mediate meaning, find common humanity, and build resilience. It seeks to address funeral poverty and increase people's feelings of capacity and capability to show up for each other in end of life. By educating people on how communities can work together to support each other through illness and dying, we foster networks of care. In regional and remote communities this is essential for wellbeing and wellness. This workshop teaches people what is possible, how to talk about difficult things and the kinds of ways they can advocate for themselves and each other.
REGISTER HERE.
Showing Up for Older Australians
This program builds on the Compassionate Communities model. By engaging rural and regional communities, we aim to provide education that empowers people to navigate the death system confidently and improve their well-being. The goal is to support older and vulnerable Australians, empowering communities and helping strengthen community-based solutions over clinical interventions, alleviate an overreliance upon commercial operators, so that people dealing with end-of-life issues might mediate meaning, find common humanity, and build resilience. It seeks to address funeral poverty and increase people's feelings of capacity and capability to show up for each other in end of life. By educating people on how communities can work together to support each other through illness and dying, we foster networks of care. In regional and remote communities this is essential for wellbeing and wellness. This workshop teaches people what is possible, how to talk about difficult things and the kinds of ways they can advocate for themselves and each other.
REGISTER HERE.
Education Webinar | Caring Together: Why Language and Culture Matter in Paediatric Palliative Care
Join on Wednesday 15 April 2026, for Palliative Care Queensland's education webinar titled "Caring Together: Why Language and Culture Matter in Paediatric Palliative Care".
📅 Wednesday 15 April 2026
⏰ 12:00–1:00 PM (AEST)
The webinar will feature guest speakers Yody Espitia Buritica, Clinical Nurse Consultant at Hummingbird House and Alessia Aielli, Project Officer at Palliative Care Australia who will share the importance of language and culture in Paediatric Palliative Care. They will discuss why it's important to be curious and open when engaging with different communities, and why it matters to work with and alongside families from non-English speaking backgrounds. They will also introduce the Caring Together booklet as evidence of what culturally responsive care can look like in practice.
FREE for PCQ members, PCQ Volunteers, QAS Paramedics
$10 General Admission
$8 Concession Card Holders
Showing Up for Each Other
The Australian Home Funeral Alliance, in conjunction with Social Health Australia and the Death Literacy Institute, are running a workshop called Showing Up for Older Australians: a community approach to building death literacy focusing on regional and Older Australians.
What You'll Learn:
How to have conversations about end of life;
What is a home funeral - why might we want one;
Redefining home funeral - death in nursing homes and hospitals;
Planning a funeral;
Death care at home- what does it look like;
Being a death care leader.
Event Details:
11 April 2026 9am - 5pm The Fellowship Room, Uniting Church, 8-12 Lyttleton Street, Castlemaine
12 April 2026 10am - 4pm The Fellowship Room, Uniting Church, 8-12 Lyttleton Street, Castlemaine
DETAILS HERE.
Showing Up for Each Other
The Australian Home Funeral Alliance, in conjunction with Social Health Australia and the Death Literacy Institute, are running a workshop called Showing Up for Older Australians: a community approach to building death literacy focusing on regional and Older Australians.
What You'll Learn:
How to have conversations about end of life;
What is a home funeral - why might we want one;
Redefining home funeral - death in nursing homes and hospitals;
Planning a funeral;
Death care at home- what does it look like;
Being a death care leader.
Event Details:
11 April 2026 9am - 5pm The Fellowship Room, Uniting Church, 8-12 Lyttleton Street, Castlemaine
12 April 2026 10am - 4pm The Fellowship Room, Uniting Church, 8-12 Lyttleton Street, Castlemaine
DETAILS HERE.
International Conference on Assisted Dying and Other End of Life Care (ICEL5)
ICEL5: Assisted Dying & End-of-Life Care 🌿⚖️🩺
Four days of bold, interdisciplinary conversations on assisted dying—bringing together ethics, law, medicine, and lived experience. Thoughtful, challenging, and essential for shaping end-of-life care futures.
📍 QUT Gardens Point, Brisbane
🗓️ 8–11 April 2026
📝 Registration now open
🔗 Details & registration: https://consol.eventsair.com/icel5/
#ICEL5 #AssistedDying #EndOfLifeCare #HealthLaw #Bioethics #MedicalEthics #InterdisciplinaryResearch ✨