The BNPCC Hub

[from QuoCCA]

On 16 October, we again hosted Good grief, this hurts! which is a free, annual educational event aimed at building community capacity and practical awareness about grief, loss, death, and bereavement as experienced by children and young people. This event was an opportunity to enhance knowledge and skills in supporting a child or young person who is grieving. If you were unable to join the live event, you can still access the recording by following this link: Good Grief This Hurts! October 2025 on Vimeo

To support your learning about caring for bereaved young people check out the accompanying Good grief, this hurts! Resource Guide. In acknowledging that thinking, talking, and reflecting upon grief, loss and bereavement may cause distress, we urge you to take pause for self-care and offer a resource to support this space with the Good grief, this hurts! Reflection Guide.

In 2025, the Good grief, this hurts! webinar focused on Growing Up and Grieving: Deepening Our Understanding of Young People's Grief and explored how children and young people experience and express grief. The 2-hour virtual session unpacked the unique challenges faced by grieving young people, the ways grief evolves as they grow, and how adults can offer meaningful support.

This year, we welcomed as the event host Ainslie Plumb, who is a Youth Cancer Advisor with the Youth Cancer Service, and she told her own story of love and loss, as well as a panel of three renowned speakers who spoke to current research and thinking about re-imagining childhood grief.

Dr Lauren Breen is a psychologist, researcher, author, TEDx speaker, and a professor of psychology at Curtin University. She works to understand the psychology of grief and loss over the lifespan and the intersections with mental health and wellbeing.

Meg Chin is an experienced senior social worker, Family Support Team Leader and a certified EPEC-Paediatrics Trainer. Meg specialises in play-based counselling with a strong interest in children’s rights.

Shelly Skinner, Social Worker is the CEO and Founder of Lionheart Camp for Kids, a not-for-profit supporting children, teens, and families following the death of a significant person in their family.

The Quality of Care Collaborative Australia (QuoCCA) project delivers paediatric palliative care education to health professionals in urban, rural, regional and remote areas who may care for children and young people with palliative and end-of-life care needs.

[From ELDAC]

The End of Life Directions for Aged Care (ELDAC) Linkages Program is calling for expressions of interest from aged care providers who wish to strengthen their palliative care and advance care planning processes and capacity.

The ELDAC Linkages Program is seeking a diverse range of eligible aged care services (residential and home care package providers) from across Australia to participate in this initiative, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.

Participating services may be eligible to receive an administrative grant of up to $20,000 to support engagement in program activities.

What’s involved?

Your service will be provided with tailored support, including access to an ELDAC facilitator and a range of tools and resources to:

• Review current palliative care and advance care planning processes.
• Develop, implement and sustain selected palliative care and advance care planning improvement activities.
• Build capacity to provide care for older people nearing the end of life.
• Strengthen linkages between your service and other care providers in end of life care.
• Participating services may be eligible to receive an administrative grant of up to $20,000 to support engagement in program activities.

To apply

To register your interest, complete the Submission Form.

For further information, contact eldacteam1@qut.edu.au.

[From CPCRE]

CPCRE is excited to announce that the new-look CPCRE website went live on Wednesday 29th October 2025: Centre for Palliative Care Research and Education (CPCRE) | Queensland Health

The updated CPCRE website has a stream-lined look and incorporates menu buttons and a blue tile ‘picture-graphic layout’. The new website design brings the CPCRE website into line with the rollout of the updated Queensland Health corporate branding ‘media design’ requirements for public-facing websites. CPCRE gratefully acknowledges the assistance, professional guidance and support of the Metro North Online team in updating the CPCRE website.

We hope that you – our supporters, find the new website to be engaging, easy to use, and informative for your palliative care education and research needs. Let us know what you think of the new CPCRE website, by sending an email to the CPCRE email: cpcre@health.qld.gov.au

We value and look forward to receiving your feedback.

[from ACPA]

Advance Care Planning Australia, in partnership with Ageing Australia, has released a new resource to support retirement living and seniors housing operators in helping residents understand and plan for their future health care.

The Advance care planning in retirement villages and seniors housing implementation guide provides practical advice on raising resident awareness, understanding the different types of advance care planning documents, and setting clear boundaries around organisational roles. The guide also outlines considerations for emergencies, privacy, and staff training, along with a practical checklist that operators can use to review or strengthen their current practices.

Although retirement communities are not health care providers, they are uniquely placed to connect residents with reliable information and help them make informed choices. This new guide supports operators to do this safely, appropriately, and confidently.

Download the new Implementation guide

To ensure the Brisbane North Palliative Care Collaborative (BNPCC) is worthwhile and valuable for all members, we undertake annual evaluation. All members are invited to provide feedback on 9 questions.

More information is available on this handout.

Responses are open for eight weeks from Wednesday 19 November to Wednesday 14 January 2026.

Responses are deidentified and collated. Findings will be presented at the first BNPCC meeting in 2026, with recommendations for the group to consider.

The goal is to have at least 70% of members provide feedback. Responses can be given anonymously online, or in writing, or verbally- via any method preferred- including carrier pigeon!

Karuna's Carer Support Service has a couple of workshops coming up:

• Stress Management for Carers- 4 December
• Finding Balance & Connection During the Holidays- 17 December

(click the workshop title to see the flyer)

See the service flyer for more information on the Carer Support Services on offer.

[From The University of Melbourne]

Register for the online webinar exploring the breadth and impact of community voices in palliative care.

Register: https://unimelb.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Vkp3SyxfQRS9r7_oZ_n6hw#/registration

[From ELDAC]

Several factors influence how people experience grief, such as age, past experiences with loss, and beliefs or spirituality. For older adults, grief may also relate to other losses like declining health, unfulfilled life plans, and a sense of diminishing levels of independence.

Providing grief and bereavement support that aligns with the spiritual, cultural, and psychosocial needs of older people, as outlined in the Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, is essential. Information about loss and bereavement should also be provided to family members and carers.

This expert-led webinar will provide individuals working in aged care with an overview of how to support people experiencing grief and bereavement. A panel of experts will share their insights and practical tips on how to respond to cues to provide grief and bereavement support to individuals and their families in aged care.

Learning Objectives:
- How to respond to the grief and bereavement needs of individuals, their families and carers.
- Practice considerations when supporting a person living with dementia who is experiencing grief and bereavement.
- Outline strategies on how to build staff knowledge, confidence and skills in grief and bereavement in aged care.

12.30 pm – QLD
Thursday 4 December 2025

Register: https://loghic.eventsair.com/849952/713312/Site/Register

CPCRE is seeking applications from colleagues who would be interested in joining the CPCRE team as Palliative Care Project Officer (Identified), CPCRE.

Please see links below to the Careers and Seek websites’ for this position

• Careers link: https://apply-springboard.health.qld.gov.au/jobs/QLD-RBH669580
• Seek link:https://www.seek.com.au/job/88480015

Applications close Wednesday 26^th November, 2025.

The Older Person Advocacy Network (OPAN) have released The National Aged Care Advocacy Program Presenting Issues- Report 5, which highlights presenting issues fielded by OPAN between July 2024 and June 2025.

Legal advice around Advance Care Planning and wills was highlighted as a common presenting issue for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.

A case study (pg73) highlighted the need for earlier recognition, planning, and response of services and supports when people transition to end of life care.

Read the report here: https://opan.org.au/information/publications-and-reports/reports/