Don't Be Caught Dead: Grief, Loss, Death Literacy and Getting Prepared

What can a cemetery teach us about the people who came before us — and what can the history of poison and medicine tell us about the way we understand death today?

In this episode, I'm joined by Rae, who is completing a Master of Ancient History specialising in poison and medicine. Her research spans death and dying across the ancient and more recent historical world. Rae also gives cemetery tours at Brighton Cemetery, where she helps bring the stories of the people buried there back to life.

We talk about the hidden stories held within cemeteries, how researchers uncover the lives behind gravestones, and why cemeteries can act as community memory. Rae also shares her fascination with poison and medical history, including arsenic-based green dye, the history of women's medicine and the forgotten contributions of women such as Metrodora.

But this conversation ultimately comes back to grief. Rae challenges the idea that people in ancient societies were somehow indifferent to death simply because it was more common. Looking at historical evidence, we explore how deeply people have always cared about the people they lost — and what history can teach us about death, health and ourselves.

Remember; You may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.

Take care,

Catherine

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text :-)

MY LOVED ONE HAS DIED, WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Our guide, ‘My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now?’ provides practical steps for the hours and days after a loved one's death. Download it here.

SUPPORT SERVICES
If you're feeling overwhelmed by grief, find support through our resources and bereavement services here.

The free 3-minute Critical Info Check helps you see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Three minutes. One next step.

Go to gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au

Every Tuesday at 7pm, I host Critical Chat Tuesdays —
free, online conversations where you can ask questions or just listen.

No pressure.
 No expectation.

Because this isn’t about planning for “someday” —
 it’s about being ready for whatever life throws your way.

Join anytime at criticalinfo.com.au/events

Support the show

YOUR NEXT STEP

Don’t try to do everything at once.

Take the free 3-minute Critical Info Check to see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Take the Check:

https://gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au/

NEED SUPPORT?

If this episode has brought up grief, loss or bereavement, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

The Critical Info Resource Hub connects you with organisations and services offering grief, bereavement and other practical support.

Find support through the Resource Hub:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/support/

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

Join Critical Chat Tuesday, a free online conversation every Tuesday at 7pm Melbourne time.

You can ask a question, listen to others or simply come as you are.

Find out more:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/events

IF SOMEONE HAS DIED

If someone you love has died, our After-Death Guide — My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now? — provides practical guidance to help you navigate what needs to happen next.

Find the After-Death Guide:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/product/my-loved-one-has-died/

LEARN...

What if the phone in your pocket is one of the most meaningful grief objects you own?

In this episode, I'm joined by Distinguished Professor Larissa Hjorth, a digital ethnographer and socially engaged artist at RMIT University here in Melbourne, where she holds an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship in the School of Media and Communication. For two decades, Larissa's work has explored the role mobile media plays in intergenerational connection, intimacy, ageing, loss and death across Japan, South Korea, China and Australia. Her current Fellowship, The Mourning After, examines mourning through mobile media, from the death of a loved one to ecological grief, framing grief as a cultural practice and building what she calls grief literacy. It builds on her earlier book, Haunting Hands (Oxford University Press, 2017), and her latest book, Mourning on Mobile Media: Everyday Affective Witnessing (MIT Press), is free to read online. In 2025 Larissa curated an exhibition of the same name at RMIT Design Hub Gallery, exploring grief as a social practice for hopeful futures.

I was lucky enough to visit The Mourning After, and in this conversation Larissa takes us behind the curtain. We talk about how she brought together 13 artists and 26 free public workshops to make grief visible, from Maree Clarke's kopi mourning caps, heavy with clay and worn until they fall away, to custodian guides that give our treasured objects a story to carry into the future. Larissa explains why ritual matters so much, why grief doesn't have to be dark, and why creative practice can say what words often can't.

We then move into the digital world. Larissa shares what she has learnt about posting as a form of eulogy, why choosing not to share can be just as meaningful as sharing, and how people hold onto old phones rather than risk losing a loved one's voice message. We explore the phone as a witness in moments of disaster and collective grief, what happens when social media accounts are left without a legacy contact, and the ethics of death bots and AI afterlives. As Larissa puts it, when you ask someone about their phone, you're really inviting them to talk about their life, their relationships and their losses.

Remember; You may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.

Take care,

Catherine

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text :-)

MY LOVED ONE HAS DIED, WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Our guide, ‘My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now?’ provides practical steps for the hours and days after a loved one's death. Download it here.

SUPPORT SERVICES
If you're feeling overwhelmed by grief, find support through our resources and bereavement services here.

The free 3-minute Critical Info Check helps you see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Three minutes. One next step.

Go to gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au

Every Tuesday at 7pm, I host Critical Chat Tuesdays —
free, online conversations where you can ask questions or just listen.

No pressure.
 No expectation.

Because this isn’t about planning for “someday” —
 it’s about being ready for whatever life throws your way.

Join anytime at criticalinfo.com.au/events

Support the show

YOUR NEXT STEP

Don’t try to do everything at once.

Take the free 3-minute Critical Info Check to see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Take the Check:

https://gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au/

NEED SUPPORT?

If this episode has brought up grief, loss or bereavement, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

The Critical Info Resource Hub connects you with organisations and services offering grief, bereavement and other practical support.

Find support through the Resource Hub:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/support/

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

Join Critical Chat Tuesday, a free online conversation every Tuesday at 7pm Melbourne time.

You can ask a question, listen to others or simply come as you are.

Find out more:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/events

IF SOMEONE HAS DIED

If someone you love has died, our After-Death Guide — My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now? — provides practical guidance to help you navigate what needs to happen next.

Find the After-Death Guide:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/product/my-loved-one-has-died/

LEARN...

Losing a child, a parent, a distant cousin: the data says your grief isn't the same, and neither is what helps.

In this episode, I'm speaking with Dr Candice Mace, a clinical psychologist, research supervisor and sessional academic at Deakin University and The Cairnmillar Institute, where she also completed her Doctorate of Psychology (Clinical). Candice's clinical and academic work centres on grief, loss and trauma, and her doctoral research, in collaboration with Dr Russell Deighton, demonstrated the effectiveness of the Integrating Grief Program Victoria, a telephone-based grief counselling service delivered in partnership with Griefline. Her first study, published in Death Studies, found that brief telehealth grief counselling significantly reduced psychological distress among 197 people bereaved by sudden or traumatic death.

Candice explains why grief found her before she found it, walks through the difference between the acute and adaptive phases of grief using her ball in the box analogy, and makes the case for why the popular five stages of grief were never actually designed to describe bereavement at all. We get into why grief research has historically been so thin, what changed when Prolonged Grief Disorder was added to the DSM in 2022, and why grief itself isn't a disorder, it's a normal response that can sometimes need specialised support.

We spend real time on what her research actually found: brief telehealth counselling helps, but not equally for everyone. Losing a child produced the highest and most persistent distress of any relationship type. Cause of death mattered too, with cancer and drug overdose bereavements arriving with the highest initial distress, for very different reasons. And counterintuitively, people with only medium levels of social support sometimes did better than those with high support, because not all support is the support a grieving person actually needs. Candice closes by sharing her own experience of grief after losing her sister, and what she has learned about tolerating grief rather than locking it away.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• Why grief found Candice before she found it, and how counselling hundreds of bereaved people at Griefline shaped her research questions
• The difference between acute and adaptive grief, and Candice's ball in the box analogy for how grief changes over time, not in size but in how often it gets triggered
• Why the five stages of grief were never designed to describe bereavement at all, and why treating them as gospel can make people doubt their own grief
• Why grief has historically been under-researched, and what changed once prolonged grief disorder was added to the DSM in 2022
• What the Integrating Grief Program Victoria actually is, how Victoria Police refers people into it, and who it isn't designed for
• Why brief telehealth grief counselling worked, but not equally for everyone: the surprising role of relationship to the deceased, cause of death, age and social support
• Why losing a child produced the highest and most persistent psychological distress of any relationship type in the data
• Why cancer and drug overdose deaths arrived with the highest initial distress, for very different reasons, and what happened to that distress over six sessions
• Why medium levels of social support sometimes outperformed high levels, and what that reveals about the difference between well-meaning help and useful help
• What complex or prolonged grief actually looks like in Candice's clinical work, and how it differs from grief that simply hurts
• Candice's own experience of grief after losing her sister, and why she now believes in tolerating grief rather than locking it away

Connect with Dr Candice Mace

Website: https://macecp.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candice-mace-11943b24/

Resources Mentioned

Calling in Grief
Calling in Grief: A retrospective analysis of the effectiveness of a telehealth grief counselling program through a community-based organisation by Candice Mace and Russell McKenzie Deighton, published in Death Studies.
Read the research on PubMed

Integrating Grief Program Victoria (IGP-V)
A partnership between Victoria Police and Griefline providing grief support for people affected by a death.
Learn more about IGP-V

Griefline
Free grief and loss support, information and resources for people experiencing grief.
Visit Griefline

Lifeline
24/7 crisis support for anyone experiencing emotional distress or a crisis.
Visit Lifeline Australia

Beyond Blue
Information and support for people experiencing anxiety, depression or a difficult time.
Visit Beyond Blue

The Compassionate Friends Australia
Peer support for parents, siblings and families following the death of a child, sibling or grandchild.
Visit The Compassionate Friends Australia

Support After Suicide
Support, counselling, groups and resources for people bereaved by suicide.
Visit Support After Suicide

StandBy – Support After Suicide
Free support for people, families and communities affected by suicide bereavement across Australia.
Visit StandBy

Remember: you may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.

Take care,

Catherine

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text :-)

MY LOVED ONE HAS DIED, WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Our guide, ‘My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now?’ provides practical steps for the hours and days after a loved one's death. Download it here.

SUPPORT SERVICES
If you're feeling overwhelmed by grief, find support through our resources and bereavement services here.

The free 3-minute Critical Info Check helps you see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Three minutes. One next step.

Go to gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au

Every Tuesday at 7pm, I host Critical Chat Tuesdays —
free, online conversations where you can ask questions or just listen.

No pressure.
 No expectation.

Because this isn’t about planning for “someday” —
 it’s about being ready for whatever life throws your way.

Join anytime at criticalinfo.com.au/events

Support the show

YOUR NEXT STEP

Don’t try to do everything at once.

Take the free 3-minute Critical Info Check to see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Take the Check:

https://gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au/

NEED SUPPORT?

If this episode has brought up grief, loss or bereavement, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

The Critical Info Resource Hub connects you with organisations and services offering grief, bereavement and other practical support.

Find support through the Resource Hub:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/support/

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

Join Critical Chat Tuesday, a free online conversation every Tuesday at 7pm Melbourne time.

You can ask a question, listen to others or simply come as you are.

Find out more:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/events

IF SOMEONE HAS DIED

If someone you love has died, our After-Death Guide — My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now? — provides practical guidance to help you navigate what needs to happen next.

Find the After-Death Guide:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/product/my-loved-one-has-died/

LEARN...

What if you spent your whole childhood feeling something you couldn’t name, only to discover the answer on your mother’s deathbed?

In this episode, I sit down with Nikki Domeney, a Project Coordinator at Social Engine and board member of Black Duck Group, whose own story of discovering her Indigenous heritage just eighteen months before her mother passed away has shaped everything about how she now supports others through grief, identity and connection to Country. Nikki describes growing up feeling “like she had two heads” — carrying an intuitive, spiritual knowing she had nowhere to place, until she learned her mother and grandmother were part of the Stolen Generation, disconnected from their Gamilaroi heritage in New South Wales.

We talk about what it meant for Nikki to walk onto Country for the first time in Dirranbandi, meeting cousins she’d never known, and giving them back stories of the aunty and mother they’d lost touch with. Nikki explains Wayapa Wuurrk, an Earth-centred wellbeing practice built around fourteen elements that helps people — Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike — reconnect with the land, with grief, and with themselves, and why it’s now being used in Victorian early childhood education and corporate settings alike.

We also go deep into intergenerational trauma and the emerging science of epigenetics, what it’s like to hold both an Indigenous and Celtic heritage at once, the guilt and nuance of “walking two worlds,” and Nikki’s work helping business leaders understand the difference between lore and law. It’s a generous, moving conversation about grief, belonging, and what it takes to reclaim what was taken.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How Nikki discovered her Indigenous heritage just eighteen months before her mother died, and what it was like meeting her mob for the first time at her mother’s deathbed
• The Stolen Generation story behind Nikki’s family, and how her mother and grandmother were separated from their Gamilaroi culture and Country
• What it felt like to set foot on Country in Dirranbandi for the first time, and the “coming home” moment with a cousin who looked just like her mum
• What self-sovereignty means, and why Nikki sees reclaiming identity as an act of returning to yourself
• What Wayapa Wuurrk is: the fourteen elements, its Indigenous origins, and how it’s being used in Victorian early education and corporate workplaces
• How Nikki uses Wayapa to hold space for grief, including a story about supporting a school leader and her team through the death of a student
• Intergenerational trauma, epigenetics and “cellular memory” — and why Nikki says most of us are carrying trauma we’re not even conscious of
• The nuance of “walking two worlds” as someone with lighter skin and no lived experience of overt racism, and how Nikki holds that alongside her own identity journey
• Lore versus law: what Nikki has learned about trust, compliance and old ways of being through her work as a people and culture leader
• What Nikki hopes to pass on to her own children, and why she believes everyone is a storyteller on a healing journey

Connect with Nikki Domeney

Black Duck Group: https://www.blackduckgroup.org.au/

Social Engine: https://www.socialengine.org.au/

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Wayapa Wuurrk: https://wayapa.com/

Remember; You may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.

Take care,

Catherine

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text :-)

MY LOVED ONE HAS DIED, WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Our guide, ‘My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now?’ provides practical steps for the hours and days after a loved one's death. Download it here.

SUPPORT SERVICES
If you're feeling overwhelmed by grief, find support through our resources and bereavement services here.

The free 3-minute Critical Info Check helps you see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Three minutes. One next step.

Go to gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au

Every Tuesday at 7pm, I host Critical Chat Tuesdays —
free, online conversations where you can ask questions or just listen.

No pressure.
 No expectation.

Because this isn’t about planning for “someday” —
 it’s about being ready for whatever life throws your way.

Join anytime at criticalinfo.com.au/events

Support the show

YOUR NEXT STEP

Don’t try to do everything at once.

Take the free 3-minute Critical Info Check to see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Take the Check:

https://gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au/

NEED SUPPORT?

If this episode has brought up grief, loss or bereavement, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

The Critical Info Resource Hub connects you with organisations and services offering grief, bereavement and other practical support.

Find support through the Resource Hub:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/support/

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

Join Critical Chat Tuesday, a free online conversation every Tuesday at 7pm Melbourne time.

You can ask a question, listen to others or simply come as you are.

Find out more:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/events

IF SOMEONE HAS DIED

If someone you love has died, our After-Death Guide — My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now? — provides practical guidance to help you navigate what needs to happen next.

Find the After-Death Guide:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/product/my-loved-one-has-died/

LEARN...

Did you know that around sixty percent of burial disputes that end up in Australian courts involve an Aboriginal person, and that appointing an executor can be the one thing that prevents it?

In this episode, I'm speaking with Professor Prue Vines, a leading Australian legal academic at the Faculty of Law, UNSW Sydney, where she has taught since 1990. Prue is co-author, with Rosalind Croucher, of the country's leading succession law textbook, Succession: Families, Property and Death, and sole author of Law and Justice in Australia. She is also the author of the Aboriginal Wills Handbook, and her research sits right at the intersection of law and death, with a particular and long standing focus on developing culturally appropriate wills for Indigenous Australians and on the burial rights disputes that so often follow when that planning hasn't happened.

Prue and I talk about why succession law can feel so harsh when emotion meets property, and why a will should really be thought of as part of planning for the people you leave behind, not just a piece of paper about money. She walks me through what a will actually does, including the part most people never think about: appointing an executor who has the legal right to decide what happens to your body. We get into the risks of DIY wills, how to choose an executor you can truly trust, and what the probate and intestacy process actually looks like when someone dies with or without a will.

A large part of our conversation is dedicated to Prue's decades of work with Aboriginal communities across Australia, developing wills that actually reflect how kinship, family and obligation work in those communities rather than imposing a Western template. She explains how appointing an executor became the single most important reason many Aboriginal elders chose to make a will in the first place, because it settles who has the right to decide what happens to a person's body. We go deep on burial rights: why disputes over where someone is laid to rest disproportionately involve Aboriginal Australians, what dispossession has done to people's ability to be buried on country, the different ways communities have adapted, from smoking ceremonies to carrying home a handful of earth, and the real court cases Prue has seen where a missing will meant a family was torn apart over a burial decision that should never have needed a judge.

Prue closes by making the case for enduring power of attorney and guardianship alongside a will, and pushes back on the idea that will disputes are becoming more common than they really are.

Remember; you may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.

Take care,

Catherine

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text :-)

MY LOVED ONE HAS DIED, WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Our guide, ‘My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now?’ provides practical steps for the hours and days after a loved one's death. Download it here.

SUPPORT SERVICES
If you're feeling overwhelmed by grief, find support through our resources and bereavement services here.

The free 3-minute Critical Info Check helps you see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Three minutes. One next step.

Go to gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au

Every Tuesday at 7pm, I host Critical Chat Tuesdays —
free, online conversations where you can ask questions or just listen.

No pressure.
 No expectation.

Because this isn’t about planning for “someday” —
 it’s about being ready for whatever life throws your way.

Join anytime at criticalinfo.com.au/events

Support the show

YOUR NEXT STEP

Don’t try to do everything at once.

Take the free 3-minute Critical Info Check to see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Take the Check:

https://gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au/

NEED SUPPORT?

If this episode has brought up grief, loss or bereavement, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

The Critical Info Resource Hub connects you with organisations and services offering grief, bereavement and other practical support.

Find support through the Resource Hub:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/support/

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

Join Critical Chat Tuesday, a free online conversation every Tuesday at 7pm Melbourne time.

You can ask a question, listen to others or simply come as you are.

Find out more:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/events

IF SOMEONE HAS DIED

If someone you love has died, our After-Death Guide — My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now? — provides practical guidance to help you navigate what needs to happen next.

Find the After-Death Guide:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/product/my-loved-one-has-died/

LEARN...

In this episode, I'm joined by Ben Kelly, CEO of the Australasian Cemeteries and Crematoria Association (ACCA), the peak body representing the cemetery and crematoria sector across Australia and New Zealand.
Ben takes us behind the gates of an industry most of us never think about until we have to. We talk about why cremation now accounts for 75 to 85 per cent of dispositions in Australia, why your postcode can determine how far your loved one has to travel to be cremated, and why there's no single national law governing what a cemetery can and can't do.
We get into the thornier questions too: who actually owns a grave (hint: you don't), what happens when a family plot sits unused for decades, and the surprisingly heated debate over pets being buried alongside their owners. Ben also walks us through “limited tenure” – the practice of reusing graves after a set period – and why it might be one of the only real answers to Australia's shrinking burial space.
Beyond the practicalities, Ben shares how cemeteries are quietly becoming community hubs: death cafes, baby loss memorial services, AI-powered digital storytelling projects, and even wildlife pantries for injured possums and koalas. And we don't shy away from the harder side of his industry – the funding cemeteries rarely get, and the toll the work takes on the people who show up for grieving families every day.'

Remember; You may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.

Take care,
Catherine

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text :-)

MY LOVED ONE HAS DIED, WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Our guide, ‘My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now?’ provides practical steps for the hours and days after a loved one's death. Download it here.

SUPPORT SERVICES
If you're feeling overwhelmed by grief, find support through our resources and bereavement services here.

The free 3-minute Critical Info Check helps you see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Three minutes. One next step.

Go to gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au

Every Tuesday at 7pm, I host Critical Chat Tuesdays —
free, online conversations where you can ask questions or just listen.

No pressure.
 No expectation.

Because this isn’t about planning for “someday” —
 it’s about being ready for whatever life throws your way.

Join anytime at criticalinfo.com.au/events

Support the show

YOUR NEXT STEP

Don’t try to do everything at once.

Take the free 3-minute Critical Info Check to see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Take the Check:

https://gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au/

NEED SUPPORT?

If this episode has brought up grief, loss or bereavement, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

The Critical Info Resource Hub connects you with organisations and services offering grief, bereavement and other practical support.

Find support through the Resource Hub:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/support/

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

Join Critical Chat Tuesday, a free online conversation every Tuesday at 7pm Melbourne time.

You can ask a question, listen to others or simply come as you are.

Find out more:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/events

IF SOMEONE HAS DIED

If someone you love has died, our After-Death Guide — My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now? — provides practical guidance to help you navigate what needs to happen next.

Find the After-Death Guide:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/product/my-loved-one-has-died/

LEARN...

What if there is no such thing as a child being too young for a funeral?

In this episode, I sit down with Gail Eaton-Briggs, a Tasmanian author, celebrant, leadership coach and founder of EveryWhen Solutions. With more than 40 years of experience in early childhood education, child safety and leadership, and as an authorised celebrant since 2006, Gail has supported hundreds of families through funerals and celebrations of life.

Gail's new picture book, Remembering Nanny: Milly and Tom's First Funeral, follows two young children through the days after their grandmother's death, from the morning they find Mum crying on the back steps, through choosing what to take with them, to the funeral itself and the small, tender rituals that help a family grieve together. We talk about why she believes there is no such thing as “too young” for a funeral, the box of teddy bears she keeps in the boot of her car for children who need a hug, and why a beautiful picture book alone wasn't enough, so she wrote a companion guide too.

Gail shares some of the most memorable services she has led, including an unexpectedly joyful celebration at a group home and the loved ones who asked to reopen the curtains so they could keep the coffin company over morning tea. We also talk about her earlier book, Conscious Grit: From Stuck to Unstoppable, the personal tipping point that led her to leave a senior public service career, and the head, heart and gut model she now uses in her coaching and leadership work.

Remember; you may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.

Take care, 

Catherine.

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text :-)

MY LOVED ONE HAS DIED, WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Our guide, ‘My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now?’ provides practical steps for the hours and days after a loved one's death. Download it here.

SUPPORT SERVICES
If you're feeling overwhelmed by grief, find support through our resources and bereavement services here.

The free 3-minute Critical Info Check helps you see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Three minutes. One next step.

Go to gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au

Every Tuesday at 7pm, I host Critical Chat Tuesdays —
free, online conversations where you can ask questions or just listen.

No pressure.
 No expectation.

Because this isn’t about planning for “someday” —
 it’s about being ready for whatever life throws your way.

Join anytime at criticalinfo.com.au/events

Support the show

YOUR NEXT STEP

Don’t try to do everything at once.

Take the free 3-minute Critical Info Check to see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Take the Check:

https://gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au/

NEED SUPPORT?

If this episode has brought up grief, loss or bereavement, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

The Critical Info Resource Hub connects you with organisations and services offering grief, bereavement and other practical support.

Find support through the Resource Hub:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/support/

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

Join Critical Chat Tuesday, a free online conversation every Tuesday at 7pm Melbourne time.

You can ask a question, listen to others or simply come as you are.

Find out more:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/events

IF SOMEONE HAS DIED

If someone you love has died, our After-Death Guide — My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now? — provides practical guidance to help you navigate what needs to happen next.

Find the After-Death Guide:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/product/my-loved-one-has-died/

LEARN...

“What’s your pain scale?” “A nine.” “Okay, miss.” “No. Mister.”

In this episode, I’m speaking with Thy O’Donell, a PhD researcher at the Australian National University in Canberra. Thy’s research explores end-of-life and palliative care for trans and gender diverse people, looking at how gender affirming care can extend into hospitals and hospices. The study has ethics approval through ACT Health’s Human Research Ethics Committee, ANU’s Human Research Ethics Committee, and ACON.

Thy’s interest in this space is personal as well as academic. As a trans man who has navigated Canberra’s medical institutions, he brings firsthand experience of how institutional culture can shape whether someone feels safe and respected in the settings where end-of-life care is delivered.

We talk about what it really means to stay on hormone replacement therapy until the day you die, why advance care directives and wills matter just as much for younger people and trans people as for anyone else, and the courage it takes to self-advocate in a healthcare system that isn’t always built with you in mind. Thy also shares the story of a difficult experience in a Catholic hospital emergency department, the role of chosen family in end-of-life decisions, and why he believes, at its heart, gender-affirming care is simply care.

Remember; you may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.

Take care,

Catherine

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text :-)

MY LOVED ONE HAS DIED, WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Our guide, ‘My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now?’ provides practical steps for the hours and days after a loved one's death. Download it here.

SUPPORT SERVICES
If you're feeling overwhelmed by grief, find support through our resources and bereavement services here.

The free 3-minute Critical Info Check helps you see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Three minutes. One next step.

Go to gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au

Every Tuesday at 7pm, I host Critical Chat Tuesdays —
free, online conversations where you can ask questions or just listen.

No pressure.
 No expectation.

Because this isn’t about planning for “someday” —
 it’s about being ready for whatever life throws your way.

Join anytime at criticalinfo.com.au/events

Support the show

YOUR NEXT STEP

Don’t try to do everything at once.

Take the free 3-minute Critical Info Check to see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Take the Check:

https://gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au/

NEED SUPPORT?

If this episode has brought up grief, loss or bereavement, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

The Critical Info Resource Hub connects you with organisations and services offering grief, bereavement and other practical support.

Find support through the Resource Hub:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/support/

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

Join Critical Chat Tuesday, a free online conversation every Tuesday at 7pm Melbourne time.

You can ask a question, listen to others or simply come as you are.

Find out more:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/events

IF SOMEONE HAS DIED

If someone you love has died, our After-Death Guide — My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now? — provides practical guidance to help you navigate what needs to happen next.

Find the After-Death Guide:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/product/my-loved-one-has-died/

LEARN...

What do crime scene cleaners, morgue transporters and gravediggers know about death that the rest of us don't?

In this episode, I'm joined by Tim Booth, a paramedic of more than nine years and the bestselling author of You Called an Ambulance for What? and You Went to Emergency for What?. His latest book, Post-Mortem, steps outside his own frontline experience to profile around thirty professionals who work with death every day, from crime scene cleaners and organ procurement coordinators to gravediggers, funeral directors and combat medics.

Tim tells me how the idea for Post-Mortem came to him almost by accident, how he tracked down people whose jobs barely exist in the public imagination, and the common thread he found running through all of them: it isn't the bodies that are hard to deal with, it's the living. We also talk about the myths around CPR and defibrillators, the gray areas paramedics face when DNR paperwork goes missing, and why dark humour has become the coping mechanism of choice across the death care professions. Tim is honest about burnout, about what writing this book taught him about his own mortality, and about how becoming a father has started to change his thinking on planning ahead.

Remember; you may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.

Take care,

Catherine

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text :-)

MY LOVED ONE HAS DIED, WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Our guide, ‘My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now?’ provides practical steps for the hours and days after a loved one's death. Download it here.

SUPPORT SERVICES
If you're feeling overwhelmed by grief, find support through our resources and bereavement services here.

The free 3-minute Critical Info Check helps you see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Three minutes. One next step.

Go to gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au

Every Tuesday at 7pm, I host Critical Chat Tuesdays —
free, online conversations where you can ask questions or just listen.

No pressure.
 No expectation.

Because this isn’t about planning for “someday” —
 it’s about being ready for whatever life throws your way.

Join anytime at criticalinfo.com.au/events

Support the show

YOUR NEXT STEP

Don’t try to do everything at once.

Take the free 3-minute Critical Info Check to see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Take the Check:

https://gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au/

NEED SUPPORT?

If this episode has brought up grief, loss or bereavement, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

The Critical Info Resource Hub connects you with organisations and services offering grief, bereavement and other practical support.

Find support through the Resource Hub:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/support/

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

Join Critical Chat Tuesday, a free online conversation every Tuesday at 7pm Melbourne time.

You can ask a question, listen to others or simply come as you are.

Find out more:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/events

IF SOMEONE HAS DIED

If someone you love has died, our After-Death Guide — My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now? — provides practical guidance to help you navigate what needs to happen next.

Find the After-Death Guide:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/product/my-loved-one-has-died/

LEARN...

What happens when the document meant to protect your wishes is filed away where nobody can find it, or worse, ignored altogether when it matters most?

In this episode, I'm joined by Distinguished Professor Ben White, Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation in the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at Queensland University of Technology. A Rhodes Scholar with a DPhil from Oxford, Ben has spent his career researching the gap between what end-of-life law says on paper and what actually happens at the bedside. He's authored over 250 publications, co-authors the End-of-Life Law in Australia website, and is currently leading an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship on regulating voluntary assisted dying.

We talk through the three legal tools everyone should know about (advance care directives, enduring powers of attorney, and default substitute decision-makers), why advance care directives so often fail to be followed even when they exist, and the very human reasons families and clinicians clash at the bedside. Ben also walks us through voluntary assisted dying now that the Northern Territory is on the verge of becoming the final Australian jurisdiction to legalise it, what conscientious objection looks like when it works well and when it doesn't, and why a Commonwealth law about phones and faxes is still forcing dying patients to travel for care that could otherwise happen by telehealth.

Remember; you may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.

Take care,

Catherine

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text :-)

MY LOVED ONE HAS DIED, WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Our guide, ‘My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now?’ provides practical steps for the hours and days after a loved one's death. Download it here.

SUPPORT SERVICES
If you're feeling overwhelmed by grief, find support through our resources and bereavement services here.

The free 3-minute Critical Info Check helps you see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Three minutes. One next step.

Go to gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au

Every Tuesday at 7pm, I host Critical Chat Tuesdays —
free, online conversations where you can ask questions or just listen.

No pressure.
 No expectation.

Because this isn’t about planning for “someday” —
 it’s about being ready for whatever life throws your way.

Join anytime at criticalinfo.com.au/events

Support the show

YOUR NEXT STEP

Don’t try to do everything at once.

Take the free 3-minute Critical Info Check to see what you’ve already got covered — and what your next step could be.

Take the Check:

https://gettingstarted.criticalinfo.com.au/

NEED SUPPORT?

If this episode has brought up grief, loss or bereavement, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

The Critical Info Resource Hub connects you with organisations and services offering grief, bereavement and other practical support.

Find support through the Resource Hub:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/support/

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING

Join Critical Chat Tuesday, a free online conversation every Tuesday at 7pm Melbourne time.

You can ask a question, listen to others or simply come as you are.

Find out more:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/events

IF SOMEONE HAS DIED

If someone you love has died, our After-Death Guide — My Loved One Has Died, What Do I Do Now? — provides practical guidance to help you navigate what needs to happen next.

Find the After-Death Guide:

https://criticalinfo.com.au/product/my-loved-one-has-died/

LEARN...