Advanced Care Plan- Keeping you in control

19 Sept

Next Door Counselling & Consultation now offers Advance Care Planning, a service we have introduced in response to growing demand from our clients and community.

Advance Care Planning gives you the opportunity to think about what matters most to you and how you would like to be cared for if there comes a time when you cannot speak or make decisions for yourself.

These are not always easy conversations to have. Most of us do not particularly enjoy talking about declining health, ageing or the end of our life. However, having these conversations early can give us a sense of control and provide enormous reassurance for the people who may one day need to make decisions on our behalf.

At NDC, our practitioners have more than 10 years of experience working alongside older adults, people living with chronic or changing health conditions, and their families. We have also completed specialised training in Advance Care Planning.

What is important to you?

Before we begin completing any paperwork, we need to understand you.

What makes your life meaningful? What does quality of life look like to you? What are your beliefs? What brings you comfort? What would you want the people caring for you to know?

Sometimes people know exactly what they want. For others, it can be hard to narrow these things down or find the right words. That is why we allow time to talk, reflect and gently work through these questions together.

Our Advance Care Planning service is offered over two sessions.

Session One: Getting to know you

Our first session is all about you—your life, values, beliefs and the things that matter most.

We explore what quality of life means to you, what you would find difficult or unacceptable, and what you would want others to understand about the way you wish to live and be cared for.

This is an important part of the process. Your Advance Care Plan should not feel like a generic form. It should reflect who you are.

Session Two: Putting your wishes into words

In our second session, we work through the Advance Care Planning documents together and support you to clearly record your wishes.

By the end of the two sessions, you will have been supported to develop an Advance Care Plan and understand what needs to happen next. This may include speaking with your GP about particular medical decisions, arranging the required witnessing, and sharing copies with your GP, medical treatment decision-maker and healthcare team.

Why should I complete an Advance Care Plan?

An Advance Care Plan can help you maintain a sense of choice and control when experiencing poor health, following a significant diagnosis, or during a stage of life when conversations about death and dying become more present.

It can help ensure that your values, beliefs and the things you hold close remain with you—to the very end.

These things can look completely different from one person to another, which is exactly why your individual plan matters.

I recently sat with a lovely woman who did not have family available to speak on her behalf. It was very important to her that her medical team understood what she wanted at the end of her life.

For her, this included having her nails painted, keeping pictures of Mary nearby, being able to say no to particular medical treatments and placing a very high importance on quality of life.

These may sound like small details to somebody else—but they were not small to her. They represented her identity, faith, dignity and sense of comfort.

This is what Advance Care Planning is really about. It is not only about medical treatments or completing a document. It is about making sure the people caring for you know who you are and what matters to you.