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This perspective didn't make it into V2.0 of the resource as part of this program, and it is a good read to understand Generational trauma and its impact on well-being

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It Didn't Start With You How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle Winner of the 2016 Nautilus Book Award in Psychology Finalist for the 2016 Books for a Better Life Award 2021 Best Books on Alcoholism (ChoosingTherapy.com) Translated into over 20 languages It Didn't Start With You shows how [...]

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Psychological safety in Teams is vital for team compassion satisfaction. What is Psychological safety, what does it result in, and how can we do a health check for our team?

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Coaching for Psychological Safety FEB2025

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Passive Aggressive and Assertive Communication - do you know?

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Passive Aggressive and Assertive Communication - do you know?

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An interesting session for groups to learn more about their style at work.

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Coaching for  Communication Assertive Passive Aggressive FEB2025

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Review this sessin with the guide to learn the skill of courageous conversations

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Coaching for Courageous Conversations FEB2025

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This is an online awareness tool to help you uncover what position you hold when communicating on a daily basis.

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Are you Assertive Aggressive or Passive?

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Take this test to find whether you are assertive, aggressive or passive. Assertiveness is the ability to express yourself and your rights…

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The Why, What and How Reflective Practice can grow your happiness in practice.

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Discussing Moral Distress is vital in Teams as the morality of your work can lead to fatigue.

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The Centre for Leadership Excellence also has a site for Education Resources. Click the link and have a look.

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Education Resources to support capability development of specialist palliative care workforce.

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This session allows the team to see the strengths in their personality and the strengths of their colleagues.

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This checklist can help you distance yourself from negative people on your terms - what will work for you to help you?

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15 Steps To Distance Yourself From Negative People Checklist

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At times, we can say we are too busy for things that can help us!!! Are you doing this????

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How to directly communicate without being rude phrases to try

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How to directly communicate without being rude phrases to try

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This is another helpful image you may like to integrate into your language.

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How to be direct without being rude image

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This coaching session explores Team Communication and the principles of Team Communication that can support Psychological safety.

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Coaching Session Team Communication MARCH2025

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Copy and share this card. This is a template for making the pocket cards. You may make as many copies as you like. Some people find that it is helpful to laminate the cards for long-term use.

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This is interesting. As people with higher levels of Emotional Intelligence are noticed to have a greater capacity to build boundaries to keep self well when faced with high demands on a daily basis. This tool is interesting and offers awareness and some learning.

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Here are some guiding principles which you may want to evolve for your team to know the Rules of Engagement!

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Team Communication - Guiding Principles A4

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A free tool you can use in a team to identify, assess and control risks to psychological health at work.

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This validated tool can help you gain awareness of where your resilience is at now.

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This is about Building Resilience - What is your score and what are you willing to do to build your resilience?

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Coaching Session Building Resillience APRIL2024

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This is the Coaching session for Building Boundaries so you can work on this for yourself or with the team.

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Coaching Session Building Boundaries JAN2025

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Use this template to help you build a boundary

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Download or Print this template and start reflecting on your NEW habit you want for you.

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How to create is a Coaching session that many enjoy.

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This is a very popular image - Reference mindful enough.

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The Art of Listening | Simon Sinek (5:12)

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The Art of Listening | Simon Sinek (5:12)

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Hearing vs. listening - replace judgement with curiosity. When hearing add some feeling - take out the judgement and we will be listening!

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Sparkly Bits - How your nonverbal communication affects everything - Amanda Gore TV

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Sparkly Bits - How your nonverbal communication affects everything - Amanda Gore TV

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This is another way of thinking about the non-verbal communication and what messages you are transmitting when communicating.

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Sparkly Bits - How your non verbal communication affects everything

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An easy tool to help you reflect on your listening skills when getting ready to mentor someone new in your world.

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Compassionate Leadership is another style of leadership that can be beneficial in health care teams being led well to thrive.  But is it enough on its own?

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This coaching session was about Leadership and the different styles and traits we experience at work and which can have positive and negative outcomes.  Great awareness and discussions from this session.

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Tracking the Relationship.  Is it working?

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Tracking the Relationship.  Is it working?

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At times when we mentor others, we find that it is not working well. How can you make sure the relationship is working well. Use this tool to check in with yourself.

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Mentoring another person is an honor which requires your energy. So before you dive in to support and grow another person you must check in to see that you have the energy for the job ahead. This checklist can help you.

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Rumination is part of reflection but if you only Ruminate you are not reflecting, learning or growing. How can you keep Rumination habits from eroding your self-esteem?

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This coaching session was focused on how to shift negative mindsets to the positive ones that are needed in teams to be successful together.

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Coaching Session Positive and Negative Thinking shifts  AUG2024

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Some groups want to learn more about how to debrief in Teams - they want to develop their new rule for their team as well.

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Some groups choose to practice and discuss the how to of Courageous Conversations.

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In this section you can see some of the material that has been covered in the coaching sessions by different groups based on what they wanted to discuss more of in their teams.

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Positive or Negative Thinking Assessment

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Positive or Negative Thinking Assessment

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Becoming more positive is always a good thing. Using this quiz, you can identify where and how much you tend to think negatively. The more aware you are of your thoughts, the better you’ll be able to change them to emphasise the positive.

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So, how do you think about your successes and failures? Do you have a predictable thinking pattern? Find out below.

Are You a Positive or Negative Thinker?

Instructions

For each statement, click the button in the column that best describes you. Please answer questions as you actually are (rather than how you think you should be), and don't worry if some questions seem to score in the "wrong direction." When you are finished, please click the "Calculate My Total" button at the bottom of the test.

Turn Negatives Into Positives

The first step in changing negative thinking is to become aware of it. For many of us, negative thinking is a bad habit - and we may not even know we're doing it!

Consider this example: The guy on the subway who just made a face is surely directing his behavior at you. When the receptionist doesn't greet you in the morning, you must have done something to anger her. Again! You go straight to the coffee machine, because it's Monday morning and you just know you'll be solving problems until lunchtime. When you finally get to your desk, your assistant is waiting for you. "Oh no," you think. "What has he done now? The first problem of the day. Yippee!"

If you're feeling bad after reading this, imagine how it would feel to surround yourself with that much negativity. Then ask yourself if this is the way you tend to think in your own life?

Dr Martin Seligman, who has been described as America's most influential psychologist, has done extensive research on thought patterns. In particular, he looks at the impact of an optimistic versus pessimistic outlook on life and success.

Seligman says we explain events using three basic dimensions of Permanence, Pervasiveness and Personalization, with optimistic people on one end of the scale and pessimistic people on the other. We look at these below.

Permanence

(Questions 3, 4, 9, 11)

Believing that something we are experiencing is either permanent or temporary. A low score implies that you think bad times will carry on forever. A high score shows confidence that you'll be able to get things back on course quickly.

Pessimist: I lost my job and I'll never find one as good again. No point even looking!

Optimist: I lost my job. Thank goodness there are other opportunities I can explore!

Pervasiveness

(Questions 2, 5, 6, 7, 13)

Believing that situational factors cause an effect or that the effect is evidence of more universal factors at work. A low score shows that you tend to think that if you've experienced a problem in one place, you'll experience that problem wherever you go.

Pessimist: I lost my job. Companies are all the same; all they care about is money. I don't know why I bother putting in any effort at all.

Optimist: I lost my job. It's too bad our company has to reinvent itself to stay competitive. Thankfully I learned some great transferable skills!

Personalization

(Questions 1, 8, 10, 12, 14)

Believing that something about you influenced the outcome or that something external to you caused it. A low score indicates that you tend to blame yourself for bad things, rather than attributing the cause to more general factors.

Pessimist: I lost my job. If I had been a decent employee they would have found a new job for me.

Optimist: I lost my job. I gave it my all, however they just can't use my skill set right now.

Re-Shape Your Thinking

Your answers to the questions in this quiz can show whether you have a positive or negative pattern of thinking. They're also great starting points to become more aware of your thoughts - and the effect they have on your life.

When you're more aware of the way you think, you can take action to use positive situations to your advantage, and re-shape the negative ones. The goal is to think positively, regardless of the situation, and make a conscious effort to see opportunities instead of obstacles.

So, in our example, if you immediately think the receptionist is mad at you because she didn't say hello, how rational is that? Could she have been busy or distracted when you walked by? Did you say hello to her? Maybe she wasn't feeling well, or she was in a negative mood herself. These are all more rational reasons for her behavior than simply assuming that you did something wrong.

To help you start thinking positively, see our comprehensive article on Positive Thinking, Thought Awareness, and Rational Thinking. This is a "must read" for everyone, even very positive thinkers, because it shows why positive thinking is so important, and it discusses how to turn negative thought patterns into positive ones.

Note:

This assessment has not been validated and is intended for illustrative purposes only. It is just one of many that help you evaluate your abilities in a wide range of important career skills. Click here for other self-tests.

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Are You a Positive or Negative Thinker? - Learn About - and Change - How You Think

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Take this test to find out how you perceive things, and get advice on how to think more positively, and which stress management tools can help you.

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Some people seem naturally confident, but most of us need to improve our confidence – and we have the power to do so. Take the quiz and see where your confidence is.

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Low self-worth can be detrimental to a person’s well-being. If you think you are going to fail, you may well set yourself up for failure. Low self-regard can lead to poor health, mood disorders, and compromised well-being. On the flip side, if you are sky-high in self confidence, you may well tip into arrogant narcissism. Having the right amount of self-regard is key. A healthy amount will help you shake off negative criticism, as well as take in useful evaluation. See where you fall on our self-worth scale.

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Complete this quiz and develop your cultural awareness and reduce your cultural bias.

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A Quick Guide for the first Palliative Care conversation

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A Quick Guide for the first Palliative Care conversation

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The first conversation about palliative care is the most important. Are you considering the many factors needed to respect and honour that first conversation?

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PEPA Communication Guide for Palliative Care

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PEPA Communication Guide for Palliative Care

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Use this guide to help mentor others to have conversations in palliative care.

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When the Body Says No -- Caring for ourselves while caring for others. Dr. Gabor Maté

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When the Body Says No -- Caring for ourselves while caring for others. Dr. Gabor Maté

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Why we must set boundaries to care for others - we need to care for self - its healthy!

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When the Body Says No -- Caring for ourselves while caring for others. Dr. Gabor Maté

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Dr. Gabor Maté Extremely powerful perspectives on how to rediscover yourself

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Dr. Gabor Maté Extremely powerful perspectives on how to rediscover yourself

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Another view of why me must get to know ourselves.

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How to Reconnect with Your True Self and  Live the Life You Deserve | Dr. Gabor Maté

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Robert Kegan Adult Development Theory - Summary

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Robert Kegan Adult Development Theory - Summary

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This is a summary of the topic discussed in the workshop.  Watch the YouTube link below if you are a visual or auditory learner.

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A vital theory to help us understand each other as we work together in a team.

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This consultation document shows the plan for the future of palliative care and end of life care for you and your work - another interesting read.

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This publication explains more about palliative care workforce, the work, the plan to care for and the future. If you haven't read it - have a look

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3 Ways to Improve your COMMUNICATION Skills - #BelieveLife

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HAIL - Honest - be clear and straight, Authenticity - be yourself, Integrity - be your word, Love - wish them well. Stop judging - start listening

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5 Ways to Improve your COMMUNICATION Skills - #BelieveLife

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This website is not compatible with your current web browser. Consider using Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or FireFox instead.

This website is not supported for Safari on iOS version 10 or below. If you would like to view the Community Section you can navigate to www.palliaged.com.au. To view the CareSearch website please consider using a different browser or upgrade to a new version of your iOS.

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Navigating Our Website - CareSearch Activity - Our Work - About Us

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This website is not compatible with your current web browser. Consider using Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or FireFox instead. This website is not supported for Safari on iOS version 10 or below. If you would like to view the Community Section you can navigate to www.palliaged.com.au.

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Presencing requires you to connect with yourself and act in a way that commits and connects to those you come into contact with. The model is the 4th leadership capacity of Otto Scharmer’s U Theory which reminds us of the importance of coming together with people to meet them where they are at.

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u-school for Transformation by Presencing Institute

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We live in a time of massive institutional failure, in which we collectively create results that (almost) nobody wants. The list is well known: Climate change. Hunger. Poverty. Terrorism. Violence. Destruction of communities, nature, life-the foundations of our social, economic, ecological, and spiritual well being. These times call for a new consciousness and a new collective leadership capacity to meet these challenges in a more conscious, intentional, and strategic way. The development of such a capacity would allow us to create a future of greater possibilities.

How do you learn and lead in times of disruption when you cannot rely on the experiences of the past?Otto Scharmer posed this research question at MIT 20 years ago. The result was the method and framework of Theory U and Presencing.

Theory U is an awareness-based method for changing systems. Theory U blends systems thinking, innovation, and leading change--from the viewpoint of an evolving human consciousness. Drawing on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) tradition of action research and learning by doing, Theory U has evolved over two decades of experimentation and refinement by a global community of practitioners. At its core, Theory U comprises three main elements:

A framework for seeing the blind spot of leadership and systems change: the "interior condition" from which we operate;

A method for implementing awareness-based change: practical methods and tools for change makers. The focus is on building the collective capacity to shift the inner place from which we operate;

A new narrative for evolutionary societal change: updating our mental and institutional operating systems in all of society's sectors. What does it take to redesign societies in ways that address the pressing challenges of our time? What does it take to apply the power of mindfulness and awareness to the transformation of the collective system?

Theory U integrates these methods and lineages for effecting change:

Action research and organizational learning in the tradition of Peter Senge, Ed Schein, Donald Schoen, Chris Argyris, and Kurt Lewin;

Design Thinking in the tradition of Tim Brown and Dave Kelly;

Mindfulness, cognition science and phenomenology in the tradition of Francisco Varela, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Tanja Singer, Arthur Zajonc, and David Bohm;

Civil society movements in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and millions of others who are mobilizing change in their local contexts.

Theory U draws our attention to the invisible source dimension of the social field, to the quality of relationships that we have to each other, to the system, and to ourselves. "In order to operate in the complexity of this century we have to do some inner work." - Otto Scharmer, Senior Lecturer at MIT, Founding Chair of Presencing Institute. Author of Theory U: Leading from the Future As it Emerges.

When we move down one side of the U we allow ourselves to connect to the world that is outside of our institutional bubble; then, to the bottom of the U, to connect to the world that emerges from within; and then, up the other side of the U to bring forth the new into the world.

At the bottom of the U lies an inner gate that requires us to drop everything that isn't essential. This process of letting-go (of our old ego and current self) and letting-come (our highest future possibility, our best future Self) establishes a subtle connection to a deeper source of knowing. The essence of presencing is that these two selves-our current self and our best future Self-meet at the bottom of the U and begin to listen and resonate with each other. Once a group crosses this subtle threshold, nothing remains the same. Individual members and the group as a whole begin to operate with a heightened level of energy and sense of future possibilities. Often they then begin to function as an intentional vehicle for an emerging future.

You cannot engineer creativity, you cannot engineer a generative social field (a great school, organisation, team or society), but you can cultivate the outer and the inner conditions that allow us for such a field to be activated and to be cultivated. And that is something that great teachers and great leaders have always been doing intuitively. But we need to learn now that we live in an environment that's a lot more toxic than it used to be. So, we need to strengthen this capacity. Great leaders do that, as individuals, more out of an intuition and great teachers do the same thing. But we are now moving into greater disruption and toxicity, with more mental health issues all around us, distractions and pressing issues growing louder. This environment requires us to upgrade our capacity to create these holding spaces. And this is not only what great individuals have to do, but it is something that you do as a whole team and community.

Leadership essentially is not what a person or an individual does, that's the biggest misunderstanding. The essence of leadership is the capacity of the system, in which everyone is participating, to sense and shape the future, and to be in touch with what is wanting to emerge, and then stepping into that. That really is what leadership is all about. And that's why leadership is a distributive phenomenon. It needs to include all of us, it's not something we can delegate to the one person at the top.

Theory U revolves around a core process of co-sensing and co-shaping emerging future possibilities. Here's the essential leadership capacities needed to address the root causes of today's social, environmental, and spiritual challenges:

Theory U offers a method for rethinking the parts and the whole by making it possible for the system to sense and see itself. When that happens, the collective consciousness begins to shift from ego-system awareness to eco-system awareness - from a silo view, to a systems view.

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Learning from the future as it emerges | Otto Scharmer | TEDxTUHH

The Essentials of Theory U: Core Principles and Applications

by Otto Scharmer, 2018

A useful pocket guide for practitioners that distills all of the research and materials found in Otto Scharmer's seminal texts Theory U and Leading from the Emerging Future.

A short handbook that focuses on the core principles of Theory U, the key movements that makes the process of Theory U, and social applications, to be used as an introduction to work in the field of Presencing.

Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges

2nd Edition | by C. Otto Scharmer, 2016
In this ground-breaking book, Otto Scharmer invites us to see the world in new ways. What we pay attention to, and how we pay attention - both individually and collectively - is key to what we create. What often prevents us from "attending" is what Scharmer calls our "blind spot," the inner place from which each of us operates. Learning to become aware of our blind spot is critical to bringing forth the profound systemic changes so needed in business and society today. By moving through the "U" process we learn to connect to our essential Self, see our own blind spot and pay attention in a way that allows us to experience the opening of our minds, our hearts, and our wills. This wholistic opening constitutes a shift in awareness that allows us to learn from the future as it emerges, and to realize that future in the world.

Free download:
Intro and Chapter 1

Audiobook available now:
Sample

Link to figures and images

Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economics

by C. Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer, 2013

We have entered an age of disruption. Financial collapse, climate change, resource depletion, and a growing gap between rich and poor are but a few of the signs. Otto Scharmer and Katrin Kaufer ask, why do we collectively create results nobody wants? Meeting the challenges of this century requires updating our economic logic and operating system from an obsolete "ego-system" focused entirely on the well-being of oneself to an eco-system awareness that emphasizes the well-being of the whole. Filled with real-world examples, this thought-provoking guide presents proven practices for building a new economy that is more resilient, intentional, inclusive, and aware.

Free download: Intro, Chapter 1 & 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapters 4 & 5 | Chapter 8

Join the u-school action-oriented learning experiences. Connect with a community of innovators, change makers, activists, educators and social entrepreneurs all around the world.

Learn Theory U Join the community Donate

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u-school is a platform for capacity building, innovation labs, action research and deep dialogues using Theory U for awareness-based systems change. Our work is focused on activating and supporting a network of places and hubs for taking action for the healing and regeneration of society and self.

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How tone, body language and words work in communication

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The Big Bang Theory: Emergency Room (Clip) | TBS

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Look at some of the Blogs I write to support thinking on habit change.

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Elevating Workplace Well-Being in the Service Industry.

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Zest Again supports, motivates and empowers the workplace well-being of our service industry workers through workshops, coaching, and experiential learning.

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PEPA Online Learning Modules and HUB Sessions

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PEPA Online Learning Modules and HUB Sessions

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Make a free log in for Palliative Care Education and Training collaborative. JOIN the Mentoring HUB today!

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Click on the project links below to see the full list of courses for each project:

Palliative Care Curriculum for Undergraduates

Providing palliative care learning and teaching resources for entry-to-practice health programs.

Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach and Indigenous PEPA

Empowering health professionals to deliver palliative care through providing free placements, workshops and learning resources.

End of Life Law for Clinicians

A training program for medical practitioners and students, nurses and allied health professionals that focuses on Australian laws on end of life decision-making.

Paediatric Palliative Care Education Hub

PPCEH is a collaboration between the Paediatric Palliative Care National Action Plan project and the Quality of Care Collaborative Australia (QuoCCA) project, delivering a range of paediatric palliative care education modules for health professionals.

The Palliative Care Education and Training Collaborative is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, and delivered by QUT.

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Click on the project links below to see the full list of courses for each project: Palliative Care Curriculum for Undergraduates Providing palliative care learning and teaching resources for entry-to-practice health programs. Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach and Indigenous PEPA Empowering health professionals to deliver palliative care through providing free placements, workshops and learning resources.

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End of Life Direction for Aged Care - ELDAC

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ELDAC provides information, guidance, and resources to health professionals and aged care workers to support palliative care and advance care planning to improve the care of older Australians.

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Navigating Our Website - CareSearch Activity - Our Work - About Us

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Welcome to our CareSearch portal. This page will help you find the key content within the CareSearch portal much of which we brought across from our previous CareSearch website. You can quickly link to the most visited CareSearch sections.

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Self care is important in palliative care as well as mentoring. Great resource's from PCA

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Welcome to Self-Care Matters, a Palliative Care Australia resource, which aims to support you - whatever your role in palliative care - to prevent burnout and build resilience.

Planning and practising effective self-care strategies can sustain your capacity to flourish and support others, both personally and professionally, especially when faced with suffering or providing compassionate care for those struggling with the realities of living with dying.
The expectation that we can be immersed in suffering and loss daily, and not be touched by it,
is as unrealistic as expecting to be able to walk through water without getting wet.
Dr Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal

We spoke with palliative care experts around Australia-both clinical and non-clinical-to learn from their experiences and insights. In Self-Care Matters, they share their views on the importance of talking about understanding self-care, planning for self-care and practising self-care.

Watch this video to learn more about their key messages for self-care.

You are encouraged to use these resources for your personal self-care. Before you do, please note that the Self-Care Matters resource is intended to support your self-care practice and is not intended to replace treatment of any medical conditions or otherwise constitute advice from a health professional. It is recommended that you consult with an appropriate health professional for advice if you are unwell or have any concerns about using this resource.

Understanding self-care

It's vital that we understand what self-care is, as well as its importance, when engaging in contexts of palliative and end-of-life care, or healthy grieving as a response to loss.

Watch this video to learn more about understanding self-care.

You can read more about understanding self-care here.

Planning for self-care

Many people find that developing a personalised self-care plan provides a solid foundation for effective self-care. Others report that the proactive nature of consciously planning for self-care is also in itself effective, without necessarily documenting a formal plan. Whichever option you prefer, personalised planning for self-care can be a tremendous support for putting the theory of self-care into practice.

Watch this video to learn more about planning for self-care.

You can find out more about planning for self-care here.
Would you like to create your own personalised self-care plan, or reflect on the self-care planning process?
You might wish to download and use the Self-Care Matters planning tool, which is designed to assist you in reflecting on, and planning for, your self-care.

Dr Mills and palliative care nurse practitioner and PCA clinical advisor Kate Reed-Cox demonstrate here how to create an effective self-care plan and answer some frequently asked questions about the planning tool.

Practising self-care

Putting self-care into practice is much easier and more effective when we consider the different domains of self-care. Practising self-care strategies from a combination of physical, social, and inner self-care domains will more holistically support your health and wellbeing.

Watch this video to learn more about practising self-care.

You can read more about practising self-care here.

Would you like to try a mindful breathing exercise, body scan, or self-compassion meditation?

The audio clips below were developed to guide the practice of mindfulness, relaxation, and self-compassion to support the use of physical and inner self-care strategies.

Tip: While the first exercise (Mindful Breathing) is short and flexible for personal use in public settings, it is recommended that the Body Scan and Self-compassion guided meditations are best undertaken in a private place as they are intended for private use at home.
Mindful Breathing (Guided Exercise) - approximately 7 minutes
A brief mindful breathing exercise you can learn and use anywhere to help ground yourself in the present moment. Includes 'box breathing'.
Mindful Body Scan (Guided Relaxation) - approximately 15 minutes
A guided mediation (visualisation) to assist with physical and mental relaxation.
Mindful Self-compassion for self-care (Guided Meditation) - approx. 24mins
A guided meditation to support self-care, self-compassion, and more broadly, compassion for others.

Acknowledgements

The Palliative Care Australia Self-Care Matters resource was developed for Palliative Care Australia by Incite Positive Education and Research Consulting. Palliative Care Australia is funded by the Australian Government.

Requests for permission to reproduce any part of this resource should be sought in writing from Palliative Care Australia at pca@palliativecare.org.au.

About Dr Jason Mills, Managing Director, Incite Positive Education and Research Consulting

Dr Mills has developed Self-Care Matters for PCA reflecting his passion and commitment to promoting self-care awareness and education, particularly for those working in palliative care. His research training and education includes a PhD from the University of Sydney (Self-care, Self-compassion and Compassion for Others), and further postgraduate qualifications at the University of Melbourne (Positive Education). He is a certified compassion educator, having studied and trained to teach the internationally recognised Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) program at the Stanford University Medical School's Centre for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE). As Editor-in-Chief for the international journal Progress in Palliative Care, Dr Mills holds a keen interest in this growing field of research and practice, drawing widely from the scientific literature to develop this Self-Care Matters resource.

Additional resources

The links below have been selected because they provide access (generally, for free) to information, resources, and support services. Some of the materials are tailored to specific types of health care professionals and/or carer groups, or for those in particular care settings.

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers' Self-care (Keep yourself healed)

Australian Indigenous Health InfoNet (Taking care of yourself)
CareSearch (Palliative Care Knowledge Network)
Dementia Australia (Taking care of yourself)
Doctors' Health Service (DRS4DRS) ELDAC (End of Life Directions in Aged Care)
Head to Health (Supporting yourself - Carers)

Mental health resources for GPs

Nurse and Midwife Support

NurseStrong (Australian College of Nursing)
PalliAged (Palliative Care Aged Care Evidence)
Physician Health and Wellbeing (Royal Australasian College of Physicians)

Self-compassion Exercises (Kristin Neff)

Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health (SARRAH)

Nursewell App

Further Support

Self-Care Matters is provided to support your self-care practice and is not intended to replace treatment of any medical conditions or otherwise constitute advice from a health professional. It is recommended that you consult with an appropriate health professional for advice if you are unwell or have any concerns about using Self-Care Matters.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or depressed, or need support services, there are support services available:

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Welcome to Self-Care Matters, a Palliative Care Australia resource, which aims to support you - whatever your role in palliative care - to prevent burnout and build resilience. Planning and practising effective self-care strategies can sustain your capacity to flourish and support others, both personally and professionally, especially when faced with suffering or providing compassionate care for those struggling with the realities of living with dying.

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caring@home is a project working to improve the quality of palliative care service delivery across Australia. It aims to upskill community service providers to train lay carers to provide safe and effective breakthrough palliative symptom management to a loved one in their home.

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National Palliative Care – Supporting Palliative Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities

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A series of engaging eLearning modules to support frontline staff to deliver culturally responsive palliative care.

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Are you an educator?

University, Registered Training Organisation, Health Service

Are you a learner?

University student, RTO student or clinician

Overview of PCC4U Resources

Have you ever found it difficult to find the PCC4U resources you're looking for? With some resources here on the website and others available through our learning management system, it can be easy to miss something. Have a look at our new infographic which provides an overview of all PCC4U learning and teaching resources with clickable links directly to the resources you're looking for.

NEW! Focus Topic 2

Caring for Australian Indigenous peoples affected by life-limiting illness
"Resources are often written about us, without us which means our voice is lacking along with true knowledge and education. The toolkit has been decolonised and built again from the ground up on foundations of the sovereign spirit of our people."
Nicole Hewlett, National Indigenous Manager IPEPA

Join the PCC4U Educator Community

Opportunities to develop your confidence and capabilities through our monthly webinar sessions.

The PCC4U Project Team hosts interactive webinars to provide opportunities for Educators who are implementing PCC4U learning resources, to network, share information, participate in a variety of learning and teaching strategies, and hear others talk about their implementation experience.

Subscribe to Updates /
Request a PCC4U Resource Pack

Follow us on social media

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University, Registered Training Organisation, Health Service University student, RTO student or clinician Overview of PCC4U Resources Have you ever found it difficult to find the PCC4U resources you're looking for? With some resources here on the website and others available through our learning management system, it can be easy to miss something.

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PEPA / IPEPA Learning Pathway

The PEPA / IPEPA learning pathway is aimed at assisting you to develop skills, knowledge and confidence in the palliative approach to care. We focus on active comfort care and a positive approach to managing symptoms and reducing distress. This approach facilitates early identification of individuals' beliefs, needs and choices, and provides guidance for ways you can support them and their families, carers and community.

The PEPA learning pathway includes workshops, placements and learning guides:
About our Learning Management System (LMS) and our Learning Guides
PEPA/IPEPA has a range of learning materials that you can use to develop your Palliative Care knowledge.

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PEPA / IPEPA Learning Pathway The PEPA / IPEPA learning pathway is aimed at assisting you to develop skills, knowledge and confidence in the palliative approach to care. We focus on active comfort care and a positive approach to managing symptoms and reducing distress.

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The Palliative Care Education Directory

PaCE is a resource directory for educators and health and aged care providers. Access relevant palliative care education resources direct to your device.

Palliative Care Workforce Development

Hear from Project Lead Distinguished Professor Patsy Yates AM on the development of the PaCE App.

Features

PaCE has been built to link learning resources to palliative care capabilities for the following groups:

How to use PaCE

To find out more about how to use the PaCE Directory App, watch this short video.

The PaCE Directory App includes resources from all the National Palliative Care Projects.

The Palliative Care Education and Training Collaborative acknowledges and pays our deepest respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of the many lands on which we work and live, and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

We respectfully acknowledge the cultural sensitivities surrounding Sorry Business, Sad News and 'finishing up'.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that this website and resources linked may contain images, videos and voices of people who have passed away.

Create a shortcut

Once you have opened PaCE on your device, you can add a shortcut to the app.

Follow the instructions below for your preferred internet browser:
* Chrome: Tap the menu icon (three dots in the upper right-hand corner) and tap Add to homescreen.
* Safari: Tap the Share button on the menu bar, then tap on Add to Home Screen
* Edge: Tap on the horizontal three dots icon for the options menu, select the option Add to homescreen
* Firefox: Tap the menu button (either below the screen on some devices or in the upper right of the browser), then tap on page. Tap Add Page Shortcut.

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PaCE is a resource directory for educators and health and aged care providers. Access relevant palliative care education resources direct to your device. Hear from Project Lead Distinguished Professor Patsy Yates AM on the development of the PaCE App.

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Often we don't have difficult conversation because they create a sense of fear in us. We can only get better at them if we try them. Use this guide to help you get better and lose your fear.

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Another great resource to help with Courageous Conversations

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13 Guiding Principles for Courageous Conversations – Forbes

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13 Guiding Principles for Courageous Conversations – Forbes

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An easy read with loads of information to help at work.

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Council Post: 13 Guiding Principles For Courageous Conversations

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True success and teamwork can only be achieved through the art of a courageous conversation.

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Assertive, Aggressive and Passive Communication

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Assertive, Aggressive and Passive Communication

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Do you know how you communicate?  Often when we are stressed we are falling to aggressive communication techniques.  are you aware of the difference in communication styles and the impact of those styles?

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A Reflective view of yourself - do you really use Active listening when you work with colleagues?

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Keeps track of formal mentor meetings and keep conversations focused for growth each time you have them.

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This can be helpful when starting a formal mentoring relationship to support a colleague.

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Planning a placement can support a mentees goals

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These are the goals that PEPA mentees work on to support their Palliative Care Learning while on placement.

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This is planning goals for you if you want to practice on yourself first before you link to others.

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Use this planner to help you see the gaps in your schedule to fit in self-care. When you complete the week and then plan the next week - make sure you use page 2 and reflect on what you have achieved. This makes the magic happen!

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Sometimes we need help making decisions as we get caught dwelling on a problem and not moving on.  This tree can help when you are stuck!

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Emotional Guidance Scale - do you live in Positive or Negative thinking?

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Emotional Guidance Scale - do you live in Positive or Negative thinking?

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A simple daily check in on your feelings to see check in on yourself and measure are you positive or negative today?

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Mentors must reflect. Looking inwardly and learning from experience helps you grow as a mentor. This is one way of reflecting - there is many ways. checking in on emotions daily is another way - see below

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Planned conversations help with preparing for feedback. Try this out and see how much easier feedback becomes.

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Mentors must understand their cultural self and their biases. How do you and your organisation measure up against this continuum?

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Good communication requires listening. When we are fatigued we don't listen as well. How often do you check in and see if you are actually listening to others for good communication to happen?

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This PDF can be printed and used with teams to support awareness of Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue in the workplace.

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Read more about PEPA and mentoring here

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Mentoring is defined as a relationship between an experienced and a less experienced person in which the mentor provides guidance, advice, support and feedback to the mentee to support their future experience and growth.

The goal of PEPA mentors is to share palliative care knowledge with PEPA participants. This sharing of knowledge supports the participants to take back to their work environment for integration into providing care for patients in their care. Culturally safe, culturally responsive mentoring is part of this process.

The most critical ingredient in effective mentorship is that of relationship [4]. As such, the benefits of mentorship are not and should not be one-directional but are mutual to the mentor and mentee and the organisation (if any) involved in hosting this relationship [5].

Mentorship is seen also as a crucial component of professional development, as it has the potential to improve the resilience of future generations of health care professionals. Among key points, the importance of cultural awareness or competence has been highlighted as having a significant positive bearing on the relationship between mentor and mentee [6].

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Mentoring is defined as a relationship between an experienced and a less experienced person in which the mentor provides guidance, advice, support and feedback to the mentee to support their future experience and growth. The goal of PEPA mentors is to share palliative care knowledge with PEPA participants.

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Please Read pages 24-33

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Compassion Satisfaction Self-Coaching Guide V2.0

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Compassion Satisfaction Self-Coaching Guide V2.0

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This self-coaching guide V2.0 was written by Sue Cosgrove to support healthcare workforce to create awareness of their potential fatigue so as they could generate change of that fatigue status if they choose. Contact Sue if you would like to learn more.

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Many in healthcare suffer from this feeling.  What is it, and how can you overcome it.  A great read.

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Mentors need their own goals to keep growing themselves as effective mentors and leaders. Have you got a 5 year plan?

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How you learn will affect what type of self-care activities you will be interested in integrating into your life. Know how you learn by doing this quiz. A great activity for the team to learn each other's learning styles as well.

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Take two minutes to complete the Positivity Self Test now. Your score provides a snapshot of how your emotions of the past day combine to create your positivity ratio.

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Take two minutes to complete the Positivity Self Test now. Your score provides a snapshot of how your emotions of the past day combine to create your positivity ratio.

Instructions: How have you felt in the past day? Look back over the past day (i.e., from this time yesterday up to right now). Using the 0-4 scale below, indicate the greatest degree that you've experienced of each of the following feelings.

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Take two minutes to complete the Positivity Self Test now. Your score provides a snapshot of how your emotions of the past day combine to create your positivity ratio. Instructions: How have you felt in the past day? Look back over the past day (i.e., from this time yesterday up to right now).

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Are your values helping you or hindering you? Know your values as this helps you make choices that align with your authentic you for your future.

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Discover Your Personal Values | free online test

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What is the most important thing in your life? Find out with this personal values test. Discover your core values in 5 minutes and make more conscious decisions.

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Learn more about your unconscious bias to make a conscious change!

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On the next page you'll be asked to select an Implicit Association Test (IAT) from a list of possible topics . We will also ask you (optionally) to report your attitudes or beliefs about these topics and provide some information about yourself.

We ask these questions because the IAT can be more valuable if you also describe your own self-understanding of the attitude or stereotype that the IAT measures. We would also like to compare differences between people and groups.

Data Privacy: Data exchanged with this site are protected by SSL encryption. Project Implicit uses the same secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) that banks use to securely transfer credit card information. This provides strong security for data transfer to and from our website. IP addresses are routinely recorded, but are completely confidential. We make the anonymous data collected on the Project Implicit Demonstration website publicly available. You can find more information on our Data Privacy page.

Important disclaimer: In reporting to you results of any IAT test that you take, we will mention possible interpretations that have a basis in research done (at the University of Washington, University of Virginia, Harvard University, and Yale University) with these tests. However, these Universities, as well as the individual researchers who have contributed to this site, make no claim for the validity of these suggested interpretations. If you are unprepared to encounter interpretations that you might find objectionable, please do not proceed further.

If you have questions about the study, please contact Project Implicit at questions@projectimplicit.net. To obtain more information about the study, ask questions about the research procedures, express concerns about your participation, or report illness, injury or other problems, please contact:

Tonya R. Moon, Ph.D.
Chair, Institutional Review Board for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
One Morton Dr Suite 500
University of Virginia, P.O. Box 800392
Charlottesville, VA 22908-0392
Email: irbsbshelp@virginia.edu
Website: https://research.virginia.edu/irb-sbs
Website for Research Participants: https://research.virginia.edu/research-participants

I am aware of the possibility of encountering interpretations of my IAT test performance with which I may not agree. Knowing this, I wish to proceed

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On the next page you'll be asked to select an Implicit Association Test (IAT) from a list of possible topics . We will also ask you (optionally) to report your attitudes or beliefs about these topics and provide some information about yourself.

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The Professional Quality of Life measure is a free tool for awareness creation of Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout and Secondary Traumatic stress scores.

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One of the daily challenges of life is: “How do I get people—including myself—to do what I want?” The Four Tendencies framework makes this task much easier by revealing whether a person is an Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel.

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The Four Tendencies quiz is designed to help you gain the self knowledge to build a happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative life.

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Mentors need to understand their strengths so they know how they will react and work with others.  This survey provides a wealth of information to help you understand your best qualities.

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VIA Character Strengths Survey & Character Reports | VIA Institute

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Do you know your character strengths? Once you do, you’ll be empowered to face life’s challenges, work toward goals and feel more fulfilled, personally and professionally. Take the free personality assessment test from the VIA Institute on Character so you can discover your strengths today.

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This is a great free test to help you learn more about your personality and the way you have of being. Great insight to help you understand more about why you do what you do.

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Free personality test - take it to find out why our readers say that this personality test is so accurate, "it's a little bit creepy." No registration required!

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A document to help you remember how to Keep your BALLs balanced - a fun activity in the workshop!

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When we come together in learning and in health reseacrh challenges us to have an Open Presence. To do this you will have an Open Mind, Open Heart and Open Will. It makes for a positive - better environment.

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Mentoring and Compassion Fatigue Workshop Presentation

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Mentoring and Compassion Fatigue Workshop Presentation

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This will help you to follow along if you want to print it before the session or follow on your device in the session :)