What happens at the end of life when the systems we rely on don't recognise who we are, or who we love?

In this episode, I'm joined by Zoe Hinton, ACON's Community Health Promotion Officer for End of Life and Palliative Care. Zoe works within The LOVE Project (Living Older Visibly and Engaged), ACON's initiative supporting older LGBTQ+ people to stay socially connected, visible and engaged in community, and helps deliver ACON's Taking Control toolkit for palliative care and end of life decisions.

We talk about the nuances LGBTQ+ people face when accessing palliative care, from doctors who assume you have an opposite sex partner, to legal and superannuation systems built around one married partner and dependent children. Zoe explains why chosen family matters so much, how partners who were never openly recognised can be shut out of homes, estates and even funerals, and why so many older community members fear being forced back into the closet when they enter aged care.

Zoe also busts the myth that palliative care is only for your final weeks, shares simple questions allies can ask aged care providers about LGBTQ+ safety policies and staff training, and reminds us that documentation isn't just paperwork. It's also the conversations we have with the people who will speak for us.

But this conversation ultimately comes back to grief and ritual. From the AIDS Memorial Quilt to lighting a candle or dancing with friends, Zoe shows how we can create our own rituals to honour the people we love, especially when the official funeral doesn't reflect who they were. As Zoe puts it, grief is messy, and you are a person changed completely.

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.

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For resources mentioned in this episode, check the links and information provided in the episode description.

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 :-)

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

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 :-)

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

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...