PERSONAL STORIES

Voluntary Assisted Dying became operative in Victoria in 2019, and in 2021 I had the great fortune of being contacted by Nicole Grundy.

Amongst her many roles in life, Nicole is a Funeral Celebrant and an End-of-Life Doula (EOLD) providing support and guidance to dying people and their loved ones.

When we met, Nicole had helped support a loved one through the Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) process. She was extremely concerned, as were we, that there was a dearth of support available for individuals that had helped a loved one traverse the VAD path. This was an especially critical issue in the beginning as there were very few VAD deaths.  Many people felt isolated and unable to speak out for fear of being judged and stigmatised about their involvement in a VAD death. Nicole generously offered her services and shortly after we developed a 1:1 peer support service, that is still active. This is not a counselling service but enables those who have experienced a VAD death to converse with others with a shared experience.

Nicole then became involved in a greatly needed initiative in which DWDV collaborated with Griefline to develop a pilot program of free, online group support for people who are preparing for, or have experienced, a VAD death. In addition to Nicole’s paid role as a lived experience peer in these groups, Nicole continues to generously volunteer her time, responding to phone calls, many out of hours, from those wishing to talk about their VAD experience. Nicole has also become involved in DWDV’s volunteer witnessing program.

DWDV cannot thank Nicole enough for her generosity of spirit, commitment, compassion and dogged determination to ensure that one day grief counselling would be available for those seeking a VAD and loved ones who have been affected by a VAD death.

Thank you Nicole.