The Death Guide is not an emergency or crisis service.
Urgent help informationBefore During Long after
As The Death Guide, Damien Hudson offers grief counselling, end-of-life planning, family support, funeral and ceremony planning and guidance, and death education. Based in the Mudgee region, The Death Guide supports individuals, families, communities and organisations across the Central West and greater NSW.
Because none of us should have to figure out death alone.
Where are you in the journey?
Death may be something you are preparing for, living alongside or learning to carry. Wherever you are, The Death Guide can help you understand what is happening, consider what matters and decide what comes next.
Support may include end-of-life planning, Advance Care Directives, palliative-care conversations, voluntary assisted dying information and support, anticipatory grief, family meetings, legacy planning and funeral wishes.
Explore support before deathThis may include companionship, vigils, family support, advocacy, liaison with other professionals, clear explanations of what happens after death and help preparing for a funeral or memorial.
Explore support during deathGrief does not follow a schedule. Support may include counselling after loss, suicide or traumatic death, help with family relationships, anniversaries, memorialisation and carrying a person's life and story forward.
Explore support long after a deathWhat is a Death Guide?
The role is not to tell you there is one correct way to approach death. It is to listen, explain, support, help organise, advocate when needed and make difficult circumstances feel more manageable.
You may need information, counselling or someone to sit beside you. You may need a eulogy written, a video tribute created, a family conversation facilitated or an entire collection of practical details brought together. Support is shaped around what is actually needed.
Learn more about The Death GuidePractical and emotional support
Individual and family support for grief, loss, anticipatory grief, caring, traumatic death, suicide bereavement and the emotional effects of living alongside death.
Explore counselling and guidanceHelp having important conversations, recording wishes, understanding choices and preparing before a crisis occurs.
Explore support before a deathSupport communicating wishes, preparing for meetings and navigating disagreement with greater clarity and care.
Explore advocacy and family supportPlanning, eulogies, notices, orders of service, video tributes, photographs, ceremony materials, proofing, event coordination and practical details.
Explore funeral planning and supportCalm, experienced presence for agreed periods while someone is dying, alongside support for the people caring for them.
Explore presence and vigil supportPractical education for community groups, workplaces, aged-care providers, health services, businesses and organisations.
Explore workshops and death educationYou do not need to wait for a crisis. You may be planning ahead, caring for someone, preparing children for a funeral, facing family disagreement or carrying grief that began years ago.
Talk with DamienSupport shaped around real people
Begin by explaining what is happening and what feels difficult. Together, we can work out the most useful next step.
Meet Damien
The Death Guide was founded by Damien Hudson, BPsySc, a thanatologist whose work brings together grief counselling, psychological knowledge, funeral care and practical support through death, dying and bereavement.
Damien has years of experience supporting people through grief, loss, suicide and trauma, together with practical experience as a funeral director and in leading funeral and memorial ceremonies.
Damien is General Manager of Macquarie Valley Funerals and Monuments, a family-owned funeral home serving communities across the region. His work is also informed by lived experience with palliative care, voluntary assisted dying and suicide.
Within Macquarie Valley Funerals' service area, funeral arrangements and related funeral services involving Damien are provided through Macquarie Valley Funerals. Elsewhere, The Death Guide may provide independent planning, writing, coordination and practical assistance while working alongside a family's chosen funeral director and other professionals.
Central West and greater NSW
The Death Guide regularly travels throughout the Central West, including Mudgee, Rylstone, Kandos, Gulgong, Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Lithgow, Coolah, Dunedoo and surrounding communities.
Support may also be available across western NSW, Greater Sydney and elsewhere in NSW. Counselling, guidance, planning and family conversations can also be provided remotely where appropriate.
Ask about support in your areaBegin with a few words
You may know exactly what you need, or only know that something feels difficult and you do not want to manage it alone. Either is enough reason to begin a conversation.
Telephone enquiries: 10am–3pm, Monday to Friday
Email help@thedeathguide.com.auEmail enquiries may be sent at any time. Appointments may be available outside telephone hours by arrangement.
