Counselling and grief support
Individual, child, family and group support for grief, loss, anticipatory grief, caring, traumatic death, suicide bereavement and the emotional effects of living alongside death.
Explore counselling and guidanceServices
Help with the conversation, the decisions and the details.
The Death Guide provides practical help, compassionate support and experienced guidance before, during and long after death.
You may need one conversation, help with a particular task or several kinds of support working together. Begin with what is happening rather than trying to choose the perfect service first.
Practical and emotional support
Support shaped around what is actually needed.
Emotional, practical and family needs often overlap. Damien can help identify what belongs together, what can be handled in one focused conversation and when another professional or service should be involved.
End-of-life planning
Help having important conversations, recording wishes, understanding choices, preparing questions and organising personal or practical information before a crisis occurs.
Explore support before a deathAdvocacy and family conversations
Support communicating wishes, preparing for meetings, facilitating family conversations and navigating disagreement with greater clarity and care.
Explore advocacy and family supportFuneral and memorial assistance
Planning, eulogies, notices, orders of service, video tributes, photographs, ceremony materials, proofing, event coordination and practical details.
Explore funeral planning and supportCompanionship and vigils
Calm, experienced presence for agreed periods while someone is dying, alongside practical and emotional support for the people caring for them.
Explore presence and vigil supportWorkshops and death education
Practical education for community groups, workplaces, aged-care providers, health services, businesses, government bodies and organisations.
Explore workshops and death educationPractical work matters too
Support can include doing the work—not only talking about it.
The practical work surrounding death can become overwhelming very quickly. Depending on the circumstances and agreed role, support may include:
- Writing or editing a eulogy, tribute, death notice or funeral notice.
- Designing or coordinating an order-of-service booklet or memorial material.
- Organising photographs and creating a video tribute.
- Helping plan a funeral, memorial, ashes ceremony or other gathering.
- Preparing questions and information for appointments or arrangement meetings.
- Coordinating agreed tasks, speakers, venues, suppliers or ceremony details.
- Helping record wishes, stories, messages or legacy material.
The scope is agreed before work begins. Damien may complete one defined task or help connect several pieces, depending on what is useful and realistic.
Before. During. Long after.
Support at different points in the journey.
Before
Preparing, planning and talking while there is time.
End-of-life conversations, advance-care planning, family discussions, palliative-care support, anticipatory grief, funeral wishes, legacy and practical preparation.
Explore support before a deathDuring
Support while someone is dying and immediately afterwards.
Presence, vigils, carer and family support, advocacy, communication, practical next steps, expected or sudden death and early funeral decisions.
Explore support during dying and deathLong after
Support as grief and life continue.
Counselling, family support, traumatic or sudden death, suicide bereavement, anniversaries, changed roles, memorialisation and grief that returns later.
Explore support long after a deathIndividuals and families
You do not need to know which service to request.
You can make contact for yourself, a child or young person, your family or a group. Support may take place by telephone, video call or in person in a suitable agreed setting.
A brief initial enquiry can establish what is happening and whether one conversation, a defined practical task, continuing support or another referral may be useful.
Communities and organisations
Education and support shaped around the audience.
Damien also works with community groups, workplaces, aged-care and community-care organisations, health services, government bodies and professional teams.
Enquiries may involve a workshop, presentation, supported conversation, grief-aware guidance, postvention, practical planning or help identifying a suitable response.
Clear arrangements
Defined support without an open-ended commitment.
Brief introductory telephone calls and email enquiries are free. Their purpose is to understand what you are looking for and decide whether an appointment, practical task or another next step may help.
The role, scope, expected time, fee and any travel arrangements are explained and agreed before substantive work begins. Support may be one focused conversation or task, or a series of appointments agreed over time.
Damien is based in the Central West and regularly travels throughout Mudgee, Rylstone, Kandos, Gulgong, Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Lithgow, Coolah, Dunedoo and beyond. Support may also be available across greater NSW, including remotely where appropriate.
Within Macquarie Valley Funerals' service area, funeral arrangements and related funeral services involving Damien are provided through Macquarie Valley Funerals, where he works as General Manager. Further afield, The Death Guide may work alongside a family's chosen funeral director and other professionals.
If urgent help is needed
The Death Guide is not an emergency or 24-hour crisis service.
If life is in danger, someone may act on thoughts of suicide or urgent medical assistance is needed, call Triple Zero (000).
Begin with a few words
Tell Damien what is happening.
You may know exactly what you need, or only that something feels difficult and you do not want to carry it alone. Together, you can work out the most useful next step.
Telephone enquiries: 10am–3pm Monday–Friday. Email enquiries may be sent at any time. Appointments may be available outside telephone hours by arrangement.