In 2020, LGBTIQ+ Health Australia (LHA) received funding through the National Palliative Care Projects grant, through the Department of Health and Aged Care, to deliver several capacity building initiatives to improve the experiences of LGBTIQ+ people and their loved ones accessing palliative and end-of-life care.

LHA is establishing the National LGBTIQ+ Palliative Care Community of Practice to bring together leaders actively working in the palliative care, end-of-life, ageing or health sectors to advance the needs of LGBTIQ+ individuals and their families.

We invite member organisations who have palliative care projects, and are doing work in this space, to nominate a representative as a founding member. Each meeting will feature a guest speaker and facilitate the exchange of projects, ideas and expertise.

There are six meetings scheduled over the next seven months, on the last Wednesday of each month, delivered from 2-3.30pm AEST via Zoom. The first meeting is to be held on Wednesday 30 August 2-3.30pm AEST and will follow the research presentation.

Research presentation

In partnership with the Australian College of Applied Practitioners (ACAP), LHA undertook research to inform the project. Researchers Jason Petrides and Dr Fiona Ann Papps will present two papers on barriers and enablers to inclusive care for LGBTIQ+ people.

Phase 1 of the research included the results of a national survey of 837 LGBTIQ+ individuals and healthcare workers about the barriers and enablers of inclusive care and was presented at the 2021 Oceanic Palliative Care Conference.

Phase 2 of the research will be presented at this year’s Oceanic Palliative Care Conference being held in Sydney on 15 September. This presentation will explore the results of 13 in-depth interviews with LGBTQ+ individual’s lived experience of palliative and end-of-life care.

Dr Fiona Ann Papps Fiona received her PhD in Psychology with Vice Chancellor’s Commendation for PhD Thesis from Macquarie University in 2001. Fiona joined ACAP as Lecturer in Psychological Sciences after nine years at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada, where she served in a variety of roles, including Assistant Professor of Psychology, Head of the Department of Psychology Research Ethics Committee, and Head of the Department of Psychology.

Fiona has extensive experience in post-secondary teaching, receiving the Hessian Merit Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2006 and the ACAP Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2014. She has been presenting her research at local, national, and international conferences since 1999, and is also a published writer, receiving the Milton Acorn Award for Poetry in 2010.

Jason Petrides Jason has been working alongside LHA since 2021 to uncover LGBTIQ+ palliative care needs. Jason has worked with vulnerable populations including people living with HIV, people addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, and forensic populations. Jason also has extensive background working in chronic pain rehabilitation.  Jason is a provisional psychologist in the last year of his Master of Clinical Psychology program at the University of Technology Sydney.

To date, Jason has completed a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology/Sociology) at the University of Sydney, and a Graduate Diploma of Psychological Sciences (GPA:7) and Bachelor of Psychological Sciences Honours (1st class with Merit) at the Australian College of Applied Professions.

To RSVP or for more information, please contact Sarah Lambert on [email protected] or 0404 466 890.