Online self-care resources for the aged care workforce

There are a huge number of resources available online about self-care and it can be confusing and hard to find resources that consider the unique environment of aged care workers. We have selected resources that were developed with aged care workers in mind, as well as resources that were developed to support frontline health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

E-hubs

Beyond Blue, Mental Health and Wellbeing.
Black Dog Institute, The Essential Network for Professionals (TEN). TEN is also available as an app.
Nurse Midwife Health Program Australia provides peer support and counselling for nurses, midwives and students.
Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, Kindness at work.
Phoenix Australia, Aged Care Workforce. Some resources are available in common languages other than English.
Kindness Pandemic has publications and resoures for the community.

Mental wellbeing

Palliative Care Australia: Self-care matters (Aged care).
Australian Psychological Association provides information on workplace stress, strategies to manage it and suggestions on seeking help.
National Ageing Research Institute has mental health tips sheets for aged care workers and managers.
MindSpot has an information sheet for frontline workers.
Head to Health website is a useful place to search for digital mental health resources.
Black Dog Institute provides links to several digital mental health tools.
DRS4DRS:For doctors and medical students.
ACN: NurseStrong

Death and dying

The Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement offers a series of webinars on the topic of loss and grief in aged care and how to support staff. Also check out the ACGB’s MyGrief app, which aims to support bereaved people.
Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement.
CareSearch website offers evidenced based information on coping with the stresses of palliative care nursing.
palliAGED website offers practical guidance on self-care for staff working in palliative care.
PCCU4U provides a learning activity module on adopting self-care strategies.

Looking after a team

Black Dog Institute has a collection of mental health resources on how to look after a team.
Pandemic Kindness Movement.
Phoenix Australia has a dedicated website with resources for aged care managers.
National Ageing Research Institute has mental health tips for aged care managers.

ELDAC Self-care pack

You can download or order printed copies of the ELDAC Self-Care Pack, which includes 5 introductory resources to support the wellbeing of aged care staff who are caring for older people at the end of life.