Advance Care Directive
Make your values clear. Make life easier for the people you love.
When illness or injury affects your ability to speak for yourself, an Advance Care Directive (ACD) ensures health professionals understand what matters most to you, your values, preferences, and the medical treatments you would or wouldn’t want.
At Journease, we guide you through every step so your directive is accurate, meaningful, correctly witnessed in Victoria, Australia, and shared with the people who need it.
Based in Melbourne and supporting clients across Victoria.
What We Help You Do
We make advance care planning simple, respectful, and legally compliant.
- Understand your options clearly: We explain values directives, instructional directives, and the role of a medical treatment decision maker in Victoria using plain, practical language.
- Clarify your wishes: Know your personal preferences around treatment, comfort care, place of care, and your definition of quality of life.
- Draft your Directive: We prepare your ACD using the correct Victorian forms and clear, human-centred wording.
- Coordinate with clinicians: We work closely with your GP or specialists to ensure your Directive is clinically meaningful and likely to be followed.
- Support with witnessing: We ensure your documents meet Victorian witnessing requirements and are signed correctly.
- Share and store securely: We help you distribute copies, store digital versions, and ensure your Directive is accessible in an emergency.
Why Create an Advanced Health Care Directive Victoria Now?
Planning offers clarity and peace of mind:
- It reduces stress and uncertainty for family members.
- Clinicians can provide care that aligns with your values.
- It helps prevent unwanted treatments or hospital interventions.
- It supports the treatments and care you do want.
- It helps avoid misunderstandings or conflict during difficult moments.
How our Guide Process Works
In a 90-minute session, we discuss and document all aspects of your end-of-life preferences and walk you through every step needed to finalise and lodge your ACD.
- Values conversation
We explore what matters to you, your goals, worries, acceptable outcomes, and any cultural or spiritual needs.
- Drafting your Directive
We help you prepare your ACD (values and instructional preferences) in clear, plain English using the correct Victorian forms.
- Appoint your decision maker
We support you in formally appointing a Medical Treatment Decision Maker (MTDM) who can speak on your behalf if you’re unable to.
- Witness and finalise
We guide you through correct witnessing in Victoria, ensure all signatures and details are complete, and confirm that your documents meet legal requirements.
- Share and store
We help you share your directive with your MTDM, family members and GP, and ensure it is added to your health records so it’s accessible when needed.
- Follow-ups and future updates
We stay with you until every part of the process is complete. And don’t worry, life changes, and so can your directive. We can review and update your ACD anytime.
What an Advance Health Directive Can Include
- Values Directive: Your beliefs, goals, and preferences to guide decision-making if you cannot consent.
- Instructional Directive: Specific consent or refusal for treatments such as ventilation, CPR, tube feeding, or dialysis under certain circumstances.
- Care preferences: Pain relief, comfort care, preferred place of care, cultural or spiritual wishes, visitors and communication preferences.
- End-of-life priorities: What “living well” means to you and what you want to avoid near the end of life.
Note: In Victoria, appointing a Medical Treatment Decision Maker is a separate document that works in conjunction with your ACD. We help you complete both.
Who this service is for
- Adults of any age who want to plan ahead
- People living with chronic or serious illness
- Culturally and spiritually diverse communities seeking respectful support
Accessibility and Confidentiality: Why Choose Journease
- Calm, compassionate facilitation by end-of-life planning specialists
- Victoria-specific guidance designed for real-world clinical settings
- Clear, plain-English documents
- Family-inclusive approach to reduce conflict and confusion
Accessibility and confidentiality
We offer in-person (Melbourne) and secure online sessions across Victoria. Your privacy is respected at every step.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is an Advance Care Directive legally recognised in Victoria?
Yes. ACDs are legally recognised when properly completed and witnessed. We guide you through the correct process.
2. What’s the difference between an ACD and appointing a Medical Treatment Decision Maker?
Your ACD records your wishes. Your MTDM is the person legally appointed to make decisions for you if you can’t. We help with both documents.
3. Do I need a lawyer or a doctor?
You don’t need a lawyer to create an ACD. We’ll help you use the correct forms and ensure proper witnessing. You will need your doctor to witness and cosign the document to ensure it is legally recognised.
4. Can I change my Directive later?
Absolutely. You can update or revoke your ACD anytime while you have decision-making capacity. We can assist after major life or health changes.
5. Will my Directive cover voluntary assisted dying (VAD)?
Your ACD can express your values, but it cannot request VAD. If you need information about VAD in Victoria, we can refer you to official resources.
6. Where should I keep it?
Keep the original in a safe place, give copies to your MTDM and family, and share copies with your GP or hospital. We provide a distribution checklist.