Advance Care Planning

Thinking about what you would do and how you would want to spend your time if you had one year left to live, is one way to start identifying quality of life. That’s really what advance care planning is all about, quality of life.

Although Advance Care Planning is often thought of as planning for the end of life, it is really about planning for life, up to and including death.

It is a process of thinking about what is important to you. What are your beliefs, values and wishes for your care?

Advance care planning is also about sharing those wishes, especially with your substitute decision-maker (the person who will speak for you if you can’t speak for yourself) so that your family and friends know how you would like to be cared for in the future.

There are many fabulous resources to help you with Advance Care Planning.

It is important to make sure that you are using Ontario-specific resources to explain Advance Care Planning based on Ontario law, called the Health Care Consent Act. Other provinces and countries may have different laws or requirements that do not apply in Ontario. 

A good place to start is Speak Up Ontario. There you will find information about Advance Care Planning and Health Care Consent, a resource library and an interactive, online workbook or downloadable workbook to walk you through the 5 steps in Advance Care Planning: THINK, LEARN, DECIDE/IDENTIFY, TALK, RECORD