The loss and grief of residents and home care recipients in aged care following COVID-19

Mr Christopher HALL
MA, GradDipAdol&ChPsych, BEd, CertIVTAE, MAPS, MACE, FAIM

For the past 24 years Christopher Hall has held the position of Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement. He is a psychologist specialising in grief and bereavement. Christopher was elected President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling in 2015. In 2007, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Work Group on Dying, Death and Bereavement and served as chair from 2010-2013. He currently serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the work group. The Association for Death Education and Counseling in 2018 awarded him the ADEC Service Award for his commitment to the field and advancing the study of dying, death and bereavement.

A Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management. Christopher is also an Honorary Fellow of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne. He serves as the Editor of the journal Grief Matters: The Australian Journal of Grief and Bereavement and is a former Associate Editor of Death Studies. Since 2010, Christopher has been a member of the Coronial Council of Victoria.

Professor Susan Kurrle

Susan Kurrle is a geriatrician practising at Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital in northern Sydney and at Batemans Bay Hospital in southern NSW. She is the Clinical Network Director for Rehabilitation and Aged Care in Northern Sydney Local Health District and she holds the Curran Chair in Health Care of Older People in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. Her research and practice interests centre on frailty, falls prevention, dementia, successful ageing, and improving care for older people in residential care. She was the Medical Advisor to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, and most recently she has been involved as medical adviser and commentator for the award winning ABC documentary series ‘Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds’.  

Professor Sunil Bhar

Professor Sunil Bhar is Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Swinburne University of Technology. He was head of the department for 4 years (2016-19). After his doctoral training, he completed 4 years of postdoctoral training with Dr Aaron Beck.  Professor Bhar is a clinical psychologist with expertise in the application of psychological treatments to older adults living in residential aged care settings. He is the director of the Wellbeing Clinic for Older Adults, a geropsychology counselling service for older adults living in residential aged care facilities. For nearly a decade, he has led research on the outcomes and mechanisms of psychological treatments for older adults. Professor Bhar has almost 15 years of experience in researching psychological treatments for late life. He successfully led Australia’s first randomised controlled trial on the application of cognitive-behavioral therapy for aged care residents living with dementia, funded by the Department of Health. Professor Bhar is currently the lead chief investigator on a large scale NHMRC Targeted-call-for research project – called ELATE (Elders at Ease) involving 500 aged care residents to examine the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural therapy for aged care residents. His research program strives to develop and deliver effective and sustainable interventions that improve emotional outcomes for aged care residents. He has extensive expertise in developing and adapting reminiscence and cognitive behavioural treatments for aged care residents. In recognition of his research achievements in residential aged care, Professor Bhar was awarded the Australian Psychological Society’s Alistair Heron Award in 2014 and was selected to given expert testimony at Australia’s Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safely in 2020.