Why Early Legacy Planning Deserves Support

Creating a legacy is one of the most personal and emotional tasks a person will ever undertake—especially for those living with dementia. While families play a vital role, the guidance of trained professionals can make legacy planning more structured, meaningful, and emotionally safe.

Engaging the right support early helps individuals with dementia capture their stories, preferences, and values while they still have the clarity and capacity to lead the process.

As Advance Care Planning Australia suggests, legacy discussions should begin as early as possible and involve a multidisciplinary team where needed.

Who Can Support Early Legacy Work?

Many professionals can play a valuable role, including:

1. Counsellors and Psychologists

Help individuals process the emotional impact of dementia, address unresolved grief, and feel confident in sharing their story.

2. Occupational Therapists

Assist with cognitive and sensory adaptations—making it easier to engage with storytelling tools, memory prompts, and creative exercises.

3. Legal Advisors

Ensure that all legacy wishes—particularly those with financial or guardianship implications—are documented correctly. Advance Health Directive tools can be reviewed for legal accuracy.

4. Palliative or Dementia Care Specialists

Help translate emotional insights into meaningful preferences for future care and family support.

Organisations like Dementia Support Australia and Nurse Info can guide families toward the right professional resources.

The Value of Professional Objectivity

Professionals provide:

• A safe, neutral space for emotional expression
• A structured approach to storytelling
• Expertise in adapting communication techniques
• Support for carers who may be emotionally overwhelmed

They help maintain a person-centred approach, ensuring the legacy reflects the voice of the individual—not just the interpretation of family or guardians.

Working with Digital Legacy Tools

Many professionals now integrate secure digital platforms like Evaheld into their sessions, helping clients:

• Record values-based messages
• Preserve memory-rich images and stories
• Organise content using the Evaheld Legacy Vault

This also allows legacy content to be safely stored, time-released, or shared only when specific triggers occur (such as after death or during milestone family events).

How Counsellors Guide the Emotional Process

According to Dementia Australia, people recently diagnosed with dementia often experience sadness, confusion, or anxiety about how they’ll be remembered.

Counsellors and psychologists help address:

• Regret over past actions or missed opportunities
• Fear about being forgotten
• Uncertainty around what to share or say

Professionals can help individuals frame their story in a way that brings peace, healing, and purpose.

The Evaheld blog includes stories of families working with therapists to co-create memory archives and meaningful messages.

Legal Advisors and Legacy Protection

Legacy work often overlaps with legal planning. Professionals help ensure:

• Written and recorded content aligns with the person’s formal wishes
• Power of attorney and guardianship arrangements are honoured
• Family disputes over content access are avoided

The Online Will Blog emphasises the importance of aligning ethical wills and legacy messages with formal estate plans.

Occupational Therapists and Accessibility

Occupational therapists assess physical and cognitive capabilities and suggest legacy creation tools that are:

• Easy to handle
• Cognitively appropriate
• Adaptable over time

They may recommend memory prompts, adaptive recording tools, or guided booklets like those from the Family Legacy Series.

For example, someone with visual impairments might use voice recording, while someone with limited speech may benefit from image-based prompts combined with short captions.

Collaborative Team Planning

An ideal legacy plan involves:

• The individual with dementia
• A lead family member or carer
• A counsellor or therapist
• A legal advisor
• Optionally, an aged care or dementia specialist

This team can co-create a holistic schedule and content plan using platforms like Evaheld, helping to capture:

• Life stories
• Spiritual and cultural values
• Final messages for loved ones
• Visual or creative artefacts
• Preferences for how and when the legacy is shared

Ensuring Emotional Safety for Families

Carers and loved ones also experience emotional challenges during legacy planning.

Professionals help them:

• Process grief or anticipatory loss
• Avoid projecting their emotions onto the legacy content
• Create respectful boundaries between memory and imagination

Family Legacy Series provides activities for families to engage in legacy work together—with sensitivity and support.

For the Sandwich Generation

Adults caring for parents and children may find legacy planning emotionally overwhelming.

Professionals can help this generation:

• Prioritise planning across both generations
• Participate in joint sessions
• Find closure or renewed understanding of their parent

As discussed on the Online Will Blog, legacy work done with support strengthens family unity and prepares younger generations emotionally.

Supporting Cultural and Spiritual Integrity

Trained spiritual care practitioners or faith leaders can be brought in to:

• Preserve religious or cultural stories
• Document beliefs or rituals for end-of-life care
• Translate spiritual values into audio or video blessings

These can be integrated with Advance Care Planning Australia preferences or stored privately in Evaheld Legacy Vault.

Final Thoughts

Legacy planning should never feel like a burden. With the right professional support, it becomes a process of healing, empowerment, and expression.

Professionals offer structure, clarity, and emotional care—ensuring the voice of the person living with dementia is preserved, protected, and celebrated.

Whether through a heartfelt letter, a short video, or a shared story, the involvement of trained experts makes legacy preservation more accessible and more profound.