Mindfulness-Based Grief Training for Healthcare & Grief Professionals
A clear embodied system for supporting grief while caring for the person you bring to the work
I’m Heather Stang, an award-winning thanatologist, author, speaker, and creator of the Mindfulness & Grief System.
I train therapists, counselors, chaplains, coaches, hospice professionals, and other helping professionals to move beyond grief theory and support real people with greater confidence, presence, and care.
Through certification, continuing education, keynote speaking, and my books, I teach a mindfulness-based approach that supports the grieving person without asking the professional to leave their own humanity at the door.
Bring the Mindfulness & Grief System into your work
Get 8 Free Grief Support Coaching Cues
A free guide with mindfulness-based cues to help you support grieving clients with greater confidence
Become a Certified
Mindfulness & Grief Coach
Learn the 8-step process to support grieving people with greater confidence while caring for your own well-being
Bring Heather to
Your Organization
Keynotes workshops and CE programs for confident compassionate grief support and professional wellbeing
The Mindfulness & Grief System
A practical mindfulness-based framework for supporting grief with confidence presence and care
The Mindfulness & Grief System brings together grief science, mindfulness, compassionate presence, and more than two decades of experience supporting grieving people and training helping professionals.
Rather than asking people to move through grief in a particular way, the system offers an adaptable framework that helps you respond to each person's unique experience with greater confidence and clarity.
Whether you are learning through certification, a keynote, one of my books, or free resources, every part of my work is grounded in the same evidence-informed approach.
Start with a free live workshop
From Grief Theory To Real-World Support
You already understand that grief is complex. The harder part is knowing what to do when someone is overwhelmed shut down or searching for meaning.
In this free live workshop I’ll show you how the Mindfulness & Grief Coach Certification turns grief theory into practical embodied support. You’ll see how meditation journaling movement and reflective practices can be adapted for grief and why your own practice matters when you are guiding others.
Already considering certification? Explore the full program.
Why Professionals Choose the Mindfulness & Grief System
The Mindfulness & Grief System combines mindfulness, grief science, and lived practice to help professionals support loss with greater confidence, presence, and care.
Mindfulness-based
Bring presence, compassion, and self-awareness into grief support for both you and the people you serve.
Evidence Informed
Grounded in thanatology, current grief research, and over 20 years of professional practice.
Learned From the Inside Out
Develop your own mindfulness practice before teaching it to others so your work is authentic, grounded, and sustainable.
Designed for Real-World Practice
Use the system in counseling, coaching, chaplaincy, hospice, groups, retreats, and community care.
What others say about this work
These reflections come from grief leaders, professionals, and people who have experienced the Mindfulness & Grief approach in real life.
When we are more firmly grounded in our bodies, as Heather Stang demonstrates, we are better able literally and metaphorically to find a new footing in the world, and to restore a life of meaning and coherence.
robert a neimeyer
Director, Portland Institute for Loss and Transition
Heather Stang offers those who are grieving a wise and practical guide. The stories, teachings and meditations in this book will help you find your own inner strength and awakening heart in the midst of great loss.
tara brach
Author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge
Heather Stang's Navigating Loss is a valued compass for navigating a wide range of life's losses. Grieving individuals will find it both informative and full of activities and exercises to assist in coping with grief. It is a wonderful resource for the bereaved.
Kenneth J Doka
Senior Vice-President, The Hospice Foundation of America
I got to process some of my own deep seated grief, some of which I wasn’t aware of. I feel I can better accommodate my clients during their time of grief as I now have the tools to assist them.
I highly recommend taking the Mindfulness & Grief Certification course. It is developed as a comprehensive foundation to work from and build on.
sharon de laura
caregiver
Certified Mindfulness & Grief Coach
Personally, this program helped me shift from just doing mindfulness to actually living it. I’ve noticed I pause more, and don’t react as quickly, especially during stressful moments.
Professionally, I really appreciated how practical everything felt for grief work. It’s already changed how I think about holding space, less fixing, more allowing, and trusting the process.
Gina Josette
Former Grief Admin Coordinator
Certified Mindfulness & Grief Coach
Both personally and professionally, the program helped me find my center through mindful breaths so that I can step into situations at the hospital with a clearer mind and heart.
I hope to use these practices with stressed staff so they can take needed pauses while supporting patients and families.
Alexandria Cirko
VP Mission & Ministry Chaplain
Certified Mindfulness & Grief Coach
Books for living with grief and loss
My books offer practical, compassionate support for grief, journaling, non-death loss, and life after loss.
Each one grew from the same foundation that guides my teaching: mindfulness, thanatology, compassion, and the belief that grief is not something to fix, but something we learn to live with.
Whether you are grieving yourself or supporting others, these books can help you find words, practices, and perspective when you need them most.
Professional Training Resources
Whether you're exploring grief work for the first time or expanding an established practice, you'll find practical articles on grief coaching, ethics, mindfulness, support groups, professional wellbeing, and trauma-informed care.
Popular topics include:
- Becoming a grief coach
- Grief coaching vs. therapy
- Leading grief support groups
- Professional grief and burnout
- Essential grief coaching skills
- Mindfulness for grief professionals
Important: This page and the practices shared here are for educational and supportive purposes only. They are not a substitute for mental health care, medical care, or crisis support.
If you are concerned about your safety, struggling to function, or experiencing thoughts of harming yourself or someone else, please contact a licensed mental health professional, call 911, or go to the nearest emergency room right away.
If you are in the U.S. or Canada, you can also call or text 988 for immediate crisis support.
Copyright 2026 Heather Stang, MA, C-IAYT, All rights reserved.