Award-Winning Grief Speaker & Conference Trainer Heather Stang
Heather is a thanatologist, author, and grief educator who helps bereaved audiences, healthcare professionals, and helping communities move beyond generic and outdated grief advice. Creator of the Mindfulness & Grief System, she shares evidence-based, trauma-informed approaches to living and working with loss. Her presentations combine field-leading grief expertise with mindfulness-based tools people can actually use.
Keynotes and training for audiences navigating grief, caregiving, and emotional overload
Heather Stang is a grief and mindfulness speaker who helps bereavement organizations, healthcare teams, caregiver groups, and professional audiences navigate loss, caregiving, burnout, and resilience with greater understanding, compassion, and practical skill.
Heather is also the author of Living with Grief, From Grief to Peace, and Navigating Loss. She has presented for bereavement organizations, healthcare systems, mindfulness communities, and grief-adjacent professionals in the U.S. and internationally. Her keynotes and workshops focus on grief literacy, self-compassion, caregiving, and life after loss.
Her presentations are especially well suited for:
Bereavement and grief audiences
Community grief events, memorial programs, support organizations, retreat spaces, and conferences for people living with loss. Popular topics include living fully after loss, mindful self-compassion, journaling through grief, rituals and remembrance, and Hope During the Holidays.
Healthcare, hospice, and caregiving professionals
Nurses, oncology nurses, social workers, chaplains, palliative care teams, hospice staff, occupational therapists, death doulas, and other healthcare and caregiving professionals who need practical tools for grief support, emotional regulation, burnout prevention, and sustainable self-care.
Grief-adjacent professionals
Attorneys, hotline teams, donor family programs, first responders, educators, and other professionals who work with people in times of loss, crisis, and transition. Topics include grief literacy, compassionate communication, supporting grieving clients without causing harm, and caring for yourself while caring for others.
Mindfulness, yoga, and retreat communities
Retreat centers, contemplative spaces, wellness conferences, and audiences exploring mindfulness, embodiment, self-compassion, and resilience in the face of grief and change. This also includes professional training for meditation teachers and yoga teachers seeking grief literacy and practical ways to support grieving students with greater skill and sensitivity.
As both a grief clinician, meditation practitioner, and a human shaped by loss, I know this work from the inside out.
Heather is a grief speaker praised by experts in thanatology and death education
Heather is sought after by bereavement organizations, healthcare teams, retreat centers, and professional associations. She is known for bringing warmth, presence, and practical wisdom that resonate with both bereaved and professional audiences.
“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, Ph.D.
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, Ph.D.
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.”
KEN DOKA, Ph.D.
Senior Vice-President
The Hospice Foundation of America
“Heather Stang is a very knowledgeable person.... She knows about grief, stress, relaxation and more. Heather helped over 120 people by speaking at the Western Maryland Dementia Conference; if you have a chance to work with her, I think maybe she can help you too!”
SUSAN DWYER LCSW-C
Alzheimer’s Association
Greater Maryland Chapter
“Heather is a seasoned professional whose commitment and passion shines through her work and her presentations. Her half-day preconference seminar [at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Management and Leadership Conference] was well attended and participants rated the session highly”
BARBARA L. BOUTON, MA, FT
Vice President, Professional Development
National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization
“Your willingness to engage our families on their terms was such a gift for our agency to learn from and most importantly for our donor families. Death and dying is not an easy subject to talk about, but you led the way and allowed for a new perspective on coping with their loss.”
YIE YIN FOONG
Family Services Outreach Coordinator
LiveOnNY (Organ Donation Network)
Watch Heather Speak
Association for Death Education and Counseling
2025 Annual Conference Awards Ceremony
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Heather brings together thanatology, mindfulness, and lived experience in presentations that are practical, compassionate, and deeply relevant to the people in the room.
Heather Stang's Signature Keynotes and Workshops
Heather tailors each presentation to the audience, setting, and goals of the event. Organizers can expect a thoughtful, well-prepared experience that may include professionally designed slides, a handout or resource guide, and, when appropriate or requested, a guided meditation, reflective exercise, or other experiential practice. Book sales and bulk book orders are also available for conferences, retreats, and professional education events.
Walking the Talk: Caring for Others, Caring for Ourselves
A presentation for grief professionals and helping communities on practicing the same mindfulness-based tools we ask clients to use. Drawing from the Mindfulness and Grief System, this session explores practice and ritual as foundations for sustainable caregiving. At its heart is the recognition that personal grief and professional grief are deeply intertwined, and that both shape how we live, work, and care.
Self-Compassion as Self-Care: Soothing the Caregiver’s Heart
A practical and compassionate presentation for family caregivers and those supporting a loved one with dementia, serious illness, or a life-limiting condition. This session explores how self-compassion can help you manage difficult emotions, reduce suffering, and care for yourself with the same kindness you offer others.
Grief Literacy 101: Supporting Grieving Clients with Skill and Compassion
An evidence-informed training for attorneys, educators, hotline teams, healthcare-adjacent professionals, and others who support grieving people in the course of their work. This session replaces myths with modern grief understanding and offers practical guidance on communication, common missteps, and how to support others without causing harm.
Hope During the Holidays: Planning for Meaning and Peace
A compassionate and practical presentation for navigating holidays, anniversaries, and other emotionally charged dates. Grounded in grief education, ritual, and mindful planning, this session helps audiences prepare for special days with greater intention, self-awareness, and support.
Living with Grief: Mindful Practices for Life After Loss
A presentation on how mindfulness, self-compassion, and practical grief support can help people care for themselves and adapt to life after loss. Based on Heather’s book Living with Grief and the Mindfulness and Grief System, this session offers grounded tools for emotional regulation, meaning-making, and resilience. This can be tailored for a bereaved audience or for professional CE training, and is a wonderful offering for weekend retreats.
From Grief to Peace: Writing and Reflection for Meaning After Loss
A reflective and practical presentation based on Heather’s guided journal From Grief to Peace. Through writing, guided prompts, and expressive practices, this session helps people process grief, deepen self-awareness, and find meaning, compassion, and connection in the midst of loss.
Tending to the Grieving Body: Somatic Practices for Loss and Overwhelm
A body-based presentation on how grief lives in the nervous system and how mindful, somatic practices can help restore calm, reduce overwhelm, and build self-trust. This session explores approaches such as breathwork, conscious relaxation, body awareness, movement, and other embodied practices as self-compassion in action.
Navigating Loss: Non-Death and Disenfranchised Grief
A thought-provoking presentation on the often invisible losses that shape our lives, including divorce, estrangement, identity loss, betrayal, and other forms of disenfranchised grief. Based on Heather’s book Navigating Loss, this session offers practical tools for making meaning, caring for yourself, and adapting to life after non-death loss.
Why Event Planners Book Heather
Event planners book Heather because she brings the rare combination of field-leading grief expertise, practical teaching, and real human presence to the stage. She holds a Master’s Degree in Thanatology, is the creator of the Mindfulness and Grief System, and received the 2025 Clinical Practice Award from the Association for Death Education and Counseling for innovation in grief support.
What makes her presentations different is the way she translates complex grief theory into practical, accessible guidance that people can actually use. Heather’s work is grounded in mindfulness, self-compassion, and modern bereavement theory, but it never feels abstract or overly clinical. Audiences leave feeling understood, equipped, and more able to carry what life and work are asking of them.
Just as important, Heather is known for being thoughtful, prepared, and easy to work with. She treats event planners, audience members, and every member of the team with professionalism and respect. She understands that how we show up behind the scenes matters too, and she brings the same integrity to collaboration that she brings to the stage.
Bring Heather's Books To Your Audience
Heather’s books, including Living with Grief, From Grief to Peace, and Navigating Loss, along with her chapters in leading professional resources, can be included as a meaningful extension of your event. Books may be purchased by attendees or arranged in advance at a discounted bulk rate for conferences, trainings, and retreats.
Heather Stang At-a-Glance
Heather Stang’s work is rooted not only in professional training, but in a lifelong relationship with grief. When she was seven, her Uncle Doug died by suicide, a loss that became the first of many experiences, both death and non-death, that shaped her life and work. Years later, after a personal health crisis, yoga opened a new path, helping her reconnect with her body, process grief in a deeper way, and discover the practices that would eventually become the Mindfulness & Grief System. Today, Heather brings that rare blend of lived experience, compassion, and field-leading expertise to every presentation, helping audiences feel seen, supported, and better equipped to live with loss.
- 2025 Clinical Practice Award Recipient
Honored by the Association for Death Education and Counseling for innovation and excellence in grief support - Featured in the Handbook of Grief Therapies
Heather’s 8-Step Mindfulness and Grief System is included in one of the field’s most respected textbooks - Author of Three Books on Grief and Loss
Including Navigating Loss, Living with Grief, and From Grief to Peace, among several textbook chapter contributions - Trusted for Both Bereaved and Professional Audiences
Presenting for healthcare, bereavement, mindfulness, and grief-adjacent communities across the country
Meet With Heather To Discuss Your Next Event
Our consultation call is a simple way to explore whether we are a good fit. We will talk through your audience, goals, event format, timeframe, and presentation needs, as well as availability for your date.
You do not need to arrive with everything fully planned. If you are still shaping the event, I can help you clarify the topic, outcomes, and format that will best serve your audience.
Heather is based in Frederick, Maryland, near the Baltimore-Washington metro area and is available for local, regional, national, and international travel, as well as virtual presentations.
Speaking fees are provided after we discuss the scope of the engagement, including format, location, customization, and any requested materials or book sales.