Grief Expert · Keynote Speaker · STAY Framework Creator

Grief doesn’t need
a finish line.
It needs a framework.

I am Dr. Heather Taylor, PsyD, a licensed grief therapist, keynote speaker, and creator of the STAY Framework. I built a grief model that actually matches how grief works and I bring it to stages, clinical training rooms, virtual therapy sessions, and podcast mics across the country.

PsyD · Licensed Psychologist APA Featured Speaker EMDR Trained PsyPACT · 40+ States Aetna · First Choice Health
Dr. Heather Taylor, PsyD, grief expert and keynote speaker
As Seen In
Get Griefy Magazine Frame Magazine Canvas Rebel Women Who Podcast PsychTalk Podcast Heroes in Grief Healing Hearts Podcast Life With Grief Podcast Sol Rising Podcast Friends Missing Friends
who I am

I got tired of watching grieving people
apologize for grieving.

The five stages model gave people a map. The problem is, grief does not move in straight lines. As a licensed grief therapist, I spent years in the therapy room watching people decide they were failing at grief because it did not look the way they had been told it would. So I built something better.

The STAY Framework is a research-informed, clinically grounded grief model that honors complexity, names the losses nobody talks about, and gives people permission to stay in the experience rather than rush through it. I bring grief-informed care to keynotes at national conferences, professional training days, grief summits, and community spaces. Featured on the APA 2026 main stage.

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Dr. Heather Taylor
the framework

The STAY Framework

Grief does not need a roadmap. It needs a framework. STAY is an orienting stance, not a checklist, built for the full, complicated, nonlinear reality of what it actually means to carry a loss and keep living. It applies in therapy rooms, boardrooms, and living rooms. And it starts with four deceptively simple ideas.

S
S
Slow Down
Most of us are moving too fast to actually feel our grief. Speed feels productive. Stillness feels dangerous. But grief is patient and it will wait. Slowing down is not falling apart. It is the first act of staying.
T
T
Track the Loss
You are probably grieving more than one thing. Every significant loss carries an entire constellation of smaller losses inside it. Tracking the loss means naming all of it, not just the obvious grief but the invisible losses accumulating quietly underneath. Grief that is named can be held.
A
A
Allow Complexity
You are allowed to feel more than one thing at a time. Grief is almost never a single clean emotion. Allow Complexity means releasing the pressure to edit your experience into something more digestible. Both things are true. They usually are.
Y
Y
Yield to the Moment
Grief does not check your calendar before it surfaces. Yielding to the moment means following what grief is actually asking for right now rather than what you planned. Presence over protocol. Every time.
how we work together

There is a way in for wherever you are

Whether you need a grief keynote speaker for your stage, grief-informed care training for your team, or a virtual grief therapist for yourself, I have built a path for all of it.

Dr. Heather Taylor keynote speaker
Speaking · Training
Keynotes and Professional Training
From grief-informed workplaces to clinical training days and national conferences, I bring the STAY Framework to stages everywhere. Organizations that host my trainings offer continuing education credit through their own credentialing bodies.
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Dr. Heather Taylor grief consultation
Consultation
Grief Consultation
Single-session expert guidance for individuals navigating a loss, for clinicians building their grief literacy, or for organizations thinking through how grief shows up in their culture and teams.
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Dr. Heather Taylor individual therapy
Therapy · Virtual
Individual Therapy
Virtual grief therapy for adults navigating death loss, non-death loss, chronic illness, life transitions, and grief that nobody else is naming. EMDR integrated when clinically appropriate. Accepting Aetna and First Choice Health. Licensed in Washington State, available in 40+ states via PsyPACT.
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tune in

Three podcasts. One thread.

Because grief shows up everywhere: in the grief therapy room, in culture, in the workplace, and in every story we have ever loved. Three podcasts covering grief from every angle.

Grief is the New Normal Podcast with Dr. Heather Taylor
Flagship · All Platforms + YouTube
Grief is the New Normal
"What if grief wasn’t something to overcome, but something to understand?"
Real, unfiltered conversations about what loss costs us and what it teaches us. Guests who have lived it, clinical insight that makes it make sense, and zero toxic positivity. This is where the STAY Framework first came to life in conversation. New episodes weekly.
Listen Now →
How We STAY with Grief Podcast
Substack Exclusive
How We STAY with Grief
"For people ready to go further than a podcast usually goes."
Subscriber-only conversations that go deep inside the STAY Framework. These are the episodes for grievers, clinicians, and coaches doing the real work. More intimate, more clinical, more honest. Exclusively on Substack.
Subscribe on Substack →
Grief Between
the Pages
now live
New · All Platforms
Grief Between the Pages
"The books we love hold more grief than we usually name."
A podcast at the intersection of romantasy, fantasy, and grief. Fiction has always been one of the most powerful containers for loss. This show does the naming. If a book has ever wrecked you and you did not know why, this is for you.
Listen Now →
stay connected

Grief work does not stop when the session ends.

Free community space, a newsletter, monthly webinars, and resources built for people who are actually in it.

Let Grief Take Up Space
Free monthly grief webinar. Open to everyone. Show up as you are, no homework, no performance, just space to be in it.
Bridging the Grief Gap
My LinkedIn newsletter on grief literacy, workplace grief, and the cultural gaps we are all trying to close together.
Grief Journal
The Authentically Unapologetic Grief Journal. A companion for the work that happens between sessions. Available on Amazon.
Shop
Podcast merch and tools for carrying your grief with a little more ease and a lot more intention.
what people say

Real words from real people

★★★★★
"Dr. Taylor does not just teach you about grief. She gives you a language for it. The STAY Framework changed how I understood my own loss and how I show up for my clients."
Grief Clinician · National Practice Conference
★★★★★
"Working with our crisis response team, Dr. Taylor brought both clinical expertise and genuine warmth. Our team walked away with tools they actually use."
King County Crisis Response Team
★★★★★
"I have listened to a lot of grief podcasts. Grief is the New Normal is the only one that made me feel seen rather than fixed. There is a difference, and she knows it."
Podcast Listener
★★★★★
"She has a gift for translating clinical knowledge into something you can actually hold onto. Her session at American University left people asking for more."
American University Faculty

Ready to bring grief literacy to your stage?

Grief keynotes, clinical trainings, grief-informed care workshops, and consultations. Let us build something that moves people.