Experts & Educators
We are a hub for the country’s most distinguished hospice and grief experts, researchers, and professionals. HFA experts help to inform and educate on a wide range of timely and relevant topics essential to best practice.
Our HFA educators are well known and widely recognized as experts in their fields.
They’re researchers with decades of knowledge backed by evidenced-based studies.
They’re professionals who have honed their skills with years of patient and family care.
HFA has been privileged to include many notable experts in its professional education offerings over the past 30 years, including the late Earl. A Grollman; Nancy Hogan, RN, PhD; Karla Holloway, PhD; the late William M. Lamers, MD; the late Richard E. Payne, MD.
Below is a complete listing of our presenters and authors from 2020 onward. We are grateful for their willingness to share their expertise to advance hospice and bereavement care through HFA.
HFA’s 2025 Living with Grief® program highlights interventive, creative, and adjunct evidence-based strategies used to assist dying patients and their intimate networks find meaning, value, and comfort. End-of-life care providers from across the country will share insights into programs such as pet therapy, art and music therapy, and the use of virtual reality, which improve the dying experience, offering patients and their networks enhanced quality care, an improved perception of care, and the amelioration of grief. Hospice providers, in turn, may benefit from satisfied clients, recognition in their communities, and enhanced staff morale.
Click here to watch a sneak peek!
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Judith Stillion is professor emerita of psychology and currently serves as a consultant on a variety of subjects including end-of-life issues, meaningful aging, positive psychology applied to grieving and dying, and facilitation of grief groups. Stillion’s varied career includes teaching and counseling in the public schools and at the university level. She also served as…
Elisa Stone is a Grief Specialist at YoloCares Hospice & Palliative Care. She has decades of experience supporting and educating those facing life-limiting situations. Elisa is accomplished in developing and managing social programs and services, she focuses on the emotional life of individuals and families across the age spectrum. She has extensive experience supporting and guiding…
Margaret Stroebe is Professor Emeritus at both the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, and the Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. She has specialized in the field of bereavement research for many years. With Henk Schut she developed the Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement….
Carla Stumpf Patton is the senior director of Suicide Postvention Programs at the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). As a subject matter expert in grief, trauma, and suicide, she helped develop the TAPS Suicide Postvention Model™, providing outreach and care to bereaved survivors. She is trained in Crisis Response Planning, certified as an Applied…
Kathie Supiano is a Professor in the College of Nursing, and the director of Caring Connections: A Hope and Comfort in Grief Program at the University of Utah College of Nursing. She has been a practicing clinical social worker and psychotherapist for over 40 years. Her clinical practice has included care of older adults with…
Judy Tatelbaum is a psychotherapist, public speaker, and author.
Kathleen Taylor has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare and nonprofit sectors. Her passion is centered in improving the healthcare experience for people who are sick and vulnerable, and helping healthcare professionals master skills in cultivating empathy and communicating compassionately. She operates a healthcare consulting practice focused on advance care planning, palliative care program…
Richard Tedeschi received his BA in Psychology from Syracuse University, his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Ohio University, and completed his Clinical Psychology Internship at The University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Dr. Tedeschi is Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he teaches personality and psychotherapy, and serves as Graduate…
Nancy E. Thacker Darrow earned her PhD in Counselor Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is currently an assistant professor of counselor education and supervision at the University of Vermont (UVM). She commonly teaches lifespan development, helping skills, and applied clinical counseling courses. She also coordinates the PhD program in Counselor Education and…
Kara Thieleman is an assistant teaching professor with the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University. She has served as a grief counselor and hospice social worker, as well as a group facilitator, program developer, and supervisor for coaches on the Resilient Parenting for Bereaved Families program with the REACH Institute at…
Carrie Traher works as a counselor, educator, and researcher. She has authored articles on issues related to the experiences of adolescent girls, attachment and loss, bereaved university students, and has edited volumes regarding bereaved children and adolescents. Additional research interests include medical assistance in dying (MAiD) and the use of photo narrative and arts based…
Susan Turner is the Vice President of Community Programs & Services for Accord Hospice & Palliative Care overseeing outreach, events, and building relations at their three locations in Arizona and Kansas. She has spent most of her career working in the non-profit world in a leadership role and the last 13 years with hospice focusing…
Whether you’re a patient, family member, or a friend trying to determine whether hospice is the right choice, HFA is here. We provide guidance before, during, and after the important decisions are made.
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