Lorraine Hedtke, MSW, ACSW, Ph.D.
The Fabula Center
Redlands, California
Web: www.rememberingpractices.com
Lorraine Hedtke MSW, ACSW, Ph.D. is the proprietor of The Fabula Center, a counseling and training center in Redlands, California. She is a veteran narrative therapist who has turned the world of modern-day grief psychology completely upside down. She specializes in working within a post-structural, narrative therapy frame with people who are dying as well as with families after a loved one has died.
Her academic history includes a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies and sociology from an innovative liberal arts program focusing on rigorous academic training and narrative evaluations at Johnston College, now, Johnston Center for Integrative Studies at the University of Redlands. She received her MSW from Arizona State University and worked as a medical social worker early in her career and quickly came to work with people who were dying in hospices and their bereaved family members. Her PhD was granted in 2010 from Tilburg University, in The Netherlands and her dissertation studied narrative grief psychology, specifically looking at new approaches to bereavement practices in group settings.
Dr. Hedtke’s publications have appeared in numerous professional journals and magazines and she is the author of several books about grief. Her children’s book, My Grandmother is Always with Me, (2nd Ed), is written with her child, Everette Davidove. Her book, Breathing Life into The Stories of the Dead: Constructing Bereavement Support Groups, outlines an innovative and practical model for practice. The first edition of this text was published by the Taos Institute, and the 2nd edition will be published Fall 2026 by Routledge. All resources and most up to date links to her books and articles can be found on her website: www.rememberingpractices.com
Her most recent book addressing grief, Love in the Face of Grief (North Atlantic Books), is written for all of us who have experienced the death of someone we love. She, along with John Winslade, co-authored two books on the topic: Remembering Lives: Conversations with The Dying and The Bereaved, and The Crafting of Grief: Constructing Aesthetic Responses to Loss. She regularly consults and presents around the world on how to create life and love affirming conversations with people who are dying and people who are living with grief. Her TEDx talk, Defining the future of grief psychology with love, can be viewed through the TED website or the www.rememberingpractices.com website.
