William G. Hoy, DMin, FT
Dr. William G. Hoy is a nationally-known and respected counselor and educator in the areas of bereavement, grief and end of life. Dr. Hoy has counseled with people in grief for more than 25 years, and annually trains thousands of caregivers in the most effective, practical and contemporary counseling strategies to use with those facing loss.
Since 1996, Bill has directed the counseling program for Pathways Volunteer Hospice, annually providing bereavement counseling services to more than 500 adults, children and teens who are working through both expected and unexpected deaths. His career in higher education began in 1994 at Cypress College where he taught death studies, bioethics, and counseling on the health science faculty for ten years. Today, he teaches in the graduate program in bereavement at Marian University and in the Medical Humanities program at Baylor University. He holds the Fellow in Thanatology (FT), an advanced practice credential in death, dying and bereavement and is active in leadership of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), chairing the networking group on school crisis intervention. His books include Guiding People Through Grief (2007) and Road to Emmaus (2008) and he edits the monthly e-mail newsletter, GriefPerspectives, read monthly by more than 4,600 caregiving professionals.
For most of his career, Dr. Hoy's scholarly interest has been in the historical and socio-cultural aspects of death-related rituals. His most recent research qualitatively investigated the spiritual and meaning-making content of family and friend postings to internet memorial webcasts after unexpected deaths to young adults.
