Staying With Grief: The STAY Framework as an Orienting Stance for Grief-Informed Psychotherapy

Abstract Grief frequently presents across clinical settings, often unlabeled and embedded within concerns such as anxiety, burnout, depression, or stalled progress in treatment. Many health service psychologists receive limited training in recognizing and responding to grief outside bereavement-focused care. This article introduces the STAY framework (Slow Down, Track the Loss, Allow Complexity, Yield to the Moment) as an orienting stance for grief-informed psychotherapy that complements existing evidence-based treatments. Through composite vignettes, the article reviews contemporary grief theory, clinical and ethical challenges related to access and equity, and practical guidance for assessment, differentiation of prolonged grief disorder, and application across clinical, workplace, and family settings.