PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
Designed for healthcare institutions, universities, early intervention systems, professional organizations, and interdisciplinary teams working with families of children with disabilities and medical complexities.
Because the work is only as strong as the relationships that hold it.
Where it begins
Narrative humility.
The core of everything.
Dr. Keating’s passion and expertise are rooted in narrative humility — the practice of approaching another person’s story not with the goal of mastering it, but with genuine openness, self-reflection, and curiosity. This is where her work began. It is what her lived experience as a mother demanded of her. And it is what she has spent years building into educational experiences that change how professionals show up for the families they serve.
“Narrative humility acknowledges that our patients’ stories are not objects that we can comprehend or master, but rather dynamic narratives that we must approach with openness and a willingness to be changed by what we hear.”
— Dr. Sayantani DasGupta · Columbia University
The families of children with disabilities and medical complexities have been trying to be heard for years. The research makes clear what is at stake when they are not.
median prevalence of depression among caregivers of children with disabilities
Soh et al., 2025
anxiety prevalence in this caregiver population
Soh et al., 2025
caregiver burden — approaching half of all families
Soh et al., 2025
Families disengage from services not because they don’t want support — but because they have learned, through experience, not to expect to be truly heard. Narrative humility is the practice that changes that. When professionals develop the capacity to approach each family’s story with genuine openness, families feel heard, trust deepens, engagement improves, and outcomes follow.
“A systematic review of 55 narrative medicine programs documented significant improvements in communication, perspective-taking, empathic behavior, and burnout mitigation.”
Remein et al., 2020 · BMJ Open
About Moira Keating, PhD
Her work serves two audiences
bound by a common goal
Dr. Keating is a Columbia University-trained narrative medicine practitioner, PhD, published author of creative nonfiction, and educator with extensive experience teaching writing, literature, and the humanities in higher education — including fifteen years teaching graduate and undergraduate students in the health sciences. She holds a Certificate of Professional Achievement in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University’s Program in Narrative Medicine, founded by Dr. Rita Charon.
Her work serves two audiences bound by a common goal — the providers who work with families of children with disabilities, and the parents living that experience every day. She develops and delivers evidence-based continuing education workshops for professionals — social workers, educators, therapists, behavior analysts, and clinicians — helping them build the narrative humility and attentive listening skills that transform professional-family relationships. And through In the Absence of Lullabies, she offers narrative medicine workshops directly to the parents and caregivers living those experiences, because the families those professionals serve deserve a place to be heard.
That mission was born from her own life. Her son Declan was later diagnosed with PTEN Hamartoma Tumor Syndrome, a rare genetic condition. The years they spent navigating early intervention, the diagnostic odyssey, and the long terrain of medical complexity gave her something no credential could — an understanding of what families are actually carrying when they walk into a professional’s office, and what it means to them when that professional truly listens.
For too long, parents and caregivers of children with medical complexities and disabilities have been judged, silenced, and overlooked — reduced to a diagnosis rather than seen as whole persons with a name, a voice, and a story worthy of being told and honored. Dr. Keating’s intention is to change that from both directions: by equipping the professionals in the room to listen differently, and by giving parents the space to rediscover and reclaim the parts of themselves they thought were lost.
Dr. Keating’s authority comes from standing in all three spaces at once. That combination is rare.
Mother of a child with medical complexities. Twenty years navigating diagnosis and every system her workshop participants represent.
Fifteen years teaching graduate and undergraduate students in occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing, social work, and allied health.
Certificate of Professional Achievement in Narrative Medicine, Columbia University’s Program in Narrative Medicine, founded by Dr. Rita Charon.
Who this serves
Built for the institutions
doing this work
Dr. Keating works with the professionals whose work intersects with children with disabilities and medical complexity — and the families holding everything together around them.
- Hospitals & health systems
- Universities & academic medical programs
- Early intervention systems
- Professional organizations & CE departments
- Interdisciplinary training programs
- Pediatric care teams
- Social work & nursing programs
- OT, PT & allied health programs
Areas of focus
The territory
we work in together
Program formats
Designed to fit
how your team works
Available in multiple formats, delivered via Zoom or in person, with documented learning objectives and CE evaluation reports provided upon request.
Grand rounds & in-service
A focused session for department-wide professional development or staff in-service days.
Deep practice
Extended format for pre-conference, retreat, or team training. Up to 12 participants.
CE program
A structured arc with progressive learning objectives and a full CE evaluation report.
Academic module
Embedded into medical, nursing, social work, OT, or education programs.
Let’s connect
Not a menu.
A conversation.
Every engagement begins with a conversation — not a proposal, not a pitch. Dr. Keating wants to hear what your institution is working through, what your team is carrying, and what would most serve the families you reach. From there, everything is built together.
If you are interested in exploring her work, discussing a training, scheduling a session, or simply learning more about her approach — she would be honored to connect.
“No parent should have to find their way back to themselves alone.”
“And no professional should have to guess at what the family across from them is living.”
— Moira Keating, PhD · Founder, In the Absence of Lullabies