Elizabeth S. Strahan M.A. (1938—2011)

Our Institute lost a precious one of our own on June 23. Elizabeth Strahan was an accomplished analyst, a gifted teacher, an astute observer, and an indefatigable worker on behalf of our Institute and the larger Jungian community. One of our few extraverts, her fusion of southern charm and unvarnished telling-it-like-it-is psychological integrity earned her deep fondness and respect. A Jungian analyst since 1978, she served as President of our Institute from 1987 to 1989, Representative on the Executive Board of the International Association of Analytical Psychologists, Associate Editor of Psychological Perspectives, and Chair of the Certifying Board, Review Committee, and numerous other committees. She was a prime mover for the North/South Conference, the Personnel and Development Committees, and the Women Analysts’ Meeting. She has been published in both Psychological Perspectives and the San Francisco Jung Journal, and her essay Beyond Blood: Women of That Certain Age was included in the book To Be a Woman: the Birth of the Conscious Feminine. Liz offered innumerable lectures sharing a wisdom forged from years of devoted engagement with the psyche, including a 1999 talk On Facing Reality that focused on the role of imagination in creating reality and deepening connections through "compassion for life-as-it is." The video series she hosted, The Language of Dreams, offered the lay audience a rich and evocative introduction to the synthetic approach to psyche’s symbolic communications.

It is hard to imagine an Institute devoid of Liz’s fine mind, clinical maturity, infectious warmth and relatedness, refreshing candor, roll-up-the-sleeves pragmatism, and ethical acknowledgment of her own shadow. Her laughter alone could light up a room. She lived her wholeness fully and well, and she will be deeply missed.

-- Sharon Heath