Obituary

Sheila Powell

24th March 1934-8 th August 2002

We are much saddened by the death of Sheila Powell, professional member of the Society of Analytical Psychology and former chair of the Society (1992-95). Her funeral took place on the 16 th August.

Sheila was born in 1934, so she was only 68 when she died. After separating from her husband she became a single parent to three young sons. At the same time she began to move from child welfare work towards developing her analytic career when she went to the London School of Economics to take a postgraduate course in social work. She was an active participant in the Westminster Pastoral Foundation training of psychotherapists, eventually becoming head of the department for individual counselling.

After she qualified as an analyst with the Society of Analytical Psychology, she became an active member of the Society, giving seminars, supervision and eventually becoming a training analyst. She was also a training analyst for the British Association of Psychotherapists. She wrote a number of papers including ‘The bridge to understanding: the transcendent function in the analyst’. She was instrumental in setting up a group to look at the organisation of the SAP and their discussions resulted in the current committee structure of the Society. She was very committed to the SAP and to the deepening of its analytic roots in Jungian psychology. In 1978 a group called the Saplings was formed; the purpose was to bring together different Jungian disciplines.

Sheila also had a great love for music and had been an able pianist in her time. In her retirement she pursued another lifelong interest by taking up painting. Unfortunately, shortly after her tenure as chair, she was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. Sheila tried to continue with her work, but eventually she had to retire. She had to struggle with a degenerative illness which increasingly limited the quality of her life. She died in her sleep of a heart attack.

October 2002