Janice Roberts, a pioneering clinical psychologist who guided generations of young women through teenage angst into confident adulthood, died on December 21, 2024, at the Kingston Rehabilitation Center. She was 90 years old. The cause of her death was cardiac arrest.

Robert Slattery, the noted Jungian therapist, was a long-time friend. "Jan thought of the people she worked with as clients, not patients." Dr. Slattery said, "She thought 'patients' sounded too medical. Jan was not coercive. She had a warm, deep concern. She saw her role as creating a path; to attempt to smooth the road for people."

While Dr. Roberts worked with individuals, couples, and groups, Elizabeth Noe, her assistant in later years, observed, "Jan thought adolescence was the best time to start. Kids know fairy tales do not come true but they are not yet trapped by an increasingly rigid self- identity- this is the time a person is best able to see what's possible."

Dr. Roberts had an intuitive sense of style that, over time, evolved from a tiny bouffant blond with the genteel look of sorority decorum to a vivacious octogenarian with a short crop of silver hair and black square spectacles big as jewelry boxes. For Dr. Roberts, when a blouse would do, a flowing caftan was better.

As a psychologist, she understood the profound significance of first impressions, and she brought the San Francisco celebrity style consultant, Robert Pante, to Toledo for a workshop. Participants brought three outfits, and Pante critiqued them. Alan Kirshner, a participant, recalled, "Men should choose British or Italian style and be consistent. A pocket square in your suit jacket and the right hat on your head goes a long way. Unfortunately, for women, it's not so simple."

Janice Shirley Henderson was born in Sandusky, Ohio, on April 18, 1934. She was an only child. Her father, George Henderson, was in the Lake Erie boat business, and her mother, Loretta, oversaw the home.

The Hendersons wintered in Sarasota, Florida, where her father taught her everything about alligators. In 1951, at age 17, she graduated from The Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa, Florida. In 1955, she married Charles Baker, a pharmacist in Willoughby, Ohio. Shortly thereafter, she suffered a serious illness that required long-term treatment, and she realized she was not cut out for a 1950s "Father Knows Best" small-town life.

She and Mr. Baker divorced, and she went to work for United Airlines. The travel and freedom were in contrast to the small town of Willoughby, but this was in the days before workplace protections. Women then were called stewardesses; their skirts were short, and management regularly checked their weight. Getting heavier, older, or married meant dismissal. Dr. Roberts understood the cultural objectification of women for what it was, but found the experience professionally helpful in helping women avoid the trap of allowing outside standards to form their self-identification.

When the adventure of travel wore thin, Dr. Roberts returned to school, earning a bachelor's degree in 1964 and a Masters degree in 1968. While continuing her studies, she worked as the Ottawa Hills Elementary School Guidance Counselor. In 1972, she married the psychologist Robert David Roberts, who died in 2013.

In 1975, Dr. Roberts completed her doctorate. Her dissertation, to some extent, anticipated today's contentious disputes concerning children's sexual self-identification: "The long-term effect of education and of the sophisticated culture in which we live seems to encourage males to become more feminine and females to become more masculine. For parents, teachers, and social scientists, the entire area of sex role expectations has become increasingly more important as such behavior patterns become more vague and less differentiated."

After receiving her doctorate, Dr. Roberts opened a private practice and was active until shortly before her death.

"Jan was a master of listening," recalled retired Forum leader Angelo D'Amelio. Communication is speaking and listening. While most people work on speaking, Jan could listen in a way that whoever she was with would start thinking out loud and answer their own questions.

Dr. Roberts's drive to make a difference extended beyond her professional work. She organized seminars in prisons and volunteered in homeless shelters. "There is no better antidote for arrogance," she said, "than washing dishes."

Dr. Roberts was greatly influenced by the Human Potential Movement of the 1960s, which emerged from the belief that extraordinary potential remains untapped in all individuals, and that its development can lead to a life filled with increased happiness, creativity, and fulfillment. She was a regular at the Esalen Institute. "When I checked in at Easaln for a workshop," Ms. Noe recalled, "a staff member saw I was from Toledo and asked, 'Oh, do you know Jan Roberts? " Dr. Roberts was also affiliated with Sudguru and the Issa Institute.

Dr. Roberts was an early participant in the EST training. A lifelong friend, Kathleen Brown, the Atlanta-based management consultant, said, "Jan understood that people see the world through mostly subconscious expectations and saw that that the EST training and its successor, the Landmark Forum, are very effective weekend programs that give people a way to recognize their subconscious biases and with recognition gain a freedom not to be run by them."

After participating in the EST training, Dr. Roberts met Werner Erhart and joined his California staff. Deciding to return to Toledo and resume her professional practice, Dr. Roberts continued to support Landmark. Although Landmark programs are almost always limited to major cities, Dr. Roberts organized programs and seminars in Toledo. Earlier this year, she organized a weekly two-hour phone seminar led by Mr. D'Amelio with participants nationwide.

A remembrance will be held Sunday, January 5, 2025, from 2-4 p.m. at the Robert H. WICK/Wisniewski Funeral Home, 2425 N. Reynolds, Toledo, Ohio, and a celebration of life gathering at one of Dr. Roberts' favorite stops, Mancy's Blue Water Grille, 461 W. Dussel Dr., Maumee Ohio 43537, Sunday, January 12, 2025, at 5 p.m.