Val Richards obituary
My wife, Val Richards, who has died aged 84, was a scholar, teacher and analytical psychotherapist.
Val was born in Whetstone, north London, to Charles Feldman, an accountant, and his wife, Ivy (nee Blaker), a teacher, and attended Woodhouse school in North Finchley. Her youth, which she spent in London, was marred by the second world war; from her early years Val was a campaigner for peace, and she later became a prominent member of CND.
We met in 1957 when she came to the school in Hendon where I had my first teaching job, as a slightly reluctant trainee for the teaching profession. Her “observation” of my fledgling efforts led to marriage and a tiny flat in Earl’s Court, which meant long journeys to the schools where we taught at in north London.
The births of our three children, Steve, Paul and Anna, followed soon afterwards – and although the first phase of her professional life ended, Val turned her attention instead to political campaigning, and became a lay member of a group of worker priests active in east London. She would take a carrycot on the tube with her to attend
Saturday night discussion.
An MA in drama at the Polytechnic of Central London opened the doors to teaching and lecturing in higher education, but her interest in psychoanalysis grew stronger and she began a lengthy analysis based on Jungian principles, while training with the Institute of Psychotherapy and Social Studies and the Guild of Psychotherapists. While developing a successful practice, she became actively involved with current thinking in the field, and wrote a book, The Who You Dream Yourself: Playing and Interpretation in Psychotherapy and Theatre, which is still in print.
Four years ago she was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery and radiotherapy with some success. Recently metastatic cancer was confirmed and she received care from the North London hospice outreach team.
Val’s was a long, fulfilling life with intense and loving attention to her family and many friends and colleagues.
She is survived by me, by Steve, Paul and Anna, and by four grandchildren and one great-grandson.