Ilene Serlin: Fierce Gentleness

Ilene Serlin (1948–2024) was a humanistic psychologist who made diverse contributions to psychology, including trauma, dance/movement therapy, whole person health care, feminist perspectives, and somatic psychology. As she built community and alliances across branches of psychology and international boarders, she consistently brought a humanistic perspective to her work. These contributions advanced humanistic psychology while also allowing her to be an ambassador for this approach. Ilene demonstrated a gentle fierceness in which she advocated for individuals, groups of people, and perspectives sometimes lost in the psychological discourse.