EP148: Navigating the Aftermath of Homicide & Suicide with Dr. Canty

A native Detroiter, Jan Canty, Ph.D. is a psychologist, writer, photographer, educator, consultant and cancer survivor. She holds a terminal degree in psychology as well as a post-doctoral fellowship from Wayne State University School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine. Then life happened. And grew dark. It was July of 1985.

Her spouse of 11 years went missing and was found murdered 250 miles away. The media exposure was immediate and relentless. Reporters tailed her to the medical examiner building, disrupted the funeral and published a map to her house on the front page of the news. After the trial and convictions in December she quietly moved deep into the Midwest and began her 30-year redacted life.

Dr. Canty taught psychology at a small, rural college away from tourists, airports, memories and intrusive questions. She later adopted two special needs sisters and remarried a Lt. Colonel Airborne Ranger. She worked as a forensic psychologist in a large state mental hospital and taught graduate school in the evening. Her chosen specialty was cross-cultural psychology which lent itself to photography and international travel to remote villages on five continents.

Dr. Canty was awarded Faculty of the Year her second year of teaching and received awards for her photography. While preparing for her fifth triathlon she fell climbing a muddy hill and broke her arm. A day later she had a cancer diagnosis, a titanium rod in her arm and began the year long process of undergoing a stem cell transplant.

Life circumstances delivered her to be uniquely qualified to address surviving murder both from a professional and personal viewpoint. This is the underpinning to her true crime memoir, A Life Divided. She then launched a podcast for other so-called homicide survivors entitled “Domino Effect of Murder” in 2020. It is now heard in 22 countries. She administers a private Facebook group for people struggling with grief after homicide (called Homicide Survivors and Thrivers). And in May of 2023 she published her second book. This publication is a 455-page reference book, entitled “What Now? Navigating the Aftermath of Homicide and Suicide” for both homicide and suicide survivors.

Dr. Canty presently lives and works (as a consultant) for the federal government and spends free time with family and friends, two Saint Bernards, her photography, public speaking and gardening. Her favorite quote is from Helen Keller: Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.

Website: www.jancantyphd.com

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