Alexandra Elizabeth Morris 9/17/85 to 11/8/2020 Zan Morris, 35, passed away on November 8, 2020, after battling a debilitating neurological disease for the past 21 years. Zan grew up in Fairfax and San Anselmo and lived in Forest Knolls until recently. Zan attended San Domenico School from Kindergarten to Grade 8. She became an accomplished tap dancer and singer during this time and performed in numerous shows in the greater Marin region. She graduated from San Domenico in 1999 with several accolades and academic awards, including the Spirit Award, a distinction received each year by a student for her positive energy. Zan attended Marin Academy (MA) for high school, where she continued her love for singing and became an avid photographer. She excelled in athletics, holding the women’s school record for 880 and mile races at the time. Zan has participated in and led a number of community power based diversity student groups. Zan graduated with a master’s degree in 2003 and is remembered by former students as a thoughtful, charismatic and caring young woman. Zan started attending UCLA in 2004 and was inducted into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She was struck by her first bout of serious illness at the end of her first year and had to withdraw from school for an extended period. Eventually, her health recovered enough to return to UCLA, where she graduated Cum Laude in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Development Studies and a minor in Latin American Studies. After college, Zan continued to struggle with her health, but her health journey led her to develop an interest in various healing arts. She became a certified hypnotherapist and EFT therapist and started taking patients. She also began to take an interest in art therapy, which led her to become a volunteer at the Schurig Center for Brain Injury Recovery. She joyfully served there, helping many patients on their journey to recovery. Zan has expanded his art therapy work outside of the United States, volunteering twice at an orphanage in Haiti and doing other volunteer projects in Fiji and Belize. During this time, Zan continued his love of music, taking singing lessons and contributing vocals to works by local musicians. She became a ukulele player and created original works as a singer-songwriter. As her interest in art therapy grew, she also became an artist with a passion for drawing, painting, and glasswork. In 2015, Zan entered the California Institute of Integrated Studies in San Francisco to earn a degree that would allow him to better help others. In 2018, she obtained a Master of Science in Art Therapy from this institution. Since 2018, Zan was deeply committed as an internal therapist and completed the thousands of hours of counseling necessary for his marriage and family therapist license in California. She has worked both at Hospice by the Bay in Marin and at the Contra Costa Regional Medical Center. During these years, Zan has provided mental health services to brain injury and stroke survivors, people with chronic and terminal illnesses, dementia / Alzheimer’s patients, adults and children. with epilepsy, people recovering from drug addiction, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated persons, adolescents and adolescents in psychiatric care. care, bereaved families and children, and low income families in Marin County. At the same time, Zan started her own service called Healing Light Coaching, in which she used hypnotherapy, meridian tapping, and creative visualization to help clients with various illnesses. Although she is constantly struggling with her own health, Zan is committed to helping others. She had a wonderful ability to see and treat each individual she met or worked with as a unique and complete human being. She had great comfort and empathy with people, no matter their disability, illness or affliction – she could go beyond that and see the soul and essence of the person she was helping. Zan was a shining light to everyone who knew her, everyone she helped and to her loving family. She burned very brightly, and although her life was cut short, Zan brought many lives of kindness to the world. She will be sadly missed by all. Zan is survived by his parents, Jim and Gail Morris, and his sister, Katie Morris. She is survived by her grandparents Neal and Marcella Morris, uncles, aunts, cousins and countless close friends. Nothing can lessen the tragedy of losing Zan, but everyone who knew her was touched by her kindness and she will live on in our hearts and minds. Due to COVID, there is only a small family funeral going on right now, but a memorial and celebration will be planned in the coming months. For those who wish, please donate on his behalf to the Schurig Center for Brain Injury Recovery.
Published by Marin Independent Journal from November 20 to 22, 2020.
