Considerations and Guidelines for Working with Jewish Patients

Why should you care if your Jewish patient with an eating disorder wants to celebrate Yom Kippur? Or what about your patient struggling with sobriety wanting to celebrate Purim?

There’s a lot that mental health professionals -and the general public, for that matter- don’t know about Judaism and about Jews. Jews are a significant minority, comprising about 2.4% of the U.S. population and a mere 0.2% of the global population). Despite this, Jews are often excluded from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movements, resulting in a significant gap in knowledge in treating this population. Together, we’ll learn the basics of Judaism as it may pertain to your clinical work, review case examples to understand how these mechanisms may play out, and identify ways to become better allies to our Jewish patients.

  • The quality of Dr. Levanda's training is nothing short of incredible. She goes in depth in order to have participants understand their Jewish patients on a deeper level. The safe space she fosters truly speaks to her "no dumb questions" philosophy to encourage folks to ensure their understanding of the material.

    A., Postdoctoral Resident

  • There was so much I didn't know, that I didn't even know that I didn't know! I had never received any kind of training on Jewish patients, even though I like to think of myself as a clinician committed to my own DEI journey. I couldn't believe that after nearly 20 years in the field, this was the first time I was able to have this kind of training, and I'm so glad to have learned from Dr. Levanda. I hope that someday this training is more widely available.

    J., Therapist