Pastoral Care and Counseling from the Jewish Tradition
I am here to walk with you as you journey through life's peaks and valleys. With compassionate listening, non-judgmental understanding, and the wisdom of the Jewish tradition, I will take steps with you, at your pace surveying the circumstances around us until you find yourself on steady footing again.
Are you or someone you love trying to take the next step? Are you or someone you love ready to make a change but feel stuck? My style blends pastoral counseling, spiritual and emotional resources, creative reflection techniques, and intention setting to help you move forward in your life. I offer this to any soul with questions, from children wrestling with preadolescence to elder sages yearning to walk with grace and dignity.
This includes working with young people to help them overcome their fears and anxieties. While not a therapist, I employ various restorative techniques to help anyone from preadolescence to teenagers find solid footing and confidence.
Where Can We Go For A Walk?
I love going for walks in many different locations and environment. Some are hiking trails, others are local parks and neighborhoods. Take a look at some of my favorite places to walk:
Types of Guidance
Team Building ⌄
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I have worked in many different environments and with lots of different people. The one thing that makes everything work healthier is a sense of trust and teamwork. I would love to spend some time with your team. Give me a chance to listen to your concerns and walk you through some exercises that help groups to communicate better, bond with each other, and establish a working pattern that will impact your office positively.
My experience has included everything from training, management, and spiritual care for a team of eleven staff and volunteers; to leadership development, collaboration with partner organizations, and professional communication. I have direct experience and training with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, professional coaching, design thinking, the Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Lencioni) as well as Tuckman's stages of group development.
My greatest asset as a trainer is that I also see myself as a perpetual student. I have gotten comfortable with learning from my mistakes. While I strive for excellence with every project I take on, I know that patience and failure are part of the necessary process for learning and growth. I take that same philosophy into every classroom and conversation I have with anyone willing to learn.
Design Thinking ⌄
Need to think outside of the box? Do you have a team of leaders who feel stuck, or need some brainstorming? I am trained in design thinking and strategy. I am happy to lead your team through an exploration into a question/problem/concern they face. In our time together we will throw-out the drawing board and approach our solutions from a different angle. Much like the benefits of turning over soil, this class is all about looking closely at the opportunities that lie beneath the surface. We will take a look at perceived areas of scarcity and articulate the seeds of abundance. Our goal is to conclude with some practical takeaways to address your questions/problems/concerns.
Men's Groups and Retreats ⌄
I am passionate about men’s issues and guiding people towards mature masculinity. I focus on creating space for anyone who identifies as male, young and old alike, to reflect and grow into their masculinity with wisdom, compassion, and strength. Some ideas for men's gatherings and groups include: Expecting fathers and preparing for parenthood; Young men in age groups of 12-13, 14-18, 19-45, looking for guidance about what it means to be "a man" today; as well as learning from and respecting the #metoo movement.
Family Workshops, Coaching, and Marriage and Family Counseling ⌄
- What to do some family bonding based on spiritual values? I would love to work with you to co-create an experience your whole family could enjoy. Whether it is designing a Shabbat celebration in your home, honoring the wisdom of elders, or articulating the values that are most important to you as a family, I am excited to help you create spiritual direction for those more relevant to you.
- Workshops in Growing as a Multi-Faith/Mixed Heritage Couple
- Are you part of interfaith or interracial/ethnic marriage and want tools and support for living with different faiths? Are you in an interfaith relationship and trying to determine whether marriage will work? Do you have questions about how to raise your children? Deal with extended family? Celebrate both multiple holidays and traditions?
I work with couples and families of multiple faiths and background, and I would be honored to work with yours. Every family and relationship is made up of complex details and histories. I have worked with and enjoy working fellow clergy from other faiths to help foster loving, compassionate and supportive connections within all types of families. These are the family dynamics I’ve worked with: Married, single-parents, divorced and co-parenting, step-parents, legal guardians, parenting without a formal marriage, LGBTQ, inter-racial/ethnic, no-faith, cultural instead of spiritual or religious, multi-faith, and inter-faith. I welcome your story no matter your circumstance.
- Our Family, Our Faiths / 2 Faiths, 1 Family
- ("Interfaith," "Mixed-Faith," "Dual-Faith")
- Guided discussions for "varied-faith" couples/families. A 5-part series stretching out over 2.5 months, taking place in the home of the couples participating. Max 6 couples per session. (Can be broken into fewer sessions if necessary)
- Here are some testimonials about the “Our Family, Our Faiths” workshop.
- “It was really great to meet other interracial couples from the temple in a casual intimate setting. I didn't realize how it could be a great peer support group for the non-Jewish partner and the Jewish partner in different ways.”
- “Meeting new people who have had such similar experiences as interfaith couples.”
- “The easy casual atmosphere just talking. Very informal and easy to open up.”
- Parental Coaching
- Being a parent is not easy, and there are times where it feels joyless. However, I can guarantee, with the right frame of mind, parenting can also be one of the most meaningful things you will ever do. That doesn't mean your perfect at it or have to be. Far from it! However, sometimes you might need someone to talk to about it and to consider new pathways for parenting. Over my life as a parent, I have a myriad of different approaches and techniques. We can sit and process your family experiences, or we can brainstorm new practices.
- I believe in free-range kids and being a free-range parent. That means that while I appreciate and demand safety, I also step back, and remain back for some time, from my children and I let them explore and learn. I do this in my home as well as away from it. Moreover, I don't believe that when our children leave our house that they need 24/7 protection. The world may not be a perfect place, but it is also not as violent or as scary as we've come to believe. It is amazing how our children blossom when we give them the proper space to do so.
Relationship, Pre-Marital, Marriage and Divorce Counseling and Coaching
- Relationships can be complicated and sometimes require navigation. For as secure as relationships make us feel, they need nourishment to thrive. Whether you are looking for tools to strengthen your relationship, improve communication with your partner(s), find joy with loved ones, or embrace an inevitable divorce I provide space and compassion to process these moments in your relationships. Please Contact me for private pre-marital counseling and workshops for interfaith couples.
Testimonials
