The JTC Leadership Team
These passionate clinicians and leaders are the folks who keep our community thriving and our efforts moving forward. Take a read. If you’d like to get involved as a clinician, graduate student, or supportive non-therapy professional, we’d love you to reach out!
Our board steers various advocacy efforts, co-creates forward vison of our organization, builds networks within both the Jewish and Mental Health communities, and provides an opportunity to be of service for therapists from grad school through decades into their professional careers. We’re currently seeking a secretary, treasurer and a service-minded attorney who can help us move toward non-profit status as we continue to grow. We are also always welcoming new volunteers, so if you’re service minded and would love the support of a great peer community, drop us a line.
Halina is a clinician, educator and advocate on a mission to support misfits, oddballs, sensitives… and anyone with big passions and under-represented perspectives. When not supporting clients and colleagues in living their best lives, she can be found traveling, advancing important causes, and indulging her curiosity in the world around her. Learn more about her clinical work at RecourseCounseling.com and on her practice’s Facebook page. Feel free to connect on Linkedin too!
Daniela is a certified sexologist and LMSW in private practice. She's a doctoral student at Wurzweiler School of Social Work at Yeshiva University where her dissertation will be focused on the Jewish community. She passionately educates fellow clinicians about Jewish interests and antisemitism. Dani is a Rebbetzin in Long Island, where she lives with her husband and 4 children. Learn more about her clinical work at TheJewishSexologist.com.
Michelle’s counseling focuses on repairing attachment and healing from trauma. Her background in special education and expertise in executive functioning helps in treating individuals with anxiety, depression, emotional regulation difficulties and attention issues. Michelle enjoys partnering with parents as they develop new tools to diminish power struggles and establish healthy boundaries within the family system. Learn more about her strenth-based work at Therapy-etc.com.
These seasoned clinicians volunteer their time to document and educate about significant Jewish-heritage psychotherapists and researchers in the field, taking care to bring forth a diverse cross-section of leaders in various modalities, from various decades, and with various layers of identity. They currently support our “Therapist Thursday” project within our private Facebook community and their work is being archived for anticipated use in continuing education and additional media going forward.
Since her first position in her early twenties, teaching special education at a residential psychiatric facility over 40 years ago, Dr. Birnbaum has been a tireless champion for the dignity and support of those living with learning disabilities, mental health conditions, and other diverse contexts. With backgrounds in cognitive and counseling psychologies she is passionate about supporting therapists and educators through consultation and supervision (AZBBHE-Approved supervisor).
Laura is a Decolonial Intersectional Feminist therapy and forensic psychology theorist, author, teacher and consultant for more than 4 decades. She offers consultation and training to therapists, locally and internationally (through Zoom) wishing to deepen their practice with persons with histories of complex trauma and dissociative coping strategies, working through a decolonial intersectional feminist lens.
This is our team of moderators for the ever-growing Facebook community we host. A diverse group of passionate clinicians, they tirelessly work to advance safety, compassion, brave dialogues, and community members’ needs and desires within our social community.
Amy received her BS in Psychology (Concentration in Child Psychology) and master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy. Having begun her career in mental health in 2008 within the Autism community, she has been an ARMHS/CTSS worker and eventually moved into therapy. She loves to assist clients in finding their best possible outcomes and enjoys consulting and collaborating with colleagues. Helping others through therapy is her passion.
David has been working in community mental health since 2005, with a particular interest in training and supervising peer/paraprofessional counselors. After he and his wife had their first child in 2021, he is working in a group private practice entirely through telehealth to focus on being a father.
Shannon currently serves the students at California State University – Chico. With a BA in Art History and a master’s in Counseling Psychology, Shannon is passionate about identity development and quarter-life crisis navigation, substance use disorders and mental health, and providing a neurodiversity-affirming space for mental health management to the students she supports. When not at work, she can be found knitting, enjoying her houseplants and crafting creatively.
Amanda draws from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Art Therapy and Neurofeedback as she supports clients. A former teacher and has worked with children for over twenty years, she applies a strength-based holistic approach that aims to promote positive mental health, healing, and long-term personal growth in each of her clients.
Dr. Tamar Graff lives in in the Bay Area. With a BA in History, a Master’s in Middle Eastern Studies, and a PsyD, she practices as a psychodynamic and relationally grounded therapist. Having worked in private, public and art schools as well as inpatient and private practice settings, she specializes in issues related to immigration, identity, transitions, and Multiple Sclerosis.