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 Leadership Team is the heart of the JTC, providing the logistical support that give all our virtual and in-person events liftoff and success. These incredible individuals are responsible for curating a rich experience for our sustaining members and making our many virtual and in-person events accessible for the greater JTC community and beyond! They are also deeply invested in Jewish Joy, fostering resilience, and repairing our corner of the world for a better future for Jewish psychotherapists and the clients we serve.
We currently have an opening for a student intern or post-graduate fellow. If you’re a passionate, Jewish, service-oriented student or professional looking to both give back and gain valuable mentorship along the way, apply here!
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.
Born in raised in the vibrant Jewish Community of Los Angeles, Southern California Sarah lived for 3 years in Jerusalem, and is passionate about Jewish identity, values, inclusivity, and emotional wellbeing. Our resident expert in business development and organizational management, she’s excited to bring her skills and experience to the JTC community.
Miriam got a BA in Psychology from UCLA and interned at a Cedars-Sinai psychology research lab before joining JTC as an Administrative Assistant. She volunteers with JQ International, an organization promoting community and resources for queer Jews around the world. Her hobbies include playing soccer, reading, and hiking around Los Angeles.
Noga, a LCSW specializing in providing trauma-focused therapy, also teaches graduate level courses in Social Work at the Brown School at Washing University in St. Louis. She is passionate about creating inclusive spaces and bridging the gap across communities through dialogue. Noga's feelowship project involves supporting college students' families as they navigate anti-semitism on campus.
While the JTC has grown tremendously in its community learning opportunities, in-person gatherings, and other projects, it is still centrally an advocacy organization. Building upon our successes from the individual level at universities and practices to the national and international levels with licensure examinations and media campaigns, we currently bring a blend of poignant, open letters and warm, confidential outreach to help usher positive change into the psychotherapy space.
Jen is a family therapist in ON, Canada and Washington, DC. She is also a writer, editor and community builder. Jen is founder/director of DCTherapistConnect, a group for mental health clinicians in the DC metro area. She is committed to advocating for Jewish therapists and their clients all over the world. Learn more about her practice at JenniferKogan.com.
Andrea is a psychotherapist in the DC Metro Area. Her commitment to advocacy was ignited after October 7th when she observed increasingly harmful and disheartening narratives reducing Jews to simplistic tropes within the field. She is dedicated to educating and challenging misconceptions and biases to promote a more nuanced, compassionate perspective. Learn more about her practice at AndreaYudell.com.
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.
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 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.
We are always welcoming new volunteers! We currently have an opening for a student intern or post-graduate fellow. If you’re a passionate, Jewish, service-oriented student or professional looking to both give back and gain valuable mentorship along the way, apply here!