In the last few years, Jewish mental health professionals have experienced an alarming increase in antisemitic language and actions from clients and colleagues, at professional conferences and within professional associations.
Social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists and others in the mental health industry are grappling with how to best respond to these situations — or whether to respond at all — while maintaining professionalism and preserving their Jewish identity.
Join us on Sunday, June 7th in Bethesda, MD for a morning of thoughtful and nuanced conversation with experts in the field who are at the forefront of this issue. We will be joined by renowned trauma expert Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern, who has written extensively and spoken publicly on the dangers of characterizing Zionism as a mental illness and educating non-Jewish colleagues about the harm of traumatic invalidation.
We will also hear from national and local voices who have dealt with antisemitism in the mental health industry:
Jeff Mendelsohn, Associate Vice President, Advocacy & Civic Engagement, Jewish Federations of North America
Andrea Yudell, LICSW, LCSW-C (Co-founder of the Jewish Social Work Consortium)
Dr. Matt Biel, M.D., M.Sc. (Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Director of the Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities at Georgetown University Medical Center)
Attendees will also have an opportunity to meet with fellow social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists in the DMV to learn from each other, share experiences and determine how to best coordinate advocacy within professional organizations to counter antisemitism.
A light breakfast will be provided. There is no cost to attend
Date & Time
-
Location
Bethesda, MD
Speaker
Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern
Clinical Psychologist, Trauma Educator and Public Speaker
Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern is a clinical psychologist, advocate, and speaker specializing in trauma and recovery. She helps individuals, families, and communities navigate the impact of trauma with clarity, compassion, and evidence-based care.
Miri is the Director of Trauma Training and Services at Parents for Peace, and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School, where she trains the next generation of trauma-informed clinicians.
With two decades of experience across clinical, academic, tech startup, and policy settings, she’s developed global training programs and public health initiatives focused on resilience, healing, and recovery—especially in the face of extremism, identity-based violence, and chronic stress.
Whether working with a family in crisis or advising policymakers, Miri brings deep expertise, warmth, and a clear voice to some of the hardest conversations of our time.
Get in Touch
For all offered services, including tailored consultations, workshops, and trainings, please contact me directly.
Speaker
Jeff Mendelsohn
Associate Vice President for Advocacy and Civic Engagement at Jewish Federations of North America in
Jeff Mendelsohn is Associate Vice President for Advocacy and Civic Engagement at Jewish Federations of North America in Washington, DC. At JFNA, he leads efforts to empower Federations to combat antisemitism and Israel bias at the municipal level and within civil society spaces. Jeff also spearheads several initiatives that help strengthen and expand Jewish Federations’ grassroots advocacy work around the country and on Capitol Hill.
Jeff’s career spans law, politics, and advocacy. A San Antonio native and graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he spent twelve years as chief of staff to two Members of Congress from Texas, more than a decade at AIPAC where he launched and led a national effort to engage non-Jewish constituencies in pro-Israel education and advocacy, and later founded Pro-Israel America, a bipartisan political committee supporting pro-Israel candidates. Jeff is active in Jewish communal life, serves on the Harvard Hillel board, and lives in Washington, DC, with his wife. They have three adult children.
Andrea Yudell, MSW, LICSW, LCSW-C
Psychotherapy and Consultation
Fostering a collaborative relationship with my clients is the cornerstone of my practice. Having been in private practice for eighteen years, I have had the freedom to incorporate all that I have learned in my medical, psychiatric and community-based experiences in addition to post master’s training in advanced clinical practice at New York University Silver School of Social Work (NYU Silver School), and Somatic Imagery from the Center for Healing and Imagery in Washington, DC. I continue to expand my knowledge and training in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Somatic Imagery and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
My career has given me the opportunity to learn and grow in many different mental health and wellness contexts, including inpatient and outpatient psychiatric and internal medicine hospital treatment, community-based support and service and private practice. I obtained my MSW from NYU Silver School, training in New York City agencies that provided care to individuals and families dealing with serious mental illnesses and limited access to care.
For ten years I was a senior social worker at both New York University Medical Center (NYU Medical) and Washington Hospital Center (D.C.), working with multidisciplinary teams of health professionals. At NYU Medical I coordinated research on grant funded health research protocols studying the delivery of services in a multidisciplinary health care delivery milieu. I successfully intervened with individuals and families using a variety of approaches in the treatment context, including teaching stress management, providing crisis support, and, of course, ongoing psychotherapy. A significant part of my work has been spent helping individuals and families manage life threatening and chronic illness. I also have collaborated with a variety of health professionals to evaluate and deliver treatment to inpatients with serious mental health challenges.
Matthew Biel, M.D., M.Sc.
Pediatric Psychiatry, Psychiatry Education
Matthew Biel, MD, MSc serves as Director of the Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities at Georgetown University Medical Center, where he also holds the Marriott Chair in Child, Adolescent, and Family Mental Health and is Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics. Dr. Biel also serves as the Division Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. He leads a diverse array of projects and research seeking to support the resilience and wellbeing of children, adolescents, and families, and to improve access to high-quality mental health care through programs based in community settings including schools and primary care. He co-founded Early Childhood Innovation Network, a citywide effort to improve developmental outcomes for children and families in Washington, DC. Dr. Biel was selected as an Aspen Ascend Fellow in 2018. His clinical efforts focus on children and adolescents with anxiety and stress disorders, trauma-related conditions, autism spectrum disorders, and complex medical illnesses. He has published numerous articles and book chapters and is involved nationally in psychiatric education and advocacy for children’s mental health. Dr. Biel received his medical degree and a master’s degree in Community Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He trained in general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine.