In short Online therapy in English in Jerusalem: individual and couples sessions over secure video, scheduled across time zones. Psychodynamic depth work with a US-trained therapist. You pay directly, so nothing runs through local insurance or health records. Fees and fit are covered in a free 15-minute call.

The work

The work I do is relational and focused on pattern. I don't run intake checklists. I don't assign homework. I pay attention to what happens in the session. The moments when something shifts or goes flat. The pattern that keeps showing up underneath the problem. Most people already know their own story. They still keep landing in the same place. What's missing is someone watching in real time, someone who can name what you cannot see from inside it. More on how I work, and how I work with couples.

Why people in Jerusalem work with me

Three reasons. Fit, first. My whole practice is people living outside their home country. Depth work in fluent English is the default here, not a special request. Being an oleh or an international in Jerusalem needs no translating. Availability, second. The English-language depth work this community wants is in short supply and often booked out. I have room, online, on a schedule that can cross time zones for family abroad. Privacy, third. I work entirely outside the Israeli system. There is no kupat holim file and nothing on any local record. For concerns that turn specifically on religious questions or Jewish law, a clinician embedded in that world may be the better fit, and the Anglo organizations here can help; for the broader weight people carry, what I offer is private, depth-oriented therapy in English.

What people bring to online therapy

The people I work with in English come for a wide range of reasons: anxiety, depression, stress and burnout, anger management, grief and loss, relationship difficulties, loneliness, self-esteem issues, procrastination, sleep problems, attachment patterns, self-sabotage, perfectionism, identity questions, and existential concerns. Online counseling makes this work possible from wherever you are, whether you need an English-speaking therapist, a virtual counselor, or simply someone who can work in your language at a depth that matters.

How it works

Sessions are online via secure video call. I work with individuals and couples (60 minutes). Before your first session, we have a free 15-minute call to see if this feels like the right fit for you.

In shortOnline psychodynamic therapy in English for people in Jerusalem. Fully private, paid directly. No waitlist, and nothing on your kupat holim record.

The Jerusalem patterns

This city carries a weight other cities do not. It presses on people in particular ways. The oleh who came for meaning and ideals, and is privately worn out by the grind of starting over. The gap-year or seminary student, away from home for the first time, holding more than they thought they would. The person or couple whose questions sit where the mind meets a faith they take seriously. The family stretched between two worlds, raising kids in a country that does not let up. And under all of it, the security fear, sharper since October 2023. The sirens. The shelters. The grief that has touched almost everyone here. None of this is pathology. It is the cost of living in a place this charged, and much of it stays hidden.

Therapy in Jerusalem: a large Anglo community, not enough English depth work

Jerusalem has one of the densest English-speaking populations in Israel, a large Anglo and Orthodox olim community, gap-year and seminary students, lone soldiers, and long-settled veterans, and a real shortage of available English-language depth therapy to match it. The Anglo-oriented clinics and lines that serve this community are valuable and often stretched. The public route through the kupot holim leans short-term and is hard to access in English. And there is a specific thing English speakers here describe: wanting more than a therapist who speaks English: one who understands the mentality, the cultural and personal texture of the life, rather than an Israeli clinician translating across it. This is private depth work in English, paid directly, outside the kupat holim system entirely.

Questions people ask from Jerusalem

Can I use my kupat holim for therapy with you?
No. Public mental health care runs through the kupot holim, with a limited number of sessions, long waits, and a short-term focus, and finding an English-speaking therapist inside it is difficult. I work privately and directly, in English, outside the kupot, for people who want sustained depth work without that search. Nothing is entered into your kupat holim record.
Do I need a referral or Form 17 to start?
No. Private work needs no referral and no Form 17, and there is no waitlist beyond my own availability, so we can usually begin within days.
Are you a licensed psychologist in Israel?
No. In Israel the title psychologist is regulated under the Psychology Law, while therapist and psychotherapist are not. I am US-trained (MA, Counseling) and work privately online, not on the Israeli register. For a licensed Israeli psychologist, kupat holim care, or medication, I am glad to point you toward it.
Will you understand the olim and Anglo experience, not just speak English?
The texture of leaving your home country and rebuilding a life abroad is the center of my practice, so the oleh and international experience needs no explaining, and I work in fluent, native English. For concerns that turn specifically on religious questions or Jewish law, a clinician embedded in that world may be the better fit, and the Anglo organizations here can point you to one. What I offer is private, depth-oriented therapy in English for the broader weight people carry.

Selected research on this approach

My work is psychodynamic and depth-oriented. These are some of the studies on the effectiveness of that kind of therapy. They describe research on the method in general, and are not claims about any individual outcome.

  • Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65(2), 98-109. doi:10.1037/a0018378
  • Steinert, C., Munder, T., Rabung, S., Hoyer, J., & Leichsenring, F. (2017). Psychodynamic therapy: as efficacious as other empirically supported treatments? A meta-analysis testing equivalence of outcomes. American Journal of Psychiatry, 174(10), 943-953. PMID 28541091

The full reading list is on the approach page.

Related Reading

Therapy for trailing spouses
Therapy for expats
Therapy in English in other countries