< Back to workshops

Teshuva: Rupture and Repair with Self, Others, & Hashem

Previously Recorded
Norman Blumenthal, PHD, Sarah Miller, PhD, Yitzi Horowitz, LCSW Rabbi Yaakov Bender, Rosh Hayeshivah of Yeshiva Darchei Torah
$75.00 Cost For Member: $55 Cost For Student: $25

Teshuva: Rupture & Repair

A Special Yamim Noraim Program for Mental Health Professionals

Opening Presentation:

Dr. Norman Blumenthal, Director of Trauma Services at Ohel, will open the program with his annual analysis of the State of Mental Health in the Orthodox Community, a much-anticipated presentation offering insights into communal trends and challenges.

The main topic will then be addressed by a distinguished panel:

  • Yitzi Horowitz, LCSW – A clinician specializing in work with individuals and couples, providing a conceptual framework for engaging religious clients who struggle with sinfulness. He will demonstrate skills and therapeutic tools for addressing “sin” in the psychotherapy process.
  • Dr. Sarah Miller, PhD – With expertise in women’s issues, trauma, bereavement, and life transitions, she will examine ruptures not rooted in wrongdoing but in grief and loss, exploring teshuva as a pathway to healing while addressing risks of retraumatization.
  • Rabbi Yaakov Bender – Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva Darchei Torah, offering a Torah perspective that deepens and balances clinical and spiritual insights.

With the Yamim Noraim approaching, the September 14th program offers clinicians an opportunity to reflect on how timeless themes of rupture and repair inform both personal growth and professional practice.

CE Credit: Mental health professionals can obtain 2 CEs through participation in this program.

Program Schedule

  • 9:00 am – Registration & Breakfast (sponsored by Premium Health)
  • 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Opening Presentation & Panel Presentations
  • 12:30 pm – Lunch & Networking (sponsored by Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services)
Register Now

 

About the Presenter

Sarah Miller, PhD is a clinical psychologist specializing in women’s issues, life transitions, trauma, and bereavement. She serves as Supervising Psychologist in Ezra Medical’s Women’s Health Department and maintains a private practice. Dr. Miller has volunteered with Knafayim (perinatal loss), served on the board of NEFESH International, and facilitates workshops through SIMHA’s female leadership training initiative.


Yitzi Horowitz, LCSW maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Long Island, NY. He lectures regularly on topics at the intersection of religion, spirituality, mysticism, and psychology, and has also served on the board of NEFESH International.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Describe a psycho-spiritual conceptual framework for working with religious clients who struggle with sinfulness, and apply skills and tools to support repair and growth without reinforcing destructive shame.
  2. Identify manifestations of guilt, shame, grief, and rupture in both sin-related and non-sin-related contexts (e.g., trauma, infertility, or loss).
  3. Analyze the role of therapist countertransference when engaging with clients’ experiences of guilt, shame, and spiritual crisis, and apply strategies to remain grounded and effective.
  4. Demonstrate culturally responsive clinical strategies that integrate spiritual repair with psychological healing to support Orthodox Jewish clients navigating spiritual struggle and rupture.

Agenda:

Agenda (2 Hours)

Introduction (10 min)

  • Teshuva as rupture and repair with self, others, and Hashem

  • Dimensions of guilt, shame, and repair

Yitzi Horowitz, LCSW (45 min)

  • Sin, guilt, and shame in religious & psychological contexts

  • Developing a psycho-spiritual stance towards sin

  • Therapist stance and countertransference

  • High Holiday liturgy as expressions of hope and healing

  • Psycho-spiritual framework and clinical tools for repair and growth

Dr. Sarah Miller, PhD (45 min)

  • Trauma, grief, and ruptures not rooted in sin (e.g., loss, infertility, suffering)

  • Teshuva as return and re-engagement with self, others, and God

  • Symbolization and the movement from constriction to expansiveness

  • Clinician countertransference when facing clients’ spiritual crisis

  • Liturgy as healing or retraumatizing

Integration & Q&A (20 min)

  • Synthesizing frameworks

  • Clinical applications across diverse contexts

These workshops offer 2.5 Live Interactive Continuing Education Credits

This presentation is open to:
  • Social Workers
  • Professional Counselors
  • Therapists
  • Psychologists
  • Licensed Mental Health Practitioners
  • Medical Doctors and Other Health Professionals
  • Other professionals interacting with populations engaged in mental health based services
Course Level: intermediate
Level of Clinician: intermediate
  • New practitioners who wish to gain enhanced insight surrounding the topic
  • Experienced practitioners who seek to increase and expand fundamental knowledge surrounding the subject matter
  • Advanced practitioners seeking to review concepts and reinforce practice skills and/or access additional consultation
  • Managers seeking to broaden micro and/or macro perspectives

Participants will receive their certificate electronically upon completion of the webinar and course evaluation form.

Disability Access - If you require ADA accommodations, please contact our office 30 days or more before the event. We cannot ensure accommodations without adequate prior notification. Please Note: Licensing Boards change regulations often, and while we attempt to stay abreast of their most recent changes, if you have questions or concerns about this course meeting your specific board’s approval, we recommend you contact your board directly to obtain a ruling. The grievance policy for trainings provided by NEFESH INTERNATIONAL is available here Satisfactory Completion Participants must have paid the tuition fee, logged in and out each day, attended the entire workshop, and completed an evaluation to receive a certificate (If this is a pre-recorded program, a post-test with a passing grade of 80% to receive a certificate.) Failure to log in or out will result in forfeiture of credit for the entire course. No exceptions will be made. Partial credit is not available. Certificates are available after satisfactory course completion by clicking here.
There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program.
  • NEFESH International, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0116.
  • NEFESH International is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0046
  • NEFESH International is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Mental Health Counselor #MHC-0082
  • NEFESH International is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0048.
Refund Policy:
Full Refund until 48 hours before scheduled date.
48 hours before: full refund less $5.00 processing fee. After event no refund will be given.
*exclusions apply for reasonable need and cause.