Teaneck’s Neuburger among grads of YU mental health counseling program

Teaneck’s Neuburger among grads of YU mental health counseling program

Rabbi Chaim Bronstein, left, with the dean of RIETS, Rabbi Menachem Penner; Evan Genachowski; Matthew LeVee; Daniel Reich; Judah Kerbel; Jonathan Drory; Yechiel Neuburger of Teaneck; Dr. Norman Blumenthal; Rabbi Neal Turk, the mashgiach of the semicha program and director of the RIETS/Ferkauf program; Professor Laura Turk; Dr. Arlene Steinberg, and Dr. Rosalyn Sherman. (Courtesy YU)
Rabbi Chaim Bronstein, left, with the dean of RIETS, Rabbi Menachem Penner; Evan Genachowski; Matthew LeVee; Daniel Reich; Judah Kerbel; Jonathan Drory; Yechiel Neuburger of Teaneck; Dr. Norman Blumenthal; Rabbi Neal Turk, the mashgiach of the semicha program and director of the RIETS/Ferkauf program; Professor Laura Turk; Dr. Arlene Steinberg, and Dr. Rosalyn Sherman. (Courtesy YU)

The joint mental health counseling program offered to students in Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, in conjunction with the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, recently celebrated the graduation of its second cohort.

The 18-month program, which combines the mental health expertise and resources of Ferkauf with the experience and spiritual guidance of the RIETS faculty, provides in-depth training in mental health counseling, which is an increasingly important component of modern rabbinic responsibilities. Students take six graduate-level courses designed to address the unique challenges faced by communal leaders, including two foundational pastoral psychology courses, which are required within their first two years of semicha studies. Students receive a certificate in mental health counseling as well as semicha. The coursework also can be applied toward a master’s degree in mental health counseling with an emphasis in pastoral psychology at Ferkauf.

At a ceremony on YU’s Wilf campus at the end of June, seven semicha students received their certificates of completion.

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