Can a Secular Psychologist Truly Understand a Haredi Patient?

Right after the last elections, psychologist Barki Segev received a surprising message from Haredi representatives in the Knesset, requesting her and other Haredi psychologists to advise on mental health issues.

"Honestly, I was surprised," she notes, "Although in the past six years, I have worked diligently to represent Haredi psychologists and recently founded the 'Haredim in Mind and Soul' association that deals with the topic. We work with rabbis and other professionals. But the understanding that Haredi representatives in the Knesset recognize a place for Haredi psychologists and feel the need to listen to and address them was unexpected and deeply moving," she candidly states.

Psychologists According to Halacha

Barki could ostensibly be introduced as a clinical psychology specialist, but the truth is that she goes far beyond that. For her efforts, she recently received the "Hero of the Year" medal from the Lottery and Keshet for her social entrepreneurship.

Her journey began at the old seminary in Jerusalem after she grew up in a standard Haredi family in the expanded Sanhedria neighborhood. After finishing high school and taking English teaching courses in grades 13-14, and needing to choose a specialty, she discussed with her parents the idea of studying psychology. Since there were no suitable study places in the Haredi sector, her parents consulted one of the great Torah leaders who encouraged studying outside the seminary at the Haredi college, saying, "The next generation will need many psychologists." "Thus I received their blessing and embarked on the long journey of psychology studies," she explains.

When Barki talks about a long journey, she refers to six years of extensive studies, followed by about four years of practical specialization, during which she encountered an interesting phenomenon. "Wherever I went, whether it was weddings, events, or just meetings with neighbors and friends, people approached me to find out if I knew a suitable psychologist for various needs. Sometimes it was for the wife of a yeshiva student suffering from postpartum depression, sometimes for a teenage girl or a yeshiva boy, sometimes for someone with anxiety attacks and other different stories. Suddenly I began to understand the enormous demand within the Haredi sector for therapists who come from the sector, not just for extreme mental health situations, but also for smaller issues.

"Here I must note that with each request like this I was happy but also worried. I repeatedly heard about those who turned to a counselor without any training to receive advice for life and death matters, and it horrified me. It can be so dangerous because acting unprofessionally can worsen a patient's condition. Even among those with proper education and training, there is a need for professional humility, for even if you learned to treat a particular field, it doesn't mean you can be helpful in every situation. This must be understood."

After a long period during which Barki helped people find sensitive and empathetic psychologists and psychiatrists suited to the Haredi way of life, becoming a busy referral point, she decided to establish a WhatsApp group for colleagues to facilitate these referrals more easily. This led to the creation of the 'Psychologists Speaking Haredit' group, which served her for both mediating between therapists and patients and for consultations among Haredi psychologists on professional topics. The group quickly grew, and today it includes over 240 Haredi psychologists who serve as representatives for mental health in the Haredi community. "I am always moved to see how awareness of the subject is rising and growing. There is almost no organization or institution we speak with that is not aware of the importance of mental health," emphasizes Barki. "For example, the Ministry of Health consulted with us extensively, as did the Home Front Command during various Corona periods. There are also large professional bodies and authorities that approach us seeking guidance on how to operate within the Haredi sector. It's important for me to emphasize that whenever questions arise, we make sure to consult with rabbis, and Halachic opinion guides us first. It moves me to see how attentive the rabbis are, offering wise counsel on complex issues. Their concern amazes me each time anew."

It's important to note that the Haredi psychologist community is managed with Barki by additional colleagues - Shlomo Nadler, an industrial psychology specialist, Noam Green, a neuropsychology specialist, and Yochanan Cohen, a clinical psychology specialist. Together they drive significant processes regarding mental health in Haredi society.

(Photo: shutterstock)

Psychology Not for Pennies

240 Haredi psychologists is impressive, but is it really sufficient for the needs of the Haredi public?

"Certainly not," Barki is sure, "especially since the demand in the Haredi sector for psychologists has grown tremendously in recent years, for several reasons. First, the Corona pandemic pushed mental distress up by tens of percent, tipping people to the edge and disrupting their mental balance. Additionally, there has been greater openness in recent years to discuss topics previously swept under the carpet. For example, I might receive women in their 50s who experienced abuse as children, and now, following open discussions on the topic, the experiences overwhelm them. Furthermore, there is the phenomenon I call 'over-therapization'—the sense that everything requires deep therapy, and as soon as a child or adult feels some difficulty, they seek a therapist without considering that some things are normal, part of our life experiences and are expected to pass on their own, or that we as individuals need to learn to cope with them. Therapy is not magic; it's a process. You approach it only when necessary and when ready to undergo this process with a lot of inner work and effort."

Why is it so important to be treated by a Haredi therapist in particular?

"Psychological therapy touches the depths of the psyche, and since our mental space is made up of many values, habits, and norms we grow up with, it's very important that whoever 'touches' your soul comes from a similar life environment and understands you. We all understand that if a secular therapist meets a yeshiva student, he will view many things in his life as abnormal, not because they are but because he is unfamiliar with them. And this also applies vice versa. It's crucial for the therapist to have a background as close as possible to the patient's world."

But even in the Haredi community, there are different communities and styles. Trying to match each person with a therapist from a similar background would never end...

"True, we understand that a therapist can never fully understand what precisely is going through their patient's mind, but nonetheless, the shared background certainly provides the initial opportunity for an effective and beneficial connection. It is now known that 70% of therapeutic success lies in creating the connection within the therapeutic process. As I mentioned, today we already offer more than 240 psychologists, yeshiva and seminary graduates whose rabbis encouraged them to study the profession to be in this important place to lend a hand and help. But of course, we strive for many more."

Maybe shortening the lengthy study process would attract more Haredim to the profession?

"There's definitely talk about it, and recently it was shared with me that they are trying to train seminary girls for mental health through a shorter course. I genuinely wish for more professional Haredi therapists, but I believe we shouldn't allow it. A young woman who hasn't yet formed her personal identity or undergone a deep personal therapy process cannot become a professional therapist. This can also put us, as a public, at risk—people might receive non-professional treatment, children may miss correct diagnoses, or conclusions might be erroneous, leading to improper treatment. How much frustration could accumulate, and how much distress might worsen? Mental health in the Haredi sector could face severe setbacks. It's dangerous, and not the solution. In the medical world, there's a big shortage of doctors, yet no one thinks of shortening studies to less than six years, so why should it be right in mental health?

(Photo: shutterstock)

"In our opinion, the answer lies elsewhere—not in shortening study processes but in offering living stipends to wives of scholars who suit the profession and can undergo the necessary process without shortcuts. Given that there are budgets for mental health development and studies, it would make sense to take the funds and provide each woman a living stipend of several thousand shekels a month, so she could peacefully complete her studies and join Haredi therapists. I suggest the same solution for Haredi men."

And since we're talking about finances, why are psychological treatments so expensive?

"I recently established the 'Haredim in Mind and Soul' charity to address, among other things, the high costs of psychological treatments, subsidize them, and make them more accessible to the public. Already, it's possible to receive treatments through public healthcare at not so high prices, but it's important for us to also make private treatments affordable, especially in the Haredi community where there is still a fear of public healthcare, and often seek private therapists. However, it's crucial to remember that psychologists study for many years, during which their salaries are low in hospitals, health funds, and public services. It's understandable that the more learned and experienced they become, the higher their rates would be."

Barki notes that she founded the association together with Rabbi Yishai Shalif, a senior educational psychologist, head of the psychological educational service in Modiin Ilit, considered Israel's first Haredi psychologist. "We have a lot of work within the association," she is confident, "but our focus is forward, and we are confident that we will all soon see progress related to mental health—from therapists and patients alike. We view this as holy work and see much *siyata d'shmaya* in it."