Therapy as a Jewish Client: Finding Safety, Space & Support

Dr. Rae Simon
Oct 6, 2024
3 min read

Updated: Aug 16

Inclusive therapy that feels like home.

Honoring and celebrating your identity in a world that can feel shaming and isolating.

Being Jewish - culturally, spiritually, historically - is a layered, lived experience. It carries joy, pride, ancestry, ritual, community. And it also carries grief, complexity, trauma, and sometimes fear. In recent years, many of us have felt that familiar tension grow heavier: navigating antisemitism, watching the rise in violence and hatred, feeling misunderstood...or worse, erased.

If you’re Jewish, or feeling "othered" or marginalized, and you're searching for a therapist, you might be asking yourself:'

“Will they really understand me?”

“Is this a space where I can speak freely—without explaining or defending who I am?”

"Will I be safe to be who I am without fear or conscious / unconscious bias?"

As a Jewish psychologist, I offer a space where the answer is a resounding "yes!"

You are understood.

You are seen and celebrated.

You are safe and loved.

Identity Isn’t Separate from Healing

Therapy doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Your lived experience, your heritage, your fears, your values - all of it walks into the room with you. And all of it deserves to be welcomed, not silenced.

In my practice, I hold space for Jewish or other marginalized clients who are navigating:

A growing sense of anxiety in today’s political and cultural climate
Spiritual questioning or disconnection
Interfaith family dynamics
Collective and intergenerational trauma
The grief of witnessing suffering, injustice, and polarization
Loneliness in predominantly non-Jewish spaces
A longing to feel safe in their bodies, relationships, and communities

Whether you’re observant, secular, somewhere in-between, or simply exploring what being Jewish - or your identity - means to you, therapy can offer a grounding, nourishing space to come back to yourself.

Jewish Healing Is Both Personal and Communal

So much of our tradition is centered around the idea of tikkun, or repair. Of restoring wholeness not just in ourselves, but in the world. Tikkun (תיקון) is often translated as "repair" - has a range of meanings: improve, fix, prepare, set up, or just “do something with…” Tikkun could be used to describe straightening a crooked rod, maintaining a roadway, cutting fingernails, setting a table, or devising a parable to explain a difficult idea. Olam (עולם) connotes "all of time" and later came to mean "the world."

So tikkun olam literally means to do something with the world that will not only fix any damage, but also improve upon it - preparing it to enter the ultimate state for which it was created.

Repair doesn’t have to be heavy. In therapy, it can be tender, quiet, even joyful. It can look like:

Learning how to name and work through emotional pain
Building healthy boundaries in a world that constantly asks for more
Reclaiming pride in your identity
Processing generational stories and choosing which ones you carry forward
Finding peace in your relationships, faith, and self-trust

My Approach: Culturally Attuned, Trauma-Informed, and Heart-Led

I integrate evidence-based therapy with a mind-body lens, informed by over 20 years of work with individuals and couples. I bring compassionate honesty, a holistic framework, and deep cultural sensitivity to our work - whether we’re talking about anxiety, illness, grief, trauma, or simply trying to live with more steadiness and connection.

I welcome clients of all backgrounds and identities, and I understand the value of finding a therapist who gets it and who doesn’t need the footnotes to understand why this moment feels so raw.

You Deserve a Safe Haven

You don’t have to explain yourself here.

You can just be. And begin.

If you’re looking for a therapist who honors your identity, understands your culture, and supports your full humanity, I’d be honored to walk alongside you.

In-person and telehealth sessions in Waimea (HI) + Denver (CO)

Telehealth available across PsyPACT states

Scholarships available for qualifying clients

Reach out here

Learn more about my therapy approach