Upcoming KAPA ZOOM CE event
Cultural Considerations When Interacting with Jewish Patients, Students, and Colleagues
Eliyahu Reich, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Memphis VA Medical Center
The Jewish people are sometimes referred to as a "people of the book." Indeed, Judaism's core beliefs, practices, and rituals are based on the text of the Hebrew Bible. Other rituals and practices are based on rabbinical interpretations of the nuances of biblical phraseology and a desire to create a "fence around the Torah" to prevent the transgressions of its commandments. This lecture will explore various streams of Judaism that have emerged in the past four centuries in response to historical events and some of their most commonly-held beliefs, rituals and practice. The discussion will also contribute to a better understanding of the cultural considerations that are important for clinicians to consider when interacting with patients, students, and colleagues. Practical advice for working with Jewish patients and their families will be shared and discussed.
Learning Objectives
1) Participants will be able to describe at least 4 of the major sects within Judaism and how they developed
2) Participants will be able to explain the Jewish Sabbath and other holiday observances, and why they are important to know when working with Jewish patients, students, and/or colleagues
3) Participants will be able to explain Kosher Certification and Observance
4) Participants will be able to describe at least 4 important cultural issues that may come up when working with Jewish Clients
Target Audience
This program is open to all KAPA members and other interested mental health professionals who are not members. The content of this presentation is appropriate for mental health professionals educated at the graduate level in psychology, psychiatry, or other mental health related disciplines, as well as graduate students in a mental health related discipline.
Instructional Level
The material will be appropriate to intermediate levels of practice and knowledge.
Continuing Education
This program - when attended in its entirety - is available for 1.5 Type I continuing education credits. With full attendance and completion of a Program Evaluation and Learning Assessment, a certificate will be issued. Partial credit will not be awarded. Participant's attendance will be verified via their Zoom login name and sign in/sign off time. Please assure that you are identifiable by your Zoom login name.
American Psychological Association Approval Statement
The Knoxville Area Psychological Association (KAPA) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for Psychologists. KAPA maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
There is no commercial support for this program, nor are there any relationships between the CE Sponsor, presenting organization, program content, research, grants, or other funding sources that could reasonably be construed as conflicts of interest. During the program, the validity/utility of the content and risk/limitations of there approaches discussed will be addressed.
Registration Fees and Policies
If you are a member of KAPA, then this program is free of charge. If you are not a member of KAPA and you do not want CE credit, then this program is free of charge. Non-members wanting CE credits will be charged $20.
Speaker Information
Eliyahu (Eli) Reich earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from St. John’s University, in Queen’s, New York, in 2009. Having completed his pre-doctoral internship at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, in Memphis, TN, he next completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Psychology, with an emphasis on research, assessment, and treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, at the Memphis VA Medical Center, in August 2010.
Since January 2011, Dr. Reich has been employed as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist at the Memphis VA Medical Center, working first in the PTSD clinic and more recently in the Chemical Dependency Center. He also currently serves as the facility’s lead Military Sexual Trauma, or MST, care coordinator. Dr. Reich supervises psychology interns and postdoctoral fellows as part of his duties at the Memphis VA. He also has an appointment as an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Dept of Psychiatry, where he presents an informal lecture series for Psychiatry Residents on various topics related to PTSD and Substance Use Disorders. Since 2017, Dr. Reich has served as a Board Member of the Tennessee Psychological Association, first as Vice President for West Tennessee, and currently as the 2021 President of TPA.
In his personal life, Eliyahu grew up in the orthodox Jewish enclave of Boro Park, in Brooklyn New York. He spent his formative years in various Orthodox Yeshivas (day schools) there, before graduating high school in 1994 at the Talmudical Academy High School in Baltimore Maryland. He next spent 2 years in an orthodox Jewish Seminary in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, before returning to New York in 1996 to complete college followed by graduate school, during which time he further developed a love for psychology, philosophy, literature, science, and history. These experiences have left him with a life-long drive to question, examine, discuss, and debate all things that pull for orthodoxies, whether it be religious, political, cultural, or psychological theories. Dr. Reich, his wife, and their son Judah now reside in the “Modern Orthodox” community (which he will explain in his lecture) in Memphis, TN.
