Three times I felt like my life was cannonballing into deep water with closed eyes:
1. When I chose pre-psych after one Intro course
2. When I decided to do grad school in Israel
3. When I came out of the closet
That& #39;s why this time last year was a dream come true (1/9)

In Sept & #39;19, I chaired Jerusalem& #39;s first ever conference on LGBTQ+, Orthodox Judaism, and mental health at @HebrewU.

We purposely catered the content to the needs in the field and people responded. Around 200 therapists, from across the religious spectrum, attended. (2/9)

The program mixed skill building with the ongoing theme that these two worlds may fight in the media, but they *need* to get along in our private practices.
Lecturers even took questions as a group to model healthy dialogue. (3/9)

That& #39;s how we ended up with the secular co-founder of @JOpenHouse& #39;s free clinic and the head of a yeshiva (Orthodox Jewish seminary) taking questions from the audience *together*. That way they could highlight their common ground while also respectfully disagreeing (4/9)

I didn& #39;t ask them to do this, but each time they answered, they kept highlighting how important it is to just listen to each other (5/9)

During the coffee breaks, we had an LGBTQ+ resource table so that the Orthodox therapists could have the chance to meet reps from queer organizations outside their bubble. It got them to practice constructive dialogue themselves as well (6/9)

We also had the lectures recorded, transcribed and translated to English so that they could be available for a wider audience. I& #39;ll make a twitter thread for each one over the next few weeks because each one deserves it! (follow for updates!https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😉" title="Zwinkerndes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Zwinkerndes Gesicht">) (7/9) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUL0zfFPz3GYDuh3sQxTsoMYnZlXxIUk">https://www.youtube.com/playlist...

This project couldn& #39;t have been done without the help of @HebrewU& #39;s Freud Center, @SchustermanFoun, or Shoval: Education and Tolerance (<-an organization that I& #39;ll talk about all day if you let me!!), and talented colleagues like @HadarNafta who helped at various points (8/9)

I& #39;ll finish this thread with a key message:

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🕺" title="Tanzender Mann" aria-label="Emoji: Tanzender Mann">Find!https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✨" title="Funken" aria-label="Emoji: Funken">Your!https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💫" title="Symbol für Benommenheit" aria-label="Emoji: Symbol für Benommenheit">Voice!https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💃" title="Woman dancing" aria-label="Emoji: Woman dancing">

There& #39;s nothing like working on a project where you feel like your voice is unique and needed. Find out what makes you different, see how it makes you special, and get to work! (fin/9)