About Us - Our History
NEFESH was founded in 1992, to bring Orthodox Jewish professionals and rabbis together to address mental
health issues that we deal with daily on a professional and communal level. We have since grown to over 750
members worldwide, including United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Israel, Brazil, Belgium and Argentina.
Between three and four hundred people have attended each of our fourteen annual conferences, which have
taken place in New York, Miami, Baltimore, Norfolk and Israel. Our rabbinic advisors, led by Rav Dovid
Cohen, Moreh D'Asrah, and Rabbi Abraham Twerski, M.D., and our rabbinic liaison, Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb,
Ph.D., provide guidance on issues that affect us as mental health professionals.
Who We Are
NEFESH-International is an interdisciplinary organization of Orthodox Jewish mental health professionals
providing leadership and interdisciplinary education in the field of personal, family, and community mental
health. Our diverse members are Torah-observant psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, marriage and
family therapists, professional counselors, psychiatric nurses, chemical dependency counselors,
psychotherapists, guidance and pastoral counselors, and graduate students. Affiliates include Orthodox
Rabbis, Jewish educators, attorneys, and allied professionals.
NEFESH provides an opportunity and vehicle for mental health professionals, Rabbanim, and educators to
network and collaborate in meeting our common challenge - to enhance the emotional well being and achdut of
Klal Yisroel. Together we are developing timely and effective approaches that are based on widely accepted
mental health principles, within a Torah perspective and halachic framework. We address critical issues
facing us as professionals and confronting Jewish families and communities.