"Adolescence is a second chance for growth." – Salvador Minuchin, founder of Structural Family Therapy
Adolescence is a time of identity formation, vulnerability, and resilience. Yet when trauma and chronic stress intrude, the natural processes of growth and regulation are disrupted. Teens may appear defiant, withdrawn, or chaotic, but beneath these behaviors lie profound struggles with overwhelm, fear, and developmental derailment.
Event Overview
In this talk, Dr. David Halpern, a psychiatrist practicing in Israel and the U.S., will explore how teens experience and manage trauma and stress, and how these experiences interfere with healthy psychological development. We will discuss how trauma shows up not only in mood and behavior, but also in body regulation, attention, and family dynamics.
"It is a joy to be hidden, and a disaster not to be found." – Donald Winnicott
Central to this presentation will be an integration of approaches:
- Therapeutic frameworks that help teens build resilience and process overwhelming emotions.
- Medication strategies that can stabilize regulation and open space for healing.
- Somatic and experiential models that highlight how stress lives in the body, and how to work with it.
- Parental support tools for navigating boundaries, conflict, and connection at home.
Dr. Halpern will show how supporting teens in distress requires a multi-layered approach—one that honors the psychological, biological, and relational dimensions of healing. Participants will leave with greater clarity on how trauma affects adolescent development, and with concrete tools for both professionals and parents to foster stability and growth.
Dr. Halpern will conclude the session with a dedicated Q&A segment.
This webinar is sponsored by Get Help Israel, and a recording will be made available on the GHI website for those who are unable to attend the live session.
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Dovid Halpern, MD
Dr. David Halpern is a psychiatrist dually licensed in Israel and the United States, specializing in mood, anxiety, and neurodevelopmental disorders across the lifespan. He received semicha from Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and completed his psychiatry residency and child & adolescent fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, with advanced training in psychodynamic therapy, CBT, DBT, and family systems work.
Dr. Halpern integrates evidence-based psychotherapy with thoughtful psychopharmacology in his private practice, Halpern Psychiatric, and serves as the primary psychiatrist for Beit Daniella’s southern branch in Shibolim. He is also the co-author of The Rabbi’s Brain: Mystics, Moderns, and the Science of Jewish Thinking and The Worry Shark.
