Batya Cohen, MSW, PhD

I am confident that my years of experience based on training with the world's best clinicians will be helpful to you. I specialize in the problems of immigrants, parental guidance, life transitions, grief counseling, and the difficulties encountered by second and third generation Holocaust survivors.

After graduation in the clinical track from the Columbia University School of Social Work, I supplemented my skills by learning family therapy from non other than the "father" of family therapy, Dr. Salvador Minuchin. I learned directly from him at the Philadephia Child Guidance Clinic and continued with members of his staff in New York City.

My interest in families was coupled with that of immigration and resettlement when I spent several years working with refugees, mainly but not only from the former Soviet Union. When I received my Doctorate in Social Work from Adelphi University, my dissertation was on the mental health problems of immigrants. For this research, I was awared a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, D. C. Upon my later arrival in Israel, I received the Nira Shenhar Award for Research from Hebrew University when I adapted my research questions for use with other immigrant populations.

I believe that because of my great experience in the field of immigration, I am uniquely qualified to help with the difficulties posed by Aliyah. Even when I began working for the New York City Board of Education as a bi-lingual (Spanish/English) social worker, I again worked with immigrants as I provided parent guidance, primarily for children in special education. After my own Aliyah, I continued to provide parent guidance during the almost 30 years that I worked as the chief social worker and clinical assistant to the world-renowned child psychologist and Nobel Prize nominee Professor Reuven Feuerstein. About half my caseload was international and consisted of families who arrived with their children for evaluation and treatment from the four corners of the globe. I became an expert in Professor Feuerstein's treatment modality called Mediated Learning which has been proven to be extremely helpful with children having cognitive or emotional difficulties.

I have recently received certification as a Grief Educator from David Kessler who worked with and co-authored books together with Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. I have received certification in Advanced Logotherapy, the method created by Victor Frankl, the author of man's Search for Meaning and find that this method combined with all the many methods I have been trained in, can be extremely helpful in finding meaning during life transitions and after loss.

I have published and lectured widely on immigration, Mediated Learning, and Holocaust survivors and their families. I have been cited by the State Department's Office of Refugee Resettlenent and appear in several biographical listings including Who's Who of American Women and Who's Who among Human Services Professionals.

I speak English, Hebrew and Yiddish and would like to be of help to you.