Batya Jacobs

When you know what you troubles are stopping you doing, then you know a piece of "Why am I here?

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Batya Jacobs's style

Why Batya Jacobs chose to be in the helping profession

Here's a refined version that keeps the warmth, personal history, social justice themes, and slightly conversational tone of the original while improving flow and readability:

My father was an old-fashioned British GP, a true family doctor in every sense of the word. As children, we often accompanied him on house calls, helping to cheer up lonely older patients and watching firsthand the extraordinary dedication he brought to his work. His clinic was always busy, yet he somehow made time for everyone. Growing up, I absorbed his guiding principle: "I believe in truth and justice." My mother, meanwhile, worked as a marriage guidance counsellor. Looking back, it seems almost inevitable that I would find my way into one of the helping professions.

My fascination with psychology began early. I once won a copy of Eysenck's *Sense and Nonsense in Psychology*, and from that moment I was hooked. I was a student during the turbulent 1960s, a time when many of us believed deeply in justice, equality, and the possibility of creating a better world. We marched, questioned, and sang "We Shall Overcome," carrying with us a belief that people deserved to be treated with dignity and respect.

Those values have remained with me throughout my career. I still remember working in a mental health clinic where prospective patients were seated directly in front of the entrance on open day. I found myself wondering: where was their privacy, their dignity? Experiences like that strengthened my conviction that every person deserves to be seen, heard, and treated with compassion.

Even as a child, friends often confided in me. I valued being someone people could talk to, but I wanted to offer more than just a listening ear. I wanted to develop the knowledge and skills to truly understand people's struggles and help them create meaningful change in their lives. That desire continues to shape my work today.

Batya Jacobs's approach

Here is a refined version that keeps your voice, imagery, and clinical style while improving clarity and flow:

Everyone deserves to live a fulfilling, safe, and comfortable life. In my work, I use Narrative Therapy, Psychodrama, and my own presence in the room to join clients on an exploratory kind of adventure. Together we begin to tease out what that fulfilling life might actually look like for them in practical, lived terms. Once that becomes clearer, the work often shifts toward helping them begin to live it more fully and intentionally.

A core part of the process is what I sometimes call pulling “Mr. Problem” out of the driver’s seat. We look closely at its patterns, its tricks, and its plots, and we also imagine life without it running the show. We explore how the problem interferes with values, disrupts intentions, and gets in the way of commitments that matter. At times, we externalize it further, sitting it in the empty chair and interviewing it, or even having the client step into the role and act it out so it can be seen more clearly.

The work is often active, creative, and sometimes unexpectedly light. I have played table tennis during a therapy session and taken therapy into the kitchen when that is where life is happening. There is frequently laughter in the room, because when things are seen differently, something loosens. Problems often speak in generalities and use “I” as if they are you, but when we shift into specifics, much of their power begins to dissolve. Many problems also carry a protective function, even as they limit you or undermine you, and once we understand that, clients can begin to choose a different direction, one that feels healthier, more creative, and more aligned with who they are.

What you can expect from sessions with Batya Jacobs

Here is a refined version that keeps your voice, style, and clinical approach while improving clarity and flow:

In my therapy sessions, there are at least two people in the room. One of them carries all the insider knowledge about themselves, their lived experience, their story, and their patterns. The other is there with curiosity, always asking questions, always trying to understand a little more deeply. I try to stay firmly in that curious role, and together we explore what emerges between us. You might find yourself saying, “That’s a good question,” as we begin to see things from a slightly different angle, and often there is room for laughter as well as insight.

At times, staying with what feels painful and really exploring it can bring unexpected understanding and a sense of relief. People often discover that what once felt like a kind of prison starts to loosen as new perspectives come into view. We go at a pace that feels safe and manageable, especially when difficult experiences or trauma begin to surface. In those moments we slow down, focus on safety, and decide together how to approach things using Narrative Therapy and other methods I have learned over years of clinical work and through shared human experience.

My work is always shaped by respect for timing, readiness, and what feels possible in the moment. There is no pushing ahead before someone is ready, only careful attention to what supports movement and what helps create space for change.

Batya Jacobs's experience working with the Jewish community

I have worked in Israel mainly with Jewish clients, and much of my work is deeply rooted in that community context. I maintain a strong connection with the Rav of my yishuv, Rav Leff, and as a social worker I also served on a Vaad dealing with complex and sensitive situations that arise within the community. Alongside my clinical work, I am a balanit (mikvah attendant), and at times I have offered therapeutic support in the mikvah setting when shalom bayis difficulties have led to distress, including situations where a woman feels unable to return home or to toivel. I am also a certified kallah teacher, and across all of these roles my focus remains the same: meeting people with respect, discretion, and care, and supporting them through emotionally and relationally difficult moments in a way that is grounded, practical, and human.

Batya Jacobs's Book Recommendation Zone

• Biting the hand that Starves You by David Epston
  About anorexia. Helping the client to claim back their lives and hear their own voice
• Attachment Theory in Action
  A collection of theory and research re. Attatchment
• Would you teach a fish to climb a tree
  A very interesting take on autism

Approaches

• Birth Preparation
• Certified Kallah Teacher
• Childbirth Education
• FLASH Technique
• Narrative Therapy
• Postpartum Recovery

Concerns

• Abuse/Violence
• Bereavement & Grief
• Cancer
• Chronic illness
• Depression
• Infertility
• Life purpose and meaning
• Panic attacks/panic disorder
• Perimenopause & Menopause
• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
• Postpartum depression
• Prenatal, perinatal, & postpartum mental health
• Religious Identity Issues
• Trauma

-26 years in practice

Licenses

• Social Worker by Ministry of Work and Welfare 1999. License number 15209

Degrees

• Psychology B Sc(ECON) by University College Cardiff 1971
• BSW by Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1999

Trainings

• Working with sexual abuse by Tahel 2018
• Assessment and treatment of depression and anxiety in children and adolescence by The family Institute and counseling Center 2000
• Domestic violence in the orthodox community by The Family Institute 2000
• Sexual abuse by Educational resource center Binyamin local Authority 2000
• Intensive training in all Fertility issues by Machon PUAH 2019

Average costs per session

₪150 - ₪300

Payment Methods

• Sliding Scale
• ACH Bank Transfer