Josh Gressel

You only really change when you become yourself.

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Josh Gressel's style

Why Josh Gressel chose to be in the helping profession

Before going to graduate school, I debated between becoming an English professor, a rabbi, and a psychologist. Becoming an English professor ultimately felt too narrow for me. At the time, I was living in Israel, and I also came to realize that I did not want to become a rabbi. Psychology felt like the path that could hold both my intellectual curiosity and my desire to connect with people in a meaningful way.

My own positive experience in therapy played an important role in that decision. I had seen firsthand how powerful it could be to feel understood and to gain a deeper understanding of yourself. I also believed that the human soul is infinite, and that if I devoted my life to exploring it, I would never become bored. Forty years later, I know I chose right.

Josh Gressel's approach

At this stage of my career, I’ve become pretty particular about who I want to work with. I’m not interested in helping people build an identity around victimhood. Everyone needs, at some point, to understand how childhood shaped the adult they’ve become, but there’s a shelf life to that exploration. We are always bigger than the sum of our childhoods, and therapy should help us move beyond understanding the past toward choosing how we want to live now.

In Exodus, God tells Moses to say to Pharaoh, “Let My people go.” Too often, that’s where therapy stops: helping people become free from the ways their past has shaped them. But the verse doesn’t end there. It continues, “that they may serve Me.” I see my work the same way: helping people become free, not simply for freedom’s sake, but so they can discover what they were created to do and who they were created to become. That becoming, I believe, always involves service to a cause greater than oneself.

What you can expect from sessions with Josh Gressel

People who enjoy working with me usually tell me they appreciate two things: that I challenge them, and that I genuinely enjoy wrestling with the questions they’re wrestling with. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, and I don’t believe that’s what good therapy requires. What I do bring is nearly forty years of experience, a willingness to ask difficult questions, and a genuine curiosity about the person sitting across from me. I also bring a deep trust that we are always more than our fears, our histories, and the stories we’ve come to believe about ourselves.

If you’re looking for quick advice or simple solutions, I’m probably not the right therapist for you. I’m less interested in telling you what to do than in helping you think more deeply about who you are, what matters to you, and how you want to live. That process can be challenging, but it can also be deeply meaningful and even enjoyable. If you’re looking for a thoughtful companion who will challenge you, support you, and explore with you the questions that matter most, I think we’d probably enjoy working together.

Josh Gressel's experience working with the Jewish community

I’ve worked with the Jewish community for nearly my entire career and have developed longstanding relationships with rabbis from a wide range of Jewish communities. I think they refer people to me because they know I take both psychological and spiritual life seriously and don’t assume the two are in conflict. I understand that, for many people, emotional struggles cannot be separated from questions of faith, meaning, family, and community. My aim is to create space for all of those parts of a person’s life to be taken seriously.

I speak Hebrew fluently, am a dual US-Israeli citizen, and have been deeply involved in my own synagogue for more than thirty-five years. Over the years, I’ve served in roles ranging from president to kiddush coordinator, tahara volunteer, and fundraiser. I’m personally religious but not dogmatic, and I feel comfortable working with Jewish clients across the spectrum, from the most assimilated to the most observant. I understand both the gifts and the challenges that come with each way of living, and I try to meet every client with respect, openness, and genuine curiosity.

Josh Gressel's Book Recommendation Zone

• Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl Jung
  This is a spiritual biography by a man who was formative in my development as a psychologist
• Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning, by James Fowler
  It’s not an easy read but it’s worth the effort. Nothing has helped me understand the spiritual path so well.
• Daniel Deronda, by George Eliot
  This is my all time favorite author. Her books are deeply spiritual but not dogmatically so, and her writing is divine.

Approaches

• Couples Counseling
• Imago Therapy
• KAP
• Person-Centered Therapy
• Premarital Counseling

Concerns

• Anxiety
• Bereavement & Grief
• Depression
• Divorce/Separation
• Life purpose and meaning

39 years in practice

Licenses

• Psychologist by California Board of Psychology 1999. License number PSY16252

Degrees

• Ph.D. by California Institute of Integral Studies 1995
• MA by California Insitute of Integral Studies 1988
• BA by Ohio State University 1978

Certificates

• Certified Imago Therapist by Imago Relationships North America 2006
• Certified Ketamine Professional by Polaris Institute 2024
• Certified Microdosing Guide by Lumeria Institute 2026

Trainings

• too many to list

Affiliations

• Imago Relationships North America since 2006

Average costs per session

$250

Payment Methods

• Cash
• Check
• Zelle Quick Pay
• Venmo
• PayPal