Empathy – the Psychological Forum for Parenting Psychotherapy, Counseling and Guidance, was established in June 2019 as a response to the need arising from the field of veteran psychologists and psychotherapists who work with parents.
The Forum is led by Dr. Dror Oren (psychologist, instructor in the clinical and educational divisions) and Ms. Hadas Ron Gal (expert educational psychologist), who share the vision of promoting the field.
The Forum is intended to serve as a home for psychologists with the aim of promoting, developing, and deepening the integrative training in the field, and to host a variety of theories regarding parenthood, as well as approaches of intervention, counseling, guidance and treatment for parents.
We wish to pool perceptions relying on clinical experience from the various fields of expertise, as well as established and up to date academic knowledge and research data, and to improve the therapists' professional response to parents both in the public field and in the private clinic. To this end, Empathy Forum focuses on three main goals:
Promoting the field of therapeutic work with parents as a professional discipline.
Creating a community of therapists for parents and deepening the professional training of psychologists and psychotherapists who work in this field, as well as health and education professionals who work with parents.
Improving and expanding the psychological information and assistance to parents in Israel. Making the field more accessible to the general public in order to increase the mental well-being of parents (as well as children and families in general).
The Forum is led by Hadas Ron Gal and Dror Oren
Dr. Dror Oren (PhD) is a clinical and educational psychologist, an expert instructor in both fields. He leads the Empathy Forum in collaboration with Hadas Ron Gal. Dr. Oren serves as an instructor in the clinical and educational divisions, with a doctorate in philosophy, gives lectures in Israel and abroad, teaches and instructs in psychoanalysis-oriented psychotherapy programs at the universities of Haifa and Tel Aviv and in educational psychology studies in Tel Hai. He is a specialist in therapeutic work with parents and developed the model for dynamic treatment of parents. Author of "Second Thought Parenthood" (Pardes, 2015), "Single Parenting – Raising a Child Alone" (Restling, 2018), co-author of "Talking Divorce" (IGS, 2018). He has clinic for treatment and training in Carmiel.. Link to his website
Hadas Ron Gal, an expert educational psychologist, leads the Empathy Forum in collaboration with Dr. Dror Oren. She is an instructor, counselor, treats children and parents, accompanies facilities as well as educational and paramedical staffs, lectures and conducts workshops in the framework of psychological services and various organizations. She has a theoretical and clinical background in a variety of methods and models in psychology in general and in the field of therapeutic work with parents in particular. She runs clinics in Kochav Yair and Raanana, and works online too.
Link to her website
Therapeutic work with parents is divided into several types: therapeutic interventions with parents, counseling and guidance, work with parents in dyadic therapy or family therapy or therapy for parents and parenting.
Therapy for parents and parenting is characterized by focusing the treatment the parents receive on the child’s problems or on treating the parents themselves through dynamic therapy that is given to the parents. The field of treatment for parents is a broad and evolving field and world of therapeutic content. It contains various types of interventions, some of which are more practical and consultation-oriented, while others are based on a deep understanding of the human psyche, child development, relationships, attachment, and connection. It is important that people who seek assistance, if they wish to have it tailored to their personality, culture, values, and inner world, choose skilled professionals who can tailor the intervention approach specifically to their needs.
The parental identity is one of the most central identities in the life of an adult person.Parenthood is also the role of the person raising their own children. Therefore, when we refer to the parent, we think about them, their child, and the relationship that develops between them. Sometimes we think about how the needs and responses fit together, sometimes with an emphasis on one character or another, or on the relationship space.
The Psychological Forum for Parenting Psychotherapy, Counseling and Guidance was created and aims to be an umbrella organization for the qualified psychologists and therapists in the field of therapeutic work with parents and parenting. We wish to promote, develop, and deepen the training in the field and to serve as a home for the various theories regarding parenthood, intervention approaches, counseling, guidance, and treatment, which are profound and integrative and address the needs of professional psychologists and psychotherapists in the public field and in the private clinic. We have a comprehensive and encompassing vision, which is up to date in research and therapeutic models as leaders in the therapeutic and applied areas in the field, and we are interested in developing and promoting the professional level in this field.
At the same time, we recognize the growing need among parents to act in order to improve their parenting within the society and its many challenges, possibilities, and complexities of our time. As professionals involved in society, we see the importance of developing the field of assistance for parents and parenting in the Israeli society.
The operation of the forum stems from the understanding that only by expanding and deepening the field of therapeutic work with parents will it be possible to provide a wide-spread professional therapeutic service and response that would help parents improve their parenting and thereby improve the services provided to the parent population in our society.
To this end, the Empathy Forum will act to achieve the following objectives:
