The annual Jerusalem Hills Therapeutic Center Fall Seminar “Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy for Children and Young Adolescents“ is held every November at the Children’s Home campus with over 160 psychologists, social workers and therapists attending. This long standing tradition was started in 1997 and marked the retirement of Dr. Yecheskiel Cohen, to salute his 35 years as director of the Children’s home and honor his great professional accomplishment in developing and implementing a unique and effective treatment program for the severely emotionally disturbed children under our care, a program that has become a model of emulation in similar facilities in Israel, Europe and the U.S.A.

The two-day seminar has become a well-established tradition that is anticipated by many professionals year after year. It is an opportunity for social workers and psychologists from all over the country to be part of an intensive and unique learning experience. Its unique structure offers special features to professionals who treat children and young adolescents. Twelve of Israel’s top-ranking psychotherapists, including Dr. Yecheskiel Cohen, serve as moderators in the small group sessions held each day – a total of five 90-minute sessions in six different groups, totaling 30 workshops over a two-day period. This provides the attendees with a rich choice of exposure to the variety of therapeutic approaches. In each workshop one participant presents a clinical case that he or she feels challenged by; this case is then discussed and analyzed; innovative and creative insights are offered.

The mutual enrichment process that unfolds in each and every workshop is at the heart of JHTC’s unique seminar; it is this discovery of original perceptions and approaches that draws professionals to share their individual clinical experiences, their doubts and questions with their colleagues (whom in most cases they haven’t met before). During the two-day seminar, each participant moves from one workshop to another at each of the sessions. Thus, he or she is exposed to the individual insight and professional methodology of each of the renowned teachers supervising the sessions. This setting facilitates a special atmosphere of openness and sharing, enabling participants and moderators to reach a level of depth and creativity seldom reached in group supervision.

The Fall Seminar enjoys great renowned for its very high organizational and professional standards, and also for the sense of intense professional enrichment that the participants take home with them. For many, this seminar is considered the annual highlight of their professional training.