US training program aims to address concerns of antisemitism in psychology field

2 academics from Harvard and Fordham University to lead initiative aimed at improving care for Jewish patients, amid widespread accusations of prejudice in mental health care

By Luke Tress

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Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.

NEW YORK — A new US program will train participants who work in the field of psychology to better recognize and respond to antisemitism, amid growing concern about anti-Jewish discrimination in mental health care.

The pilot program, led by Dr. Miri Bal-Halpern of Harvard Medical School and Dr. Dean McKay of Fordham University, will offer doctoral psychology courses in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, according to a Tuesday statement from the Academic Engagement Network, an advocacy group that supports Jewish academics.

“Addressing Antisemitism in Psychology Graduate Programs: Training Academic Faculty in Trauma-Informed Activism” will include curriculum development and faculty workshops.

The end goal is to provide “competent, evidence-based care to Jewish patients,” the statement said.

Participants will be taught to recognize contemporary antisemitism, understand its mental health impacts and incorporate the lessons in training and clinical work, the statement said.

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The initiative aims to build a network of professionals who can bring the training back to their own campuses and communities, and form a national model to help psychology programs contend with antisemitism.

The program is funded by an Antisemitism Education Initiative grant provided by the Academic Engagement Network. The network, which says it brings together more than 3,000 academics at hundreds of campuses, launched the grant program in 2022.

“When antisemitism begins shaping how future clinicians are trained, the consequences extend far beyond the classroom,” said Miriam Elman, the head of the Academic Engagement Network, in a statement. “Future psychologists will care for patients from every background. Ensuring that they understand antisemitism and Jewish identity is essential.”

The program comes amid mounting fears over antisemitism in mental health care.

Bal-Halpern and McKay said late last year that there was a “growing animus towards Jews” in the field and that the trend of “decolonizing therapy” had labeled Zionism as a “root cause of mental illness.”

The US Health and Human Services Department last month announced an investigation into the American Psychological Association, which has more than 172,000 members.

A survey in 2024 found that 75% of Jewish medical students and professionals had been exposed to antisemitism in their fields.

Last month’s issue of American Psychologist, the peer-reviewed journal of the American Psychological Association, focused on antisemitism in what the authors described as a “long-overdue reengagement.”

“Antisemitism was clearly one of the most important themes in psychological research on prejudice in the first half of the twentieth century,” the journal said, but added that discrimination against Jews had fallen out of favor in the field in recent decades, even as other forms of prejudice gained attention.

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