My name is Dov Heller and
thank you for visiting my site. I have been married
for 25 years to my wife Chana. We have five children
ages 16 to 24 and one granddaughter. I grew up in
a secular Jewish home on the east coast where sports
and music were far more important to me than personal
and spiritual growth. I played on a variety of varsity
sports teams in high school and college including
football, basketball, swimming, and tennis. I also
studied dance and sang professionally in the Harvard
Choir during graduate school.
I attended Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and
majored in modern philosophy. There I began to delve
into what I believe is life’s ultimate question:
“What are you living for?” This question
led me on an exploration of existential philosophy,
psychology, and Christian and Jewish theology.
After college, I attended Harvard University to
pursue a Masters of Theological Studies. I continued
grappling with my philosophical and theological
questions and was able to dialogue with some of
the great minds in academia. After a while, I decided
to take a leave of absence and travel in Europe
in order to “get some perspective” and
visited various religious communities. My last stop
was Israel, where I was introduced to my spiritual
mentor, Rabbi Noah Weinberg. I was fascinated by
the world of Jewish spirituality I encountered in
Jerusalem, which, for the first time in my life,
made sense to me. Rabbi Weinberg is one of the foremost
teachers in the world of Jewish spirituality, translating
sophisticated concepts of traditional philosophy
and theology into practical tools for personal growth
and character refinement. I studied in his school
(Yeshiva) for seven years which culminated in my
ordination as a rabbi.
I returned to the United States in 1982 and began
teaching and counseling students at Aish HaTorah,
first in St. Louis and later in Los Angeles, where
I have lived for the past twenty years. Over time,
I began to feel limited in how far I could take
students in their personal and spiritual growth
before they seemed to hit a wall. I soon realized
that I was unable to help them with their spiritual
growth because I did not know how to help them with
their deeper emotional problems. I returned to school
to study clinical psychology and to seek answers
in the world of analytic depth psychology. I became
a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and have
been in practice for the past ten years in Beverly
Hills. A few years ago, I was extremely fortunate
to find my present mentor, Dr. Robert Stolorow,
the founder of Intersubjective Analytic Psychotherapy
(Dr. Stolorow has written many books and articles
which can be found online. Please see Basic Concepts
for a more in- depth description of his approach
to psychotherapy and the process of change.)
Because of my life experience and education, I feel
I can help a wide variety of people. I also feel
that one of my strongest assets as a therapist is
that I love seeing people succeed. Being involved
in people’s lives in this very personal way
is something I consider a very special privilege.
I am truly thankful every day I go to my office. |
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