Conflicts and challenges faced by ultra-orthodox Jewish social work students: Broaching and a social constructivist approach to supervision as a forum for resolution

ABSTRACT

The ultra-orthodox Jewish community is undergoing a societal change that has allowed young adults from the community to pursue higher education – including social work. As members of an insular population, these students face the challenge of integrating into a social work community whose values are very different from their own. Educators and supervisors are, by proxy, tasked with facilitating this complex integration. I propose three categories of challenges faced by ultra-orthodox students; values, community norms, and lost idealizations. The paper explores these classifications and examines how a social constructivist supervision approach can play a unique role in traversing these challenges.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work
• ultra-orthodox Jewish community
• social constructivist supervision
• cross-cultural supervision

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zev Ganz

Zev Ganz is a clinical supervisor at the Family Institute of Neve Yerushalayim in Jerusalem, Israel. His clinical and research interests include the intersection of Judaism and psychotherapy, and the nature of childhood attachment in religious communities. He can be reached at [email protected]