I did my bachelor’s degree in psychology with the thought of being a clinical psychologist. During my studies I was exposed to the field of clinical social work, and decided to continue my training in this field. These two fields are similar, but clinical social work is more attuned to seeing people as part of their environment, and their difficulties as related to their work, friends, families, and communities. This is one of the reasons that couples and family therapies are highly developed in the field of social work.

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We live in a time in which the dominant approach is that of the medical establishment. This approach stresses internal deficits such as defective genes, chemical imbalances in the brain, and so on, while diminishing the importance of environmental factors. I believe that internal factors can explain only a small part of human suffering. My knowledge and experience have led me to view human suffering as an inevitable problem of normal minds in an abnormal reality: from a person who is struggling with financial difficulties, through someone who is in a relationship that does not benefit them, to a man who works in a job that does not suit his potential. From the social work field, I take the importance of changing the external environment in order to improve internal reality.

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A good example for this line of thought can be seen in the famous Stanford prison experiment. In this study, healthy and normative students participated in a simulation of a prison, as prisoners or prison guards. Within a short period of time the students began to identify completely with their roles in the experiment. This deteriorated quickly to extreme mental crisis and severe violence. Nevertheless, the most fascinating thing is that the great majority of participants did not ask to leave the experiment. Even though they knew it was artificial, the subjects could not find the strength to say that they were in a place that was not good for them. This experiment demonstrates how people easily enter the social roles assigned to them, and how crucial this role is to their well-being.

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When a person moves to a new place, while disengaging from their familiar life, they enter a new social role - different culture, relationships and job. All this can undermine the sense of self-confidence that was rooted in everything they know. I believe that the insights I have acquired in recent months, since I moved to Paris with my family, add to my ability to understand and help expats who have moved to a new place