North Star Conversations Transcript: The Rabbi as First Call for Help—Rabbi Steven Stark Lowenstein
Dr. Brandon Gimbel and Rabbi Steven Lowenstein discuss how clergy often meet people at moments of pain—and how they decide when professional care is needed.
Brandon Gimbel (00:00)
I often tell my patients that people come to see me because they're in pain. That's the reason why people pick up the phone, make the appointment, and sit in my office. And I imagine that for a number of the interactions you have, people coming to see you at that moment. How do you decide when to refer a child, a family, an adult to a therapist or a psychiatrist?
Rabbi Steven Stark Lowenstein (00:21)
People go to you because they feel that they have an issue. People come to us not knowing what brought them here, and it's up to us to be able to help them figure out what it was that they needed at that moment. After two or three meetings with an individual or a family, I know when to say, "Hey, I think that you would do much better off talking to a therapist or a social worker or a doctor." And people really appreciate that.
Brandon Gimbel (00:51)
What you're describing is the great difficulty of your job, which is— I'm the specialist. People have either self-selected to go to a psychiatrist or a therapist because they know from their own experience or from guidance that that's what they need. But otherwise, you are seeing everybody in every situation and having to decide, "Well, how do I help this person? What resource, if any, do I direct them to?"
Rabbi Steven Stark Lowenstein (01:15)
Exactly.
Brandon Gimbel (01:16)
That's a little challenging.
Rabbi Steven Stark Lowenstein (01:17)
It's also very rewarding and it can be its own type of excitement.