Yonatan Vinnik, LSW, is a licensed social worker at Upward Community and a therapist at the Mozes and Helen Stern Upward Counseling Center, where he works with children, teens, and families navigating emotional, behavioral, and social struggles. After earning his MSW from Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work and completing a two-year internship at Upward, Yonatan joined the counseling center in 2023 and continues to serve the community he knows so well. Yonatan is AEDP Level 1 certified and brings a calm, regulating presence to his work with children, parents, and schools. Using a humanistic, psychodynamic, and client-centered lens, he incorporates EMDR, Sand Tray Play Therapy, Child-Centered Play Therapy, expressive arts, and systems work to help children feel understood and supported. A core part of his work is helping parents and teachers better understand what is happening beneath a child’s behavior, so they can respond with more confidence, compassion, and clarity. At the heart of Yonatan’s approach is helping children, parents, and educators move from “I don’t got this” to “I got this.”

Eli Farkas, LMSW, graduated from Touro University School of Social Work with an MSW and is dual licensed in New York and New Jersey. Eli is currently a school social worker at Yeshiva Ketana of Passaic, where he provides teacher and administrator consultations, parent support, individual counseling, and crisis management. He is also a therapist at DK Counseling Group, where he works from a client-centered relational approach, helping clients develop deeper self-understanding while building concrete skills for change. He specializes in supporting teenagers and young adults through developmental shifts—managing anxiety, OCD, depression, and addiction concerns. He also works with parents and schools to support children’s success in the classroom and at home. Additionally, Eli is an adjunct professor in the psychology department at Landers School of Arts and Sciences and a proud member of the Nefesh International Early Professional Committee.

0:00–5:00 | Opening — Welcome & Framing (5 min) Presenters introduce themselves, establish the clinical lens, and orient participants to the session's central question: what is the therapist's role in supporting the adults around a struggling child?

5:00–15:00 | Didactic — Understanding the System: Why the Child Can't Be Treated in Isolation (10 min) Overview of a systems-informed clinical lens — how school struggles reflect and reinforce dynamics at home and in the classroom. Common patterns therapists see and what they signal about the broader environment.

15:00–27:00 | Didactic — Working with Parents: Holding the Overwhelmed Caregiver (12 min) How to psychoeducate anxious or resistant parents, reframe school struggles through a clinical lens, and position caregivers as active partners in the child's progress — without taking over their role.

27:00–39:00 | Didactic — Working with Teachers: Consultation That Actually Lands (12 min) Practical frameworks for engaging school staff — building rapport across professional roles, translating clinical insights into classroom-relevant language, and advocating for a child without alienating the teacher.

39:00–50:00 | Didactic — When Home and School Are in Conflict: The Therapist in the Middle (11 min) Navigating the most challenging scenarios — parents who distrust the school, teachers who feel unsupported, and competing narratives about the child. Strategies for facilitating collaboration without taking sides, illustrated through case examples.

50:00–60:00 | Q&A — Open Q&A with Presenters (10 min) Participants bring their own clinical dilemmas and cases to the room. Both presenters respond, offering different perspectives and sparking dialogue.