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Chaya Lieba’s Story   

I was in way over my head, yet I kept letting others down

Dr. Chaya Lieba Kobernick is a licensed clinical psychologist and the founder and director of The CBT/DBT Center. Along with her team of clinicians, Dr. Kobernick offers individual therapy and group therapy for children, teens, and adults. The center also provides various courses with the goal of bringing proven therapeutic modalities to the community.

People sometimes ask me how I do it — I’m a young mom to five cute little (perfect?) beings under the age of six, an entrepreneur with a therapy practice serving clients around the world, and an olah chadashah.

The honest truth? I’m not really sure what “doing it” means in your book, but I’ll share with you what my version of it looks like and how I got there.

My husband and I had always dreamed of making aliyah. For a while, it was never the “right time.” We got married, I was still in school, and then our family grew quickly, baruch Hashem. Two weeks after I had twins, I was taking grad school finals. My husband had to come and bring along the twins so that I could feed them in between exams. Life was hectic, and our dream remained a dream.

But finally, in 2020, as Covid started to spread, my husband and I decided that if we were ever going to go for it, now was the time. I actually had a crying session when the pandemic first broke out, fearful that, after all this time, Mashiach was going to get to Eretz Yisrael before I was.

For someone who’s never done it, “making aliyah” sounds like the big trip of moving to another country. Anyone who’s done it, however, will know that pulling off aliyah when you have a bunch of little kids is quite a feat, particularly when every government office you need is closed to the public. (And when all your documents get stolen by a car thief, things just get a bit messier… but that’s a story for another time.)

Then, just as we arrived in the land we loved, Covid hit hard. I’d thought I’d need to close my therapy practice when we moved to Israel, but because of the pandemic, I was able to pivot my business to a fully virtual model, continuing to serve my clients in New York. Unfortunately, this meant I didn’t get any break from work (I think I took three days off the week we moved.)

And then I found out I was expecting my fifth child, ka”h. I was overwhelmed by the new pregnancy, had just moved to another country, had four kids adjusting to new everything, and was involved in an entirely new business model. It was a lot.

Excerpted from Mishpacha Magazine. To view full version, SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE or LOG IN.

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