YU Announces Appointment of New Counseling Center Assistant Directors

Editors Note: Due to Hamas’s unprovoked terrorist attack on Israel, this article, along with many other Commentator articles, was delayed in favor of prioritizing Israel coverage.

Yeshiva University announced the appointment of Didi Levy and Debra Alper as two new assistant directors of the YU counseling center earlier this Fall. 

The announcement, made in September, also came with the departure of former Associate Director Martin Galla, who served in the position for 13 years. Levy will be taking the position of assistant director on Wilf campus and Alper on Beren campus.

Levy told The Commentator that the center's plans for the semester include workshops for faculty on mental health topics and the classroom, previously done last semester, as well as collaborating with the library and the athletics department to “spread the word” about mental health awareness, prevention and treatment. 

Yael Muskat, dean of mental health and wellness and director of the counseling center, also shared with The Commentator plans to institute drop-in hours during stressful times of year, such as midterms, and a triage system for first-time appointments in an effort to decrease wait times.  Drop-in hours have already been implemented on both campuses in wake of the current war in Israel.

The first event the center had under its new leadership was an event that brought puppies to the Beren campus in mid-September aimed at reducing stress at the start of the new semester.

“Having already worked at the [Counseling Center] for many years now, I am excited to be taking on this new role,” Alper, who has already worked at the center for seven years, told The Commentator. “The students we serve are insightful, determined, and motivated to better themselves and their communities. It is a privilege to be able to continue to work with them, now in this expanded capacity.” 

Levy has been at the counseling center for five years both working with individual students and running the IDF veterans group prior to his promotion.

“It is a privilege to be working with college students as they move through their formative years into adulthood.” Levy shared with The Commentator. “I am passionate about my work as a team member of the YU Counseling Center and I’m looking forward to a year of meaningful moments and change.”

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Photo Caption: The YU Counseling Center announced the appointment of two new assistant directors earlier this fall.

Photo Credit: Sruli Friedman / The Commentator