During his high school years, Abe Klein became the “therapist friend” for his group of buddies, helping them deal with various issues in their lives. He grew to enjoy that role and it led to an interest in psychology.
In college, Klein made therapy his focus, studying psychology in undergrad before getting his master’s degree in professional counseling at LaSalle University in 2016.
The Blue Bell resident is now nearing his 10-year anniversary as a professional in the field and has carved out an area of expertise working with people in the 14-25 demographic and so-called “geeky” clients.
It fits his personality as co-leader of a Dungeons & Dragons group with Tribe 12, the nonprofit that strives to connect Philadelphia Jews in their 20s and 30s.
Klein said he uses D&D — a fantasy tabletop game, for those not familiar — as a way to get more people interested in the game and be involved with the local Jewish community in a way that fits him.
The young therapist said he’s had a “weird relationship” with Judaism throughout his life.
Growing up, he said, being involved Jewishly felt like a chore, something he had to do.
“At a certain point, I pushed back, I rebelled, and eventually I found my way back to it on my own terms. And so over the last two, three years, I’ve been looking at this as how do I connect with the community, with Judaism in ways that work for me,” Klein said.
He said when he was looking into synagogues, they mostly catered their efforts toward young families and the senior populations. He found Tribe 12 was a better fit for him, a solid way to connect with other young professionals who shared his interests.
Klein’s services are in demand because of his unique approach to assisting his clients.
“One of my specialties as a therapist is the therapeutic application of media, particularly with a focus on video games, anime and D&D. So, I started to really think about that and test it out, initially when I was in grad school, in my internship, and then over time, I explored the topic more,” Klein said.
Early in his career, Klein figured that while using such media sources in therapy was something he really enjoyed, he wouldn’t find enough clients seeking out those services to do it consistently.
“Joke’s on me. I started getting clients [who wanted that practice], and across my career, I got more and more clients [looking for the same thing] to where now I have clients who seek me out for that reason,” Klein said.
He explained that how he incorporates the media into therapy varies by client. But generally, Klein uses media to present metaphors for larger issues.
“We as therapists use a metaphor a lot for helping people to understand things and connect with concepts,” Klein said. “Metaphors are most effective when they are created in collaboration with the client. So how I interpret that and utilize that is if my client likes something thing, or knows something, it’s going to be far more effective than this other thing that they don’t connect with.”
Klein said that if he was able to take his younger self and incorporate this therapy style, it would have been helpful.
“Being able to give this and to do use this to help others, especially those who are younger, developing, struggling with life, feeling isolated … to be able to do that in a way that is so uniquely me and so different from how most people in their world is going to approach them, is very special to me,” Klein said.
Klein added that a lot of media that he uses is stuff that had an impact on his life, but used to be things he was ridiculed for liking.
“This thing that was once a source of shame for me is a source of strength, both for myself and healing for my clients, is so validating,” Klein said.
Klein encourages people to go to therapy, citing the positive impact it’s had on him throughout his life.
He added that a good fit between client and therapist is important to working together effectively, which is why he’s made a specialty working with young people and the “geeky” clientele.
“Therapy is not as bad as it seems. When you get the right situations, the right therapists, for most people the feeling of a good, heavy therapy session — afterwards, it’s like you just got through a good workout,” Klein said.
