Draft:Sonia Wachstein

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Sonia Wachstein is an Austrian psychotherapist, social worker, and writer. She was born in October of 1907, in Vienna, Austria, and died in New York City, New York, in August of 2001.[1]

Early and Family Life[edit]

Sonia was the daughter of Bernhard Wachstein, a historian, bibliographer, and genealogist, and Marie Wachstein, as well as the sister of Maximillian Wachstein.[2] Bernhard Wachstein was the director of the Library of the Kultusgemeinde, the Jewish community of Vienna.[3] She grew up in the western part of Leopoldstadt where there were few Jews.[4] In her early years, Sonia was homeschooled by her mother.[1] She then went on to study English and German at the University of Vienna.[1] In 1938 she wrote a letter to Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart Londonderry asking for his help in securing the release of her brother Max Wachstein, who was in the Dachau concentration camp.[5]

Education and Occupation[edit]

After attending the Chajes Gymnasium in Vienna,[1] she then began to teach there. In 1939, however, Wachstein immigrated to London, England, where she taught both English and German to refugees and other immigrants.[2] She continued to do this for the duration of World War II.[2] In 1944, she immigrated to New York City, where she made a living teaching German at Brooklyn College.[2] Wachstein then entered a work-study program where she went on to earn her Ph.D. in social work at the Graduate School of Social Work at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, finishing in 1946.[2][6] Her dissertation title was Changing Attitudes in Relatives' Responsibilities (Observations made in the Welfare Office of a Japanese Relocation Center).[7] After earning her Ph.D. she became a supervisor in the Brooklyn school system. In 1965 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture at Catholic University of Peru.[8][9] Following retirement, she continued to spread education through teaching English to Russian students at Bryn Mawr College.[2]

Published Works[edit]

Wachstein published several articles regarding the development, analysis, and treatment of childhood mental disorders.[1] Two of her works, published in the journal Child Welfare, are Child Guidance Without Involving Parents?[10] and News from the Field, Bedford Stuyvesant's PS83. A School for Healing.[11] She also published an article entitled, An Austrian Solution to the Problem of Child Placement.[12] These works were focused on offering tangible solutions to growing mental health concerns among adolescents in school after World War II.[1] In 2001 she published Too Deep Were Our Roots: A Viennese Jewish memoir of the years between the two world wars (foreward by James Monaco), a personal account of her memories living in Vienna between World War I and World War II.[13]

Legacy[edit]

Sonia Wachstein was known for her research in social work and psychotherapy.[1] She published research about equity problems in youth mental health based on her direct observation in the New York City Public School system.[14] As early as the 1960s, Sonia Wachstein observed the evident socioeconomic divide regarding access to privatized healthcare, especially therapy and other mental health services.[14] In spite of this, she advocated for direct psychiatric and psychological screening in public schools, clear pathways from a social worker to a therapist, and confidentiality for youth in therapy sessions without parents present.[14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Sonia Wachstein Collection". archives.cjh.org. Center for Jewish History. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Sonia Wachstein".
  3. ^ Hacken, Richard (2002). "The Jewish Community Library in Vienna: From Dispersion and Destruction to Partial Restoration". The Leo Baeck Institute Year Book. 47 (1). Oxford Academic: 151–172. doi:10.1093/leobaeck/47.1.151.
  4. ^ Silverman, Lisa (2012). "Vienna's Jewish Geography: The Leopoldstadt in Interwar Literature". Becoming Austrians: Jews and Culture between the World Wars. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199794843.
  5. ^ Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart Londonderry (2022). "Appeasement and War". In Fleming, N.C. (ed.). Aristocracy, Democracy and Dictatorship: The Political Papers of the Seventh Marquess of Londonderry. Vol. 63. Cambridge University Press. p. 294.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "Graduate and Undergraduate Degrees are Conferred". Vol. 32, no. 26. Bryn Mawr College News. p. 3.
  7. ^ "Students' Dissertations in Sociology". American Journal of Sociology. 52 (1): 51–59. 1946. (see p. 58)
  8. ^ "Sonia Wachstein". fulbrightscholars.org. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  9. ^ "U.S. Lecturers and Research Scholars: A Preliminary Listing | Educational and Cultural Exchange Program Fiscal Year 1965" (PDF). libraries.uark.edu. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. October 1965. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  10. ^ Wachstein, Sonia (1960). "Child Guidance Without Involving Parents?". Child Welfare. 39 (4): 19–25. JSTOR 45398316.
  11. ^ Wachstein, Sonia (1972). "Bedford Stuyvesant's P.S. 83: A School for Healing". Child Welfare. 51 (10): 650–657. JSTOR 45392833. PMID 4664286.
  12. ^ Wachstein, Sonia (1963). "An Austrian Solution to the Problem of Child Placement". Child Welfare. 42 (2): 82–85. JSTOR 45399778.
  13. ^ Wachstein, Sonia (2001). Too Deep Were Our Roots: A Viennese Jewish memoir of the years between the two world wars. Harbor Electronic Publishing. ISBN 9780970703927.
  14. ^ a b c Wachstein, Sonia (1961). "Therapy for Children without Parent Involvement". Social Work. 6 (4). Oxford Academic: 76–81. doi:10.1093/sw/6.4.76.
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