Raphael is an autonomous registered charity which has been providing counselling services to the Jewish community in London and the Home Counties since 1979. 

The seeds were sown for Raphael (then called ‘The Raphael Centre’) in the early 1970s. Raphael grew out of the Dympna Centre, which was the Catholic Counselling Centre run by Father Louis Marteau with the help of Irene Bloomfield.  The two of them jointly ran the training programme which trained Rabbis Daniel Smith, Howard Cooper and Harold Vallins.  Occasionally a Jewish client came to the Dympna Centre who would be assigned to a Rabbi.

In 1978, when Rabbi Smith began work at West London Synagogue, he, together with Irene and Louis, felt it was time to have a Jewish Counselling Centre as, at this time, rabbis were still wary of psychotherapy, and were generally reluctant to refer people for psychotherapy or counselling.  They felt they would be more comfortable referring people to a "Jewish" Counselling Centre. 

Rabbi Smith chaired the founding management committee.  He did the PR, advertising for counsellors and clients, as well as liaison work with the Jewish community and fund-raising.  Harry Blacker’s design of the logo, David’s lyre - which was used to sooth the troubled soul of King Saul, is still in use today.

The committee included Bernard Davis (an accountant and ex Chair of RSGB) and Anthony Sacker, a lawyer who arranged for them to become a charity. It also included Father Louis Marteau at the early stages. Rabbi Jonathan Magonet and Rabbi Lionel Blue were involved in the initial consultation group. They, together with Rabbi Hugo Gryn, gave valuable advice, support and encouragement. Irene Bloomfield was the first Clinical Director. She did the diagnostic interviews with clients and supervised the Counsellors' support groups.

After five years Rabbi Smith decided to step down because of Rabbinic commitments and Irene took over the role of Chair as well as continuing as Clinical Director.  When Irene stepped down as Clinical Director she was given the role of Life President. Susan Lewin took over from Irene as Intake Counsellor and later as Clinical Director.

Raphael continued to grow as the need for its services increased. In 1995 Ruth Barnett was appointed as Clinical Director. She led a dedicated team of counsellors and supervisors until 2009 when she retired as Clinical Director and was given the role of Life President. The title of Clinical Director was changed to Head of Clinical Services and the role was taken on in October 2009 and is currently filled by Sara Cooper.

Jack Lynes took over from Dr Nicola Feuchtwang as Chairman of Raphael in April 2003. Subsequently the charity changed its name from ‘The Raphael Centre’ to ‘Raphael - The Jewish Counselling Service’. In March 2008 Roberta Coffer became Chairman having first been involved as a Counsellor in 1999.

A Fundraising and Marketing Committee called ‘The Friends of Raphael’ has been increasing awareness and raising funds since 2001, with only a small group of volunteers.