Jessica Aleman, LCSW
Specialty population:
Children, Teens, and Young Adults
- Education
- Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, PA (2005)
- Master’s in Social Work from California University of Pennsylvania (Now called Penn West), California, PA (2008)
- Master’s in Public Administration from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX (2022)
- Job Experience
- Program Specialist II/Foster Care Liaison – Key duties and responsibilities:
- As the designated Foster Care Liaison, provides support, advocacy, and case management to students currently or formerly in the foster care system or who were adopted. This begins at the application process for the University and continues post-graduation and including referrals to resources both on and off campus, assisting students in eliminating barriers to education, and monitoring student records to
- Runs Supervised Independent Living Program (Island Harbor), a partnership with DFPS for students who have aged out of the foster care. Creates programming consistent with contract stipulations, including sessions on life skills topics (ex. time management, budgeting and financial education, managing mental health, etc.), social activities, and one on one sessions to discuss future plans.
- Program promotion and marketing through social media and attendance at community events. Attend tabling opportunities and speaking engagements at events such as health fairs, symposiums, and conferences.
- As the designated Foster Care Liaison, provides support, advocacy, and case management to students currently or formerly in the foster care system or who were adopted. This begins at the application process for the University and continues post-graduation and including referrals to resources both on and off campus, assisting students in eliminating barriers to education, and monitoring student records to
- School Social Worker – Key duties and responsibilities:
- Act as a member of student IEP team, providing social work minutes as needed per the student IEP as well as evaluation of students to determine need for social work services, collecting data for social work goals, assists with functional behavior assessments, and participating in all student IEP meetings.
- Maintain communication with parents, teachers, and community agencies and other stakeholders to ensure a wrap around of services for students. Advocates for access to resources for families and students as necessary.
- Maintained a list of community resources, made referrals as necessary, and hosted these resources on campuses for students to ask questions and get to know how others can assist.
- Mental Health Therapist (Private Practice) – Key duties and responsibilities:
- Provides individual and family therapy to adolescents and young adults in a private practice setting.
- Conducts initial assessments and provide diagnoses based on the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-V and ICD-10 codes, as well as maintaining case notes and documentation for insurance companies.
- School Based Outpatient Therapist – Key duties and responsibilities
- Provided both mental health and drug and alcohol counseling in the form of individual, group, and family therapy sessions for children and adolescents in the school setting for students in 2 school districts across 8 buildings.
- Collaborate with treatment team on the progress and ongoing needs of the clients (students) and making appropriate referrals for the additional services as needed.