Alec Ross

Al Ross graduated from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and is a licensed clinical social worker and certified substance abuse counselor. He has worked in the field of clinical social work for over 40 years. Working with children, adolescents and families, he has provided a wide array of crisis intervention, early intervention and prevention services as well as clinical treatment to individuals, couples, families and groups. Currently, Al is the Senior Director of Clinical Practice at Juvenile Protective Association (JPA) providing ongoing supervision and training for all the agency’s clinical services, including teacher consultation and school-based therapy, in several Chicago South Side and West Side neighborhoods.

Currently, Al is an adjunct instructor at the Erikson Institute. He has had the privilege of teaching Foundations in Anti-Oppressive Reflective Practice, Trauma-Informed Social Work Practice, while also developing and teaching Advanced Clinical Practice with Addiction.

I am deeply committed to the field of clinical social work practice and am passionate about what differentiates clinical social work practice from our colleagues in other clinical disciplines. Recognizing and integrating the socio-political context in our thinking about the development of the person, the evolution of problematic experiences and clinical approaches that embrace the larger context, is, in my mind, a significant difference in terms of how we look at and address the human condition in all of work.