ABOUT Alejandra Cortez
Licensed Clinical SOcial Worker
“I'm a firm believer social workers have a unique skillset that will help provide powerful change”
My life mission has always been to give back to my community, specifically my Latinx and North-East Los Angeles (NELA) community. Social work has been a journey that has aligned with this mission! I was able to practice social work in diverse setteings and learned the value of my social work skillsets and was ready to take on the world.
After graduation I served the NELA community as a bilingual psychotherapist. The road to getting licensed was challenging and simultaneously rewarding. I was a therapist on call for high-risk clients throughout the years, provided outpatient services, and provided home and school-based services for children and teens in the Latinx Community. After 3 years, I obtained my License as a Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) but at a cost - some PTSD with a side of burnout. I knew that I needed out and recognized that the system needed to change to stop the cycle for those entering the profession.
Did it get better? YES! Life came full circle and I am now working in my NELA community, creating and implementing a youth leadership program while working with various community partners. My social Worker Dream.
Is there hope? Yes! I'm currently in a job I love, doing what I wanted to do with my MSW in my beloved NELA community.
This journey has also made me discover the need to help my Social Work community. I don't want social workers to go through the same struggles that I did. I don't want you or your organization to give up on social work. I want to highlight the diversity in skills that social worker has and how badass the profession. We have valuable skillsets! We have to believe it and make sure others know it! Let’s change the narrative together!
