Jessica Aldrich Strassman

Programs and Courses Taught

SW 611: Generalist Social Work

About Me

Jessica Aldrich Strassman, DSW, LCSW, (she/her) is a DSW graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice and MSW graduate from Catholic University School of Social Work in Washington, DC. Licensed in California since 2001, she currently operates a private practice in San Rafael working with adolescents and young adults. Dr. Aldrich Strassman began her career working in the child welfare system focusing on permanency planning, especially for adolescents in foster care. She served as clinical supervisor and program director in several Bay area non-profit foster care agencies overseeing and developing permanency programs for children. 

Much of her employment was based within LGBTQ+, bilingual, and multicultural foster care agencies. Dr. Aldrich Strassman graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s DSW program in 2024. Her dissertation explored the intergenerational impact of trauma narratives in forced migration. She continues to collaborate with research teams conducting qualitative research in a variety of human rights issues. Dr. Aldrich Strassman taught a MSW foundation course at the University of Nevada Reno in 2022 and worked as a T.A. offering writing support to master’s level SP2 students during her time as a doctoral student, before working as Adjunct Professor at Samuel Merritt University.

Education

Dr. Aldrich Strassman received her B.A. from Villanova University (1988) and her MSW from Catholic University of America (1995). In 2024, she graduated with a DSW from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice. She currently is pursuing a M.A. from the University of London in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies and is expected to graduate in 2026.

Teaching Interests

Dr. Aldrich Strassman is interested in teaching all levels of MSW courses including clinical, research, policy, and elective courses with specialized content areas including adolescent mental health, work with families and children, and work with refugee and migrant communities.

Scholarly Interests

Dr. Aldrich Strassman is a qualitative researcher focused on the lived experiences of historically marginalized, silenced, or misunderstood communities. Her dissertation research at the University of Pennsylvania featured an oral history project on the forcibly displaced ethnic German population from WWII, examining the socio-political impact on intergenerational trauma transmission (Grounding Intergenerational War Trauma Stories in Historical Socio-Political Context: World War II Ethnic Germans in the United States). She received a grant from the Jews of Color Initiative for her study titled Aging Jews of Color and Their Lived Experiences of Resilience in Times of Social Unrest. 

Dr. Strassman is currently serving as guest editor for a special edition on antisemitism for the Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. She recently participated in a summer program with the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, in collaboration with the University of Athens, to study forced migration in the EU. She continues her graduate education in refugee protection and forced migration studies at the University of London. She has presented at the Society for Social Work Research on retraumatization after the invasion in Ukraine (2022) and her dissertation research (2023).

Publications

Aldrich Strassman, J. (2024). Grounding intergenerational war trauma stories in historical socio-political context: World War II ethnic Germans in the United States (Doctoral dissertation). University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy & Practice Strassman, J. A., Schwartz, S. L., Weiss, E. L., & Petrila, A. (2022). Everyone’s war becomes my war: The far-reaching impact of the invasion of Ukraine. Advances in Social Work, 22(1), v-x. DOI: 10.18060/26263.

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

NASW, SSWR

Community Service

Dr. Aldrich Strassman provides crisis intervention support in the Bay area. She volunteered with the Salvation Army during the Santa Rosa fires. She is a regular volunteer with the SF/Marin Food Bank. She also seeks out service experiences within the refugee and migrant community in the Bay area and abroad.

Honors & Awards

2024 DSW graduate of University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice Her Op-Ed focusing on the need for mental health services in forcibly displaced populations was chosen to be published on the Harvard/FXB website this December 2024