Susan Hess
Associate Teaching Professor, Practicum Education
Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in trauma-informed care and healing-centered engagement.
Susan Hess
Associate Teaching Professor, Practicum Education
Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in trauma-informed care and healing-centered engagement.
Biography
Susie Hess, MSW, LCSW-IL, is an associate teaching professor of practicum education at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. She is a transnational speaker specializing in trauma-informed care and healing-centered engagement, with a focus on promoting healing and resilience among communities impacted by violence — including survivors of intimate partner violence, individuals affected by incarceration, and those living in regions of conflict and war.
Hess is the co-founder of the Trauma Informed Learning Alliance, where she leads initiatives aimed at strengthening communities through education, healing and collaboration. She is the creator and host of Our Stories Matter, a podcast produced by the Trauma Informed Learning Alliance that explores global themes of community healing through storytelling.
In addition to her relational organizational leadership, Hess serves as faculty advisor to Unchained Scholars and faculty advisor to the Jewish Student Affinity Group at USC, supporting student advocacy, leadership, and inclusion.
Her work has been recognized by the City of Los Angeles Domestic Violence Task Force, which awarded her the Dr. Marjorie Braude Award in October 2013 for her innovative contributions to supporting survivors of domestic violence. Hess also serves on the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Interfaith Advisory Board, where she aims to support cross-sector efforts to address and dismantle polarization on college campuses.
Media
Education
University of Southern California
MSW 1993
Scripps College
BA 1991
Area of Expertise
- Communities experiencing violence, including those affected by intimate partner violence, incarceration and war
- Prison to Higher Education
- Trauma Informed Care
- Healing Centered Engagement
Industry Experience
- Social Services
- Education/Learning
- Health and Wellness
Affiliations
- Trauma Informed LA, Co-Founder
- Unchained Scholars Faculty Advisor
- Our Stories Matter Podcast, Co-Host
- District Attorney Gascon Crime Victim's Advisory Board, Founding Member
- NASW-CA Committee for Nominations and Leadership Identification, Chair
Accomplishments
Marjorie Braude Award
Articles & Publications
Trauma Informed Interview Coaching: An Innovative Approach to Achieve Equal Opportunity and Social Justice in Field Education | Field Educator Simmons School of Social Work
Brown, D., Hess, S. & Singh, M.I. (2020).
Trauma informed interview coaching: An innovative approach to achieve equal opportunity and social justice in field education. The Field Educator (10.1), 1-7.
When the past is present in the classroom: Utilizing a trauma-informed approach in the virtual setting | Cambridge Scholars Publishing
When the past is present in the classroom: Utilizing a trauma-informed approach in the virtual setting. In R.P. Maiden (Ed.), The Transformation of Social Work Education through Virtual Learning. Cambridge Scholars Publishing: London.
Virtual Academic Challenges To Real-Time Trauma | Field Educator
Helping graduate level social work students address and process recent mass casualty violence is a challenge to any classroom. We feel it is especially challenging when the classroom is virtual. While the virtual format allows for video and audio contact, students and instructors may be thousands of miles apart and see each other, like the old Hollywood Squares television program, from only the shoulders to the top of the head. Our Virtual Academic Center (VAC), while in most ways a marvel of technology, does present special challenges when faculty is confronted with such sensitive issues as the killings in Orlando, the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and the shooting of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge.
Transformative social work practice | Intimate partner violence
Hess, S. L. & Eastlund, E. (2015).
Intimate partner violence. Schott, E. M. & Weiss, E. L. (Eds.), Transformative social work practice (pp. 271-282). SAGE Publications.
Partnerships
Faculty Advisor to Unchained Scholars
Faculty Advisor to the Jewish Student Affinity Group
Links
Testimonials
Project Kinship Trauma and Recovery Certification Attendee, Activist | Project Kinship
You are a totally engaging and dynamic presenter!! Your enthusiasm kept all 70 of us (on a zoom!) wide awake till the end at 9pm.
Former Student, Social Worker | USC Suzanne Dworak Peck School of Social Work
"I am forever inspired and evolved because of the sincere self-reflection gained as a member of your class. As always, continue to be a light for other students because it is contagious."