HEATHER LEE

PhD, LCSW

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), licensed to work with residents in Illinois and New Jersey. I specialize in a harm reduction model to humanize care for individuals struggling with alcohol and other drug use. My work is influenced by a Critical Pedagogy framework recognizing systems of power and oppression in individual lives and ways to promote healing to those who seek it.

I collaborate with clients through honest dialogue to identify goals for optimal growth. Care is individualized, and I meet clients who are free to support the self-determination of where they want to be.

My professional mission is to humanize care for marginalized people through clinical practice, research, and teaching. My research focuses on understanding why so many avoid treatment to identify solutions toward access. My interest in this stems from early experience witnessing my own family member’s dehumanization in care settings. I came to understand that there must be a better way. My clinical work centers around this “better way,” which I have learned about through my qualitative research on harm reduction. It is also the topic of my forthcoming book to be published by Routledge in 2023.

I am interested in working with any client struggling in life who believes they may benefit from a therapeutic relationship. My practice is not limited to those struggling with substance misuse but also depression, anxiety, grief, loss, etc. I am also interested in integrating the arts in healing for clients who desire it. I also have a particular interest in grief and loss.

I currently teach Humanism and Medicine at Rutgers University and am the New Jersey chapter secretary for the Association for Women in Science.

EDUCATION —

Ph.D. Educational Policy Studies 2006

AM Social Work (MSW-equivalent, University of Chicago) 2010

ASSOCIATIONS —

Association for Women in Science

National Association of Social Workers

TRAININGS AND CERTIFICATIONS —

Arts in Health Summer Intensive at the University of Florida, 2015