District Coordinators:

Gloria Gesas ~ gegesaslcsw@gmail.com
Tanya Moradians ~ tmoradia@ucla.edu

Although the San Fernando Valley District (in the suburbs of Los Angeles) had previously been inactive for several years, we are now active and thriving once again as we celebrate our fourth anniversary. We continue to grow and offer compelling presentations to clinicians and students in the area. Topics have included diverse clinical subjects, including but not limited to, “Working with Victims of Domestic Violence and their Children” and “Using Humor in Psychotherapy with Older Adults.”

We invite all students and professionals in mental health to come to our meetings regardless of location. We have had attendees travel from as far away as Sacramento and San Diego to hear our outstanding presentations. Our offerings are always posted on the CSCSW website as well as distributed to our members via email. Please contact the district coordinators with any questions.

We held our most recent meeting on February 14 on the topic of how neurobiology, diversity and psychology interplay into psychological diagnoses and treatment. It was a well-attended, dynamic presentation and discussion led by Joel Schwartz, PsyD and Kristen Zaleski, PhD, LCSW.

Our next presentation will be on Sunday, April 10th from 9:30am-12:15pm. Leslie Spero-Schneider, LCSW will speak on mindfulness meditation and self-care for clinicians. More information will be forthcoming.

We are actively growing our connections with many of the surrounding graduate schools of social work, including USC, UCLA, Cal State Northridge and Cal State LA.

The San Fernando Valley District also has an important relationship with the Sanville Institute. Many of the Sanville graduates have presented on subjects from their dissertations as well as on other clinical topics at our district meetings.

District Coordinator Tanya Moradians is one of the founding members of CSCSW. Tanya is a graduate of the Sanville Institute and continues to play an important role in the two organizations. She also regularly attends meetings at the Veterans Administration and shares information about our district meetings.

District Coordinator Gloria Gesas has been a member of CSCSW for 30 years and joined when she was a graduate student in social work at USC. Gloria is particularly interested in outreaching to community mental health agencies and in sharing the many benefits of membership. She is also enthusiastic about liaising with social work faculty and students.