Jennifer is a Licensed Clinical Social worker who worked in community mental health for almost 30 years before leaving to work solely in a private practice she started in 2012. She became internationally certified to treat problem gamblers and their families around the time the Rivers Casino opened in Pittsburgh, PA in 2009. Jennifer received an Associate in American Sign Language and Certificate in Deaf Studies from CCAC at the start of her career. She taught Mental Health First Aid in the community for 10 years and helped to support the first 2 trainers in the United States who were Deaf to get trained, which they were then able to teach in the community and were invited to teach it to 2 groups in Kentucky.
Jennifer has been a member of the Allegheny County Behavioral Task Force for Persons who are Deaf, Deafblind or hard of hearing since its inception in 2004 and serves on a committee for HealthBridges (www.HealthBridges.info), a website that provides information on behavioral healthcare, social services, and advocacy information for people who are Deaf, Deafblind or hard of hearing. Jennifer has participated in many art exhibits throughout the years- providing an outlet for the clients to display and sell their artwork-something that always brought such pride to them. She has been volunteering for Sage’s Army in Irwin, PA for 7 years and co-facilitates a grief group, Grasp, for people who have lost someone to addiction. She has also helped to start a substance addiction ministry (SAM) at her church.
Jessica is a visual artist using photography, mostly analog, as her primary discipline. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University, a Professional Certificate in Photography from Maine Media, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the College of Fine Arts at Ohio University. It was there in Athens, OH where she started volunteering in art therapy for adults and teens diagnosed with mental illness. Recognizing how strong a voice becomes with art therapy and witnessing the strong friendships among people in these groups, Jessica wanted to continue volunteering. While teaching photography at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh and Robert Morris University, she started a photo-therapy group where Jennifer was working at the time. During these years, Jessica, Jennifer, and the group had numerous group and solo exhibits, and one permanent collection. While there, Jessica took a course in Mental Health First Aid, and was nominated for and won the Jefferson Award in 2011. Currently, Jessica’s volunteer efforts are focused on Our Voice and the PSU Extension Master Gardener program.
(Jennifer) I was working at a community mental health center when Jessica approached me in 2008. She wanted to volunteer to teach photography to our clients. I thought it was a wonderful idea and complemented so well what we were already doing in the way of expressive arts.
(Jessica) I wanted to continue what I was doing in Athens, Ohio, and researched similar places in Pittsburgh with the help of colleagues in Athens. My first call was to a community mental health center where Jennifer was the current director, and so she was my first contact.
(Jennifer) I knew a small group of people who would be ideal for the project Jessica was thinking of starting. I had no problem enticing them to join. My supervisor was most generous in supporting us and allowing us to purchase the supplies. We began with point and shoot disposable cameras. Later progressing to purchasing digital cameras for each of them.
(Jessica) By brainstorming together, we figured out that we would do a photo-therapy group. It started with 4 people and grew to 6 at one time. It was the perfect size group for doing field trips and exhibits, as well as taking time with each other’s photos.
(Jennifer) Some of the people started to drift off. Unfortunately we lost a few to illness. Things were changing at work. I guess all good things must come to an end. It was sad. But we had a wealth of good memories.
(Jessica) I moved about 25 miles west of the city, so it was harder for me to commit to weekly meetings. So we stopped but kept in touch. We occasionally met up with the original group, but it was never the same.
(Jennifer) My personal practice was gaining roots and doing well. COVID hit. And things were forever changed. I moved and eventually left the center to focus solely on my private practice. But I did miss the creative projects.
(Jessica) Once in a while we would meet for lunch and brainstorm new ideas. Finally we settled on something and the timing just worked for our personal lives too. Our Voice was conceived at the end of 2023.
Each year, millions of Americans are affected by this condition, which brings on significant mood changes in response to the changing of seasons.
Typically SAD occurs during late fall and winter months, when there is less sunlight and colder weather. The symptoms usually lift during the spring and summer months.