Social Services

ASA believes that a student’s self-awareness facilitates his or her ability to develop comprehensively. This philosophy is embedded into our academic curriculum, extracurricular programming and our counseling and social services. Our objective: to fulfill within each student the following six developmental values and needs:

• Maturity in self-acceptance and realistic self-evaluation;
  
• The ability to identify with and participate in an accepted social construct;
  
• The ability to think independently and assume responsibility for personal choices;
  
• Perseverance in identifying and achieving education and life goals;
  
• The ability to develop relationships of trust in a non-threatening environment;
  
• The development of self-affirmation and personal respect.

ASA has joined forces with the Alternative Schools Network (ASN), Community Services West (CSW), the City Colleges of Chicago, the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) and the state’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), to offer a full range of wrap-around support services to aid students in balancing school and life issues at home and in the community. Through our staff of certified counselors, social workers and case managers, ASA provides individual, peer, family, health advocacy and guidance counseling. An emphasis is placed on removing all social barriers to academic success in an effort to keep students in school and focused on completing high school and earning a diploma.