Kathleen Pesek is CASL’s Manager of Children and Youth Development. She has worked with children and families for many years and her career has included teaching young children, college students, and parents. After receiving her Master’s Degree from Erikson Institute, she worked with severely emotionally disturbed children at the University of Chicago’s Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School.

In addition, Ms. Pesek spent twelve years at Thresholds as Assistant Program Director and later directed the Parenting Assessment Team; testifying as an expert witness in custody cases involving parental mental illness. Together with colleagues from the University of Illinois, Ms. Pesek co-authored an article on assessing the parenting capacity of mentally impaired parents.