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Lisseth and her daughter
Lisseth and her daughter Elena

When Lisseth Jurado Quiroga arrived at NAFI Connecticut, Inc. fresh out of graduate school at age 24, she possessed the “I’m going to save the world” enthusiasm of youth.

As a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), she has been doing just that for individuals in need over the past seven years, and now Lisseth is moving on to a new leadership role as an MST-Emerging Adult (EA) consultant with Science to Practice (s2p).

MST-EA stands for multisystemic therapy for emerging adults, a therapeutic model for transforming the lives of troubled youth and their families.

Lisseth’s time at NAFI CT will always reside at the heart of her success story in progress.

“NAFI’s always going to be my home. I feel like I grew up in NAFI,” Lisseth said. “I can’t think of leaving, even though I am. It was a difficult decision to move on because of all the relationships and my experience at NAFI, but it’s time to take a leap of faith, knowing that NAFI has my back.”

“She’s a prime example of someone ‘climbing the ranks’ within NAFI, and now beyond. While we are sad to lose her, we want to celebrate this important achievement,” said Jessica Clow, Director of Training & Development for NAFI CT.

“We have been so fortunate to have Lisseth with us over these past seven years,” said Diane Thompson, Project Director for the MST Standard, MST PSB, and MST-EA Programs. “It has been a pleasure to witness her journey with us, starting with MST as a newly graduated MSW, and now as a confident, resourceful and knowledgeable MST EA expert. Lisseth’s ‘can do’ problem solving and creative flair always brings much value to our MST management team. We will miss her as we truly celebrate the accomplishments which have led her to this next step in her professional visioning.”

See Lisseth’s goodbye letter at the bottom

Initially working an MST therapist as part of the Waterbury team, Lisseth excelled and became lead therapist, and in March 2018 she was elevated to MST-EA Clinical Supervisor.

In 2016, and again in 2018, Lisseth was honored as NAFI CT’s Employee of the Year for Community-Based Services. The 2018 honor came with this praise:

NAFI is lucky to have an employee like Lisseth Jurado. Not only is she extremely hard-working and intelligent, but she is a supportive, understanding, and a devoted employee. Lisseth has often stated she would love to stay at NAFI long-term and was so excited when a supervisor position opened. She has always spoken so highly of this agency and brags about her co-workers and the sense of family at NAFI. For this, we are grateful. 

In the past year, she was promoted from the Waterbury team and although they were extremely sad to see her go, they could not be more proud or think anyone deserved the job more than her. Lisseth has always been there for her team, whether it was to help with cases, offer support during stressful times, or to send funny memes to brighten their day. Now new therapists are fortunate enough to have her as part of their team. She knows just want to say to turn someone’s day around by sending a funny picture or by printing some sarcastic saying to hang up in our offices. Not only is she hilariously funny, but she is also full of insight and wisdom.

Lisseth has a welcoming and warm personality, never judges, and doesn’t have a negative bone in her body. We all know that if there is anything we ever need, Lisseth will go out of her way to help us. And for that, we say thank you, not only for what you’ve done for NAFI CT, but also for being authentically you. We are proud to recognize Lisseth Jurado as the 2018 Community-Based Employee of the Year!

“It’s bittersweet. It’s not an easy decision,” Lisseth said of moving on to her new challenge as an MST-EA consultant.

Lisseth is moving from supervising MST-EA teams to being a consultant who provides training to teams at partner organizations in other states, as well as performing third party peer quality assurance (QA).

It’s a role she can perform virtually, which means spending more time with her 10-month-old daughter, Elena, and remaining in Connecticut.

After making the decision to leave NAFI—at least for now—Lisseth reached out to Leila Zureiqi Connor, MST-EA Assistant Program Director for NAFI CT, and fellow MST-EA Clinical Supervisor Amanda Jacobs.

“I’ve never had bigger cheerleaders,” Lisseth said, also expressing appreciation for the support of Quality Assurance Coordinator Abby Okarmus, and Clinical Supervisor Laura Smith.

Lisseth’s Goodbye Letter:

Lisseth’s goodbye letter