LASSW Board Members

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Chelsea Trice, LCSW-BACS, serves as Director of Behavior Health at Thrive Academy, a unique public and part-time boarding school focused on serving youth experiencing adversity. She received her BSW in 2012 from Southeastern Louisiana University and MSW from Louisiana State University. During her undergraduate career, Chelsea served on the NASW-LA board as the BSW Student Representative.

Chelsea has practiced school social work for ten years, the entirety of her professional career. She began her school social work journey as part of Capital Area’s school-based therapy program before transitioning to Thrive as their first social worker. Her role has been instrumental in helping Thrive transition into becoming a trauma-informed campus. 

Chelsea is passionate about mentoring the next generation of school social workers and has supervised several school social work graduate students. Her future goals for School Social Work are to create better processes for intensive therapeutic care for student with significant mental health needs and to help other school campuses across Louisiana be empowered to implement trauma-informed practices.

Levillia Moore is an experienced nonprofit and education professional with a strong foundation in youth development, school-based mental health, and community engagement. For over a decade, she has worked closely with children, youth, and families—designing and managing programs that support the whole student while strengthening family and community systems. 

Levillia has successfully led and administered over $3.8 million in federal grant funding, including a $1.8 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. These initiatives focused on expanding access to school-based mental health services, promoting student well-being, workforce development and building capacity for long-term support within educational settings. 

She is a dedicated mental health advocate and active member of the Louisiana Association of School Social Workers. Levillia also contributes to national funding conversations as a grant reviewer for various federal agencies, bringing insight into program design, evaluation, and compliance. Her areas of expertise include contract renewals, partnership development, community collaboration, and outcome-driven reporting. 

Beyond her professional work, Levillia is deeply rooted in her local community through youth-focused volunteerism and advocacy. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening and operates a small local business—Lev by VeRochel, Co. combining her love for natural wellness, creativity, and entrepreneurship. 

Brandi Gonzales is a licensed clinical social worker and the Supervisor of Student Services for the Tangipahoa Parish School System. She graduated from LSU in 1999 and practiced medical social work briefly before beginning her career in school social work.  She worked in the areas of Special Education (Iberia Parish Schools 2001-2004), administration, supervision and policy (Louisiana Department of Education 2004-2005) and Child Welfare and Attendance (Lafayette Parish Schools 2005-2013 and Tangipahoa Parish Schools 2013-present).  She is passionate about whole school climate and culture and schoolwide behavior prevention. She was a member of the state’s initial training team for PBIS and managed two large federal grants aimed at increasing student safety and wellbeing and access to quality mental health care (Louisiana Safe and Supportive Schools Initiative and LA-AWARE 2). She pioneered school-community partnerships to expand mental health access in her district.  She also oversees 27 full time school counselors which have multidisciplinary backgrounds including traditional school counselors, LPCs and LCSWs.  She is excited to finally see an organization formed that can provide voice to the changing needs of school systems, students and families.