Sunshine Wu Fisher M.A., LCSW

I am a licensed clinical social worker and have been working with children and families since 1999.  I was born and raised in Hong Kong, where I spoke English and Mandarin at home, was educated through the British system in school, and spoke Cantonese out in the streets.  I have also since picked up Spanish while working with latino communities in the bay area.  I came to America for my undergraduate studies, graduating from Williams College (a liberal arts college in Massachusetts) with a BA in Psychology and a concentration in Neuroscience.  I moved to the Bay Area after that, and have made my home here ever since.
My first job was as a family advocate providing child development and parenting support to low-income families with young children.  I was fascinated by the way children quickly grew from knowing nothing about the world into little people with their unique personalities, beliefs, and outlooks.  I was equally enamored with the work of supporting parents, who have the tremendous job of loving, teaching, and providing for their children each and every day throughout their lives.  I knew then that this was the field I wanted to dedicate myself to.
My interest in understanding the psychological needs of children and families led me to pursue my Masters in Social Work at UC Berkeley, with a Community Mental Health focus. I have been working since 2004 as a mental health consultant to preschools and child development programs in San Francisco and the Peninsula, where I help parents and teachers strategize ways to help children with developmental and/or behavioral challenges.  This is also where you will find me when I am not working at BACA. My particular strengths are in early childhood mental health, parent-child relationships and dynamics, culture and immigration, trauma, working with school systems and special education.  I am excited to be a part of the BACA team, and believe wholeheartedly in its mission to provide comprehensive and effective mental health services to children, by partnering closely with parents and working together to help their children attain success.