Member Spotlight: Carson Yu, MSW from Region C

By S. Jolene Hui, MSW, LCSW, Membership Director

Carson Yu is ready to be a dedicated and compassionate medical social worker like the one who inspired him to choose social work as a career.

Yu became legally blind at the age of 15 due to a brain tumor that damaged his optic nerves and pituitary gland. He saw many medical specialists in the Bay Area, but the one who stood out most to him was his social worker, Kim.

“When I became blind, I thought my life was over, but Kim was there to make things better,” he recalls. “Because of Kim’s counseling and actions in getting me immediate access to the services in my county, I was able to quickly recover from surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and becoming blind to move forward with my life.”

Yu was inspired to become a medical social worker because of the support of his social worker—who stood by him for years—even attending his graduation from University of California, Berkeley.

Yu considers graduating from Berkeley with his BASW to be his greatest accomplishment. He spent eight years working to complete his degree and says, “I thought I would never get there.”

But he didn’t stop there. His next stop was San Jose State University where he went on to get his MSW in the two-year program.

While at Berkeley, he worked as a teacher’s assistant at a couple of schools in East Oakland in after-school programs. After he graduated, he worked at the escort desk at Doctor’s Medical Center (DMC) in San Pablo. His duties included answering phones for various departments, running errands and escorting patients.

For his field placements, while getting his MSW at SJSU, he went back to a school as a school social worker for his first year. He spent his second year at the Zephyr Self Help center, which is part of the Santa Clara County Behavioral Health agency.

“I provided support to mental health consumers over the age of 18 and facilitated various support groups.”

The fairly new NASW member is currently looking for an entry-level position in the East Bay Area and says, “My goal is to become a medical social worker, but I’m open to different opportunities for the future. Currently, my eyes are set on the social work specialist position with the city and County of San Francisco.”

He adds, “The one thing I have enjoyed most about being a social worker is the ability to help people with what they are going through.”

And, as a new social worker himself, his only advice to other social workers is, “to keep moving forward. It’s worth it.”

Jolene Hui, LCSW, is NASW-CA’s membership director and can be reached at jhui@naswca.org.