Sumiko Tanaka Hennessy was born on November 8,1937 and is an American social worker, trauma therapist, academic, and activist for the Asian-American community in Denver, Colorado.
19 Facts About Sumiko Hennessy
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Sumiko Hennessy was a founding board member and later executive director of the Asian Pacific Development Center, which provides mental health services, counseling, education, and youth activities for the Asian immigrant community in the Denver metropolitan area.
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Sumiko Hennessy studied French at an Alliance Francaise school with an eye to pursuing a diplomatic career.
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Sumiko Hennessy next enrolled at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, but upon learning that as a woman, she would never qualify to be an ambassador for Japan, she switched her career plans to social work.
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Sumiko Hennessy earned her bachelor's degree in French, and then studied as a scholarship student at a Belgian school of social work in 1960.
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Sumiko Hennessy combined her university studies with half-time work as chief social worker in the Division for Developmental Disabilities of the Colorado Department of Institutions.
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Sumiko Hennessy submitted her doctoral dissertation on the topic A study of factors related to the attitudes of public social workers toward case management.
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From 1980 to 1984 Sumiko Hennessy was the assistant superintendent of education and therapy at Ridge Home for the Developmentally Disabled in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
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In October 1980 Sumiko Hennessy was a co-founder of the Asian Pacific Development Center, which provides mental health and social services, counseling, and education for Asian American immigrants in the Denver metropolitan area.
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Sumiko Hennessy served as a board member of the center for its first three years, then became executive director from 1984 to 2000.
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Sumiko Hennessy herself raised funds for the center's services by giving lectures and leading courses for corporations on "understanding Asian cultures, stress management Asian-style, and doing business in Asia".
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In February 1984 Sumiko Hennessy co-founded the Asian Chamber of Commerce in Denver.
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In 2000 Sumiko Hennessy assisted in inaugurating the Tokyo University of Social Welfare and became the school's assistant dean of field education.
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Sumiko Hennessy is considered an expert in child abuse and attachment disorder.
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Sumiko Hennessy wrote the foreword to the 2014 book Attachment, Trauma, and Healing: Understanding and Treating Attachment Disorder in Children, Families and Adults.
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Sumiko Hennessy received the Outstanding Leadership Award from the Asian Human Services Organization in 1984, the Women at Work award from the Council on Working Women in 1986, and the Silk Wings Award from the National Network of Asian and Pacific Women in 1988.
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Sumiko Hennessy was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1989.
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Sumiko Hennessy met her husband, Richard Hennessy, while both were studying at the Fordham Graduate School of Social Service.
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Sumiko Hennessy is fluent in Japanese, French and English, and reads and writes Chinese.