Ed-Dee G. Williams will discuss his research into the mental health of Black youth at the 2025 Pinderhughes Diversity Lecture. Photo by Caitlin Cunningham for BC Photography.
Ed-Dee G. Williams, an assistant professor at the Boston College School of Social Work, is on a quest to improve the mental health of Black youth.
“Ultimately, I want to see all Black youth thrive, live happy lives, and experience mental wellness,” says Williams, whose research examines the interplay between race and mental illness. “The question is how do we start to incrementally move to a point where this community is experiencing more wellness at home, in society, and in the social systems that they navigate?”
Williams is currently developing an application to help Black youth with autism discuss their mental health with teachers and caregivers, a project created in collaboration with a software company called SIMmersion and backed by a two-year $160,000 grant from the Deborah Munroe Noonan Memorial Research Fund.
He plans to discuss his work as the keynote speaker at BCSSW’s 2025 Pinderhughes Diversity Lecture, an annual talk in which doctors, anthropologists, journalists, and other leading experts reflect on a wide range of topics, from poverty to same-sex marriage.
You can register now for his talk, “Resilience and Care: Understanding Black Autistic Youths’ Mental Health and Innovative Mental Health Interventions,” which will be held virtually on Monday, April 28 from noon to 1 p.m.
We asked Williams to provide a preview of his lecture, focusing on his research, the significance of giving a talk in honor of a social work pioneer, and the future trajectory of his work.
What does it mean to you to give a talk named in honor of Elaine Pinderhughes, a professor emerita and social work pioneer whose seminal research revealed that race, ethnicity, and power strongly influence how social workers interact with clients?
When I was an MSW student, I didn’t learn much about Black pioneers in social work. And so to do this talk now in the name of Dr. Pinderhughes, someone who was a Black pioneer of the field and someone who looks like me—I feel honored. Because of her, we have more people of color working in the field today making positive differences. I think representation matters. To see yourself as a leader in a field, to see yourself as someone who can change the direction of a field, is important.
How has her work paved the way for your work today?
Her work, especially in a time in which the field was extremely segregated, really set a tone for more than just diversity. It was a representation of experiences, of lived experiences, of understanding cultural differences.
That's what my work does. And so being able to do that comes from people like Elaine Pinderhughes who were saying, “It’s okay to come in this field and be authentically you and bring in those lived experiences, not just the color of your skin, but who you are as a person, how your culture influences the way you do this work and approach it.”
The title of your talk is “Resilience and Care: Understanding Black Autistic Youths’ Mental Health and Innovative Mental Health Interventions.” What will your lecture focus on?
The talk will focus heavily on the mental health experiences of Black autistic youth based on my research findings. It will have three sections: what we know, what we’re actively learning, and what we need to know.
I like to approach my work from a strength-based perspective, and choose to use words like “resilience” and “strength” versus “mental health challenges” and “mental illness.” Scholars need to understand the experiences of Black autistic youth, as well as how these individuals overcome the barriers that are put in their way, so that we can help build upon their strengths to support them and amplify their experiences to the world.
How will your research factor into your talk?
I’ll talk a little bit about the application. I also have a new paper, under review, looking at depression among Black autistic youth and young adults, and I’ll bring in some of that data as well to look at the demographics and correlates of depression. That will be what we’re actively learning.
I’ll also discuss what data is missing, what community partners aren’t being engaged, and how we bring silenced communities into our work. My work is focused on engaging the community and I really want to engage the community so we can answer these questions.
The last time we talked, you said you had been using grant funding from the Deborah Munroe Noonan Memorial Research Fund to evaluate the feasibility of your training program, testing the app with Black youth with autism, parents, and caregivers, as well as with social workers, special education teachers, and speech pathologists. Where does the project stand now?
We just finished our first year with that grant and we’re going into our second year starting in the fall. We got nearly three dozen participants to use the program so far and SIMmersion is making adaptations to the program as we speak. So at the end of the month, the program will be updated based on the feedback we've gotten, and then we can continue to recruit, have new participants come in, and test the new version of it.
What is the ultimate goal of your research?
I really want to build upon the strengths in the Black and Black autistic communities while growing resilience and lowering the stigma of mental health in these communities. Ultimately, I want to see all Black youth thrive, live happy lives, and experience mental wellness. The question is how do we start to incrementally move to a point in which this community is experiencing more wellness at home, in society, and in the social systems that they navigate? So let’s start chipping away at these barriers that are keeping them from reaching that point of wellness.
What do you hope attendees take away from your talk?
I hope they leave feeling empowered to continue to work in communities that are often overlooked. I hope they leave with more knowledge about autism and depression among Black youth. And I hope people leave inspired to go work in the community whether they are researchers, practitioners, or community advocates. When you bring in community partners, that’s when the work really happens, no matter what area of research you're in, no matter what population you work with.
