Rachel Williams, LMSW

During the time that she was working with young children of immigrant families in Southwest Detroit, Rachel was invited to provide training to school teachers and local community leaders in Honduras about empowering the community to stop rampant child sexual abuse.  Along with a colleague, Rachel developed a manual on assessing child trauma and abuse, recognizing the signs of a child predator, and interventions that promote healing in children.  When it came time to give the presentation, the venue was standing room only – filled with community leaders not only from the local villages in Comayagua and Meambar, Honduras, but throughout the entire country – and some had even come from Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica.  Struck by the demand for clinical support in this area, Rachel moved from Grosse Pointe to Honduras in 2006 and stayed there for almost two years, working as a counselor at a school.  She also visited local elementary schools throughout Honduras, giving assemblies for children about how they can be empowered to speak up about child sexual abuse and seek help.  

Outside of her work overseas, Rachel has a broad range of experience, including working as a therapist at a private clinic, coordinating services for children with special needs, and collaborating on a neighborhood improvement initiative in Detroit. Today, Rachel is a certified school social worker, currently working with black and Latino children with emotional and behavioral disorders.  She travels regularly to the Dominican Republic to translate for medical missions.  Rachel received a bachelor’s degree in 1999 in Spanish and Sociology from La Salle University in Philadelphia and a master’s degree in 2001 in Social Work (Interpersonal Practice with Children and Youth) from the University of Michigan School of Social Work in Ann Arbor.

Rachel teaches the following TLC online course:

Unique Clinical Needs for Children of Color

When compared to the mainstream population, minorities have different cultural expectations as well as different clinical needs. As the minority population of the United States continues to increase, professional clinicians must not merely acknowledge the clinical needs of children of color, but they must also expand their clinical expertise to include those needs. Though the clinical needs of all children should be individualized, there are some cultural considerations that should be taken into account when planning interventions for the treatment of a child of color. This introductory course will touch on the broader needs of black and Latino children in the United States, though many of the principles may be applied to children of other ethnic backgrounds.