About the Author
Dr. Monnica Williams
Monnica T. Williams, PhD, ABPP, grew up in San Jose, California, a multicultural community that fostered her love for cultural diversity. Her parents were both Civil Rights activists who grew up in the South under the weight of Jim Crow segregation. They attended university as just as Black people across America were fighting for basic human rights and dignity. Her father’s college roommate, John Lewis, was the esteemed late U.S. Representative, and her mother protested at the U.S. Capitol alongside Dr. Angela Davis.
Education & Position
Having grown up in Silicon Valley, Dr. Williams originally studied engineering and computer science at MIT before deciding to dedicate her career to mental health. She is a board-certified licensed clinical psychologist and Professor at the University of Ottawa, in the School of Psychology, where she is the Canada Research Chair in Mental Health Disparities. She has founded mental health clinics in Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, and is currently the Clinical Director of the Behavioral Wellness Clinics in Connecticut and Ottawa, where she provides supervision and training to clinicians for empirically-supported treatments.
Distinguished Career
Prior to her move to Canada in 2019, Dr. Williams was on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School (2007–2011); the University of Louisville in Psychological and Brain Sciences (2011–2016), where she served as the Director of the Center for Mental Health Disparities; and the University of Connecticut (2016–2019), where she had appointments in both Psychological Science and Psychiatry. Dr. Williams’ research focuses on culture, racism, and psychopathology, and she has published over 200 scientific articles on these topics. Current projects include treatment of racial trauma, cultural issues in obsessive-compulsive disorder, improving cultural competence in the delivery of mental health care services, and interventions to reduce racism. She also gives diversity trainings nationally for clinical psychology programs, scientific conferences, and community organizations.
Professional Highlights
Through the Kentucky Psychological Association (KPA), Dr. Williams has served as the diversity delegate to Washington DC for the American Psychological Association (APA) State Leadership Conference for two consecutive years. Dr. Williams considers the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) one of her main professional homes. She served as the ABCT African American SIG leader for many years, Chair of the Academic Training & Education Standards (ATES) Committee, and Associate Editor of two ABCT journals. She serves on the editorial board of many other journals as well, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, International Journal of Mental Health, Journal of Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapist. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International OCD Foundation and co-founded their Diversity Council. In 2023, she was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada (photo). Her work has been featured in all major U.S. and Canadian media outlets, including NPR, CBS, CTV, Huffington Post, and The New York Times.
