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Ed-Dee G. Williams is on a mission to improve the mental health of Black youth, with a particular emphasis on making it easier for them to seek help for depression.聽

His agenda, he says, addresses a聽聽facing Black teens today: Although they are at higher risk for depression than their white counterparts, they are less likely to receive treatment for the condition.

鈥淯ltimately, I want all Black youth to feel happy. I want them to have access to resources that help them get to a place of peace,鈥� says Williams, a new assistant professor in the Boston College School of Social Work who joined the faculty in July. 鈥淢y more direct goal is to understand what depression looks like for Black youth and think about what kind of services we can build to provide support.鈥�

Williams recently teamed up with a software company called to develop a virtual training program that will prepare Black youth with autism to discuss depression with their teachers and caregivers.

The intervention, still in the early stages of development, will use video and speech recognition to make it seem as though users are having live conversations with teachers who are responding to their statements in real-time. In actuality, users will be talking to simulations of teachers, played by actors, who have been given scripts to provide a variety of typical but unpredictable reactions to what they say.聽

At each turn in the conversation, users will select what to say from a list of premade options and receive feedback based on their choices. Each conversation will be unique, so users can practice honing their conversational skills until they feel ready to share their stories with adults who can help them.聽聽

鈥淭he hope is that when they finish the practice conversation, they have a better understanding of depression and feel more confident in having a real conversation with someone,鈥� says Williams. 鈥淪o when they do feel suicidal, they can talk to their teacher and then ask them to help have this conversation with their parents.鈥�

Williams started the project in 2021 as a postdoc at the聽Level Up: Employment Simulation Skills Lab聽at the University of Michigan and designed the program with input from Black youth, who are currently pilot testing the intervention. He envisions a future in which the application, tentatively titled 鈥淎sking for Help,鈥� is commercially available to schools, therapists, and parents, and he hopes to adapt the app to meet the needs of other populations, too.聽聽

鈥淟et鈥檚 start by focusing on Black autistic youth who are under-resourced and under-supported,鈥� says Williams, whose brother has autism. 鈥淎nd then, after it works, we can think about how to tailor it to other communities.鈥�

If not for a stroke of serendipity, Williams might not be working with SIMmersion. In fact, he might not have entered the field of social work.

After changing his major from architecture to sociology as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, Williams didn鈥檛 know what he wanted to do after graduation. It was fall 2012, he was a senior, and time was running out to decide. One day, he checked his mailbox and found a flier advertising an open house for his school鈥檚 M.S.W. program.聽

Williams didn鈥檛 know much about social work back then, but he decided to attend the event anyway. 鈥淚t was really interesting to hear about the clinical work that social workers do, the policy work that they do, and the advocacy work that they do,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥楾his sounds dope. I want to do that.鈥欌�澛�

Williams applied to the University of Michigan鈥檚 M.S.W. program and got in, specializing in interpersonal practice and mental health. He completed his field placement as a behavioral therapist for youth at a residential facility in a city called Albion, an experience that, he says, shap