Cherelle Maschè Williams

Bio:

Cherelle Masché Williams of Richmond, Virginia has a strong and steady passion for advocating for underprivileged and marginalized groups, which has become a specialized focus within her career. While attending Randolph-Macon College she challenged the status quo and advocated for minority groups on campus.

These acts sparked two research studies on bicultural competence and how to increase discussion about race within the psychology research department. Her research interests, which centered on making social impacts, motivated her to attend Walden University’s master’s of science in clinical psychology program, where she researched scientific frameworks which were inclusive of all individuals. During her masters program, she studied gaps in multiculturalism and family system approaches to treatment programs. Her graduate project emphasized a need for an integrative therapeutic approach in order to make significant social change. She began to develop a model that may be used within school system environments to teach all types of learners despite their abilities and she applied this knowledge while supporting teachers of inclusive classrooms in the Henrico Public School System.

In 2016, She traveled with the Global Autism Project to the Dominican Republic and helped to lead Applied Behavior Analysis training at a center for autism. During this time learning how to work with people from various backgrounds and utilize teaching as well as intervention strategies that were culturally sensitive. She has applied this experience to her advocacy and involvement in the local community as community outreach chair of the Autism Society of Central Virginia’s junior board and within the field of Applied Behavior Analysis as a research-practitioner focusing on cultural humility approaches to behavior change programs. She has presented comprehensive models based on empirical studies which contribute to the development of cultural competence and responsiveness. She has continuously shared the importance of culturally driven dissemination of the science of Behavior Analysis during conference presentations at Berkshire Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy, Behavior Analysis Leadership Council and the upcoming Association for Behavior Analysis International conference.

She is extremely enthusiastic about applying years of research and advocacy within psychology to the scientific framework of behavior analysis. So much so, she is now a graduate student in Behavior Analysis at Florida Institute of Technology and is leading the way to developing a comprehensive approach to cultural responsiveness within her company at Family Insight PC which provides mental health services across the state of Virginia.

Abstract:

Chapter 12: CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS
The Development and Implications of Cultural Responsive Practices to Behavior Change Programs

The chapter argues that being culturally responsive is integral for behavior change programs to improve the human condition. The lack of a cultural responsiveness can lead to detrimental outcomes such as insufficient progress and inability to generalize behavior change strategies into various environmental contexts. In particular, the author tested the hypothesis that a comprehensive approach to cultural responsiveness would result in increased family engagement in a single case study. The results indicated that not only did family engagement increase, but client outcomes also increased with a decrease in maladaptive behaviors. Implications for cultural responsiveness which require in-depth training and assessment of individual values are discussed.