Christopher Williams, Ed.L.D., MSW
Director of School-Based Mental Health and Wellness
Socials
Biography
Dr. Christopher Williams is the Director of School-Based Mental Health and Wellness at the Sacramento County Office of Education. He leads a team intent on bringing the health and education systems together as partners to create a continuum of care for mental health and wellness throughout Sacramento County. The team’s mission is to intervene as early as possible to: eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline, reduce the number of ‘system- involved’ adults and adolescents, and mitigate the onset and impact of mental health disorders in Sacramento County.
Before relocating to the west coast, Chris was a founder and Executive Director of P2L: Pathways to Leadership as well as the Vice President of Social Emotional Learning for The Leadership Program, both in New York City. Chris’ work there centered on students who were at risk of dropping out, focusing on altering the trajectory of their lives.
For close to 20 years, Chris has been involved in education and youth development. He served on the Supervisory Roundtable for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Task Force on Chronic Absenteeism, Truancy and School Engagement, and he currently sits on the Sacramento County Mental Health Services Act Steering Committee, California State Student Mental Health Policy Workgroup, and the California State Student Attendance Review Board (SARB). He is a co-author of the RISE Program for Dropout Prevention and Attendance Improvement, and the SOAR approach to classroom management.
Chris has taught at Columbia University, NYU, and Harvard where he was awarded the Excellence in Teaching distinction. He has been a featured speaker at national and international conferences on education and social work, including the International Conference on Biopsychosocial Interventions in Educational Contexts, in Chile. He holds a master’s degree in Social Work from New York University and a Doctorate in Education Leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education. He currently lives in Roseville, with his wife, 2 boys, and Lexie: a 75 lb. rescue shepherd-mutt whose goal in life is to be a lap dog.