Connor has worked in the public health, social service, and mental health fields since 2011, with positions in university, community-based nonprofit, and private practice settings. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Master of Arts in clinical social work and social service administration from the University of Chicago. Prior to his graduate studies, he held volunteer positions in community-based settings, working primarily in HIV prevention and services for young people experiencing homelessness.
Connor’s graduate training included core coursework in clinical and administrative social work, with an emphasis on youth development, mental health, and psychotherapeutic training. During his graduate education, Connor developed research skills through a graduate assistantship that focused on exploring the responsibility of social workers in implementing the National HIV/AIDs Strategy. Additionally, he provided research support to a project that explored the familial and social-contextual factors associated with preventing HIV among LGBTQ youth of color through individual interviews and focus group facilitation.
After finishing graduate school, Connor joined Care2Prevent, the Pediatric/Adolescent HIV Program at the University of Chicago Medicine, where he developed the University of Chicago's first behavioral health program specifically addressing the needs of HIV-positive and highly vulnerable individuals on Chicago's South Side. Connor led the organization’s behavioral health expansion by developing a service portfolio that included individual, couples, and family psychotherapy; short-term, solutions-focused case management services; and a variety of psychosocial support groups. Connor served in this role for five years, eventually supervising a team of clinical social workers and graduate interns, while leading continued program development, evaluation, and management projects within Care2Prevent.
In 2018, Connor joined Live Oak, Inc., a Chicago-based group psychotherapy practice that focuses on providing trauma-informed and LGBTQ affirmative mental health services, clinical consultation, and training. Connor has held a variety of positions at Live Oak throughout his tenure, but completed his time with the organization by serving as the Chief Program Officer overseeing the organization’s strategic program development and innovation, data-driven decision-making, clinical training and professional development programs, and external partnership and referral development. Connor made the transition to working full-time for FSC with the addition of clinical services to the group’s portfolio in 2021.
Skills
Public health competencies:
Program development, Program evaluation, Intervention/protocol manualization
Social work competencies:
Clinical case conceptualization, Clinical case consultation, Behavioral health integration, Psychotherapeutic treatment (psychodynamic/modern relational approaches, cognitive behavioral approaches, somatic/body-based approaches)
Research:
Data analysis, Survey development, Focus group facilitation, Qualitative interviewing
Communication:
Report development, Training facilitation, Public speaking, Community outreach
Computer-based Proficiencies:
REDCap, G-Suite (Docs, Sheets, Forms, Drawings, Slides, Sites), Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), MacOSX, Online academic databases
Content Expertise
Mental health
HIV/STI prevention
LGBTQ health
Trauma-informed care
Private psychotherapy practice development
Presentations, Lectures, & Trainings
Williams, C.; Compassion Fatigue, Vicarious Traumatization, & Resilience: Learning to Prioritize Self When Caring for Others. Guest training offered at The Night Ministry, Chicago, Illinois (February 28, 2020).
Williams, C.; Comprehensive HIV Prevention Models. Guest lecture offered at The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration (43012: Social Work’s Role in Ending the Domestic HIV Epidemic), Chicago, Illinois (April 2016; April 2017).
Williams, C.; Expanding the Continuum of Care: Baseline Results from a Comprehensive Behavioral Health Program for HIV-Positive & Highly Vulnerable HIV-Negative Individuals. Guest lecture offered at The University of Chicago Medical Center, Section of Infectious Disease Conference. Chicago, Illinois (August 2016).
Williams, C., Lytle, S., Richards, M., Rosebush, J.; Expanding the Continuum of Care: Baseline Results from a Comprehensive Behavioral Health Program for HIV-Positive & Highly Vulnerable HIV-Negative Individuals. Poster presentation offered at the Chicago LGBTQ Health and Wellness Conference, Chicago, Illinois (October 31, 2015).
Publications
Richards, M. & Williams, C. (2017). Undetected: When medication nonadherence accompanies an undetectable viral load. In M. David & J.L. Benoit (Eds.), Infection prevention: The infectious disease diagnoses: a case approach. New York, NY: Springer.
Awards
LGBTQ 30 Under 30 Awardee, Chicago Windy City Times, Chicago, Illinois (2017).