News

Dr. Bloch-Elkouby moderated the plenary Friend or foe? An update and future directions on AI applications in psychotherapy research with Dr. Aafjes-van Doorn.

She presented a paper at the SPR 2025 annual conference. In the Preventing Setbacks: Using AI and LLMs to Address Negative Developments in Mental Health Care panel, she presented the paper The impact of patients’ race and clinicians’ implicit racial biases on the alliance and clinical judgment with high-risk patients: a cutting edge virtual human interactions study. She was also a discussant of What’s Tricky about Transforming Training? A Discussion on Training Providers structured discussion session.

Jimmy, Rebecca, Aditya, Stephanie, Jade, Wendy, Runqin, Ronit, and Jason presented their poster at the 2025 SPR conference.

Jimmy examined the feasibility of applying virtual patients as a clinical training tool by exploring the impact of technological problems on therapeutic alliance.
Rebecca investigated whether the higher risk assessment of a patient would lead to lower therapeutic alliance.
Aditya tested whether clinician’s case conceptualization differed for patients with minority races via a qualitative analysis.
Stephanie explored the role of implicit racial bias in suicide risk assessments among adolescent virtual patients.
Jade inquired if the elevation effects of negative emotional response resulted from the clinician’s implicit racial bias against the Black would be alleviated by clinicians being more mindful in the interaction.
Wendy looked into whether the poor emotional regulation skills would lead to more ruptures in therapeutic alliance.
Runqin researched the role of implicit racial biases in clinician’s interview (therapy) experiences.
Ronit explored the interplay between implicit racial bias and clinician emotional responses such that they would report more positive responses but display more negative facial expressions.
Jason examined if implicit racial biases impede clinicians’ empathy.

In the 2025 SPR conference, Ronit Shvarzman was awarded the Enrico Jones Trainee Award. Alexis Aberman and Talia Rosen’s John and Elaine Altmaier Depression Research Grant was also featured by NASPR at the chapter meeting.

Alexis Aberman was named a recipient of the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy’s Student Research Grant. Her qualitative dissertation project will focus on individuals with lived experience who view themselves as recovered from suicidality. Her research will explore patient experiences of what they view as contributing to their recovery from suicidality, both inside and outside of treatment. This grant will allow for the compensation of participants and the compensation of Dr. Usrula Whiteside, an expert with lived experience who will serve as a consultant to the research team.

Ronit Shvarzman was awarded a trainee conference travel award and will be traveling to Krakow, Poland, to attend the 2025 SPR Conference and be recognized at the North American Chapter Business Meeting. At the conference, Ronit will present a poster on her research: “Implicit Racial Bias and Clinician Emotional Responses in Psychotherapy: A Virtual Interaction Study.”

Alexis Aberman and Talia Rosen have been named as the recipients of the North American Society for Psychotherapy Research John and Elaine Altmaier Depression Research Grant. Their qualitative research project will explore the impacts of self-compassion and the therapeutic alliance on recovery from suicidal ideation and behaviors. The study will involve interviews with former patients who consider themselves recovered from suicidality, as well as the therapists whom they credit as instrumental in their recovery. After qualitative data from interviews have been collected and analyzed, participants will be invited to participate in focus groups, during which these individuals with lived experience will provide invaluable feedback on ways to implement and disseminate the insights gained throughout the study. This grant will allow for the compensation of patient and therapist participants, as well as consultation from Dr. Ursula Whiteside, an expert with lived experience.

Congratulations to all of the doctoral student lab members for the incredible externship sites they have matched with for 2025-2026!

Alexis Aberman - NYU Langone Military Family Center; Jason Tortora - Kingsboro Psychiatric Center; Ronit Shvarzman - Pratt Institute of Art Counseling Center; Adelaide Jones - Nassau University Medical Center; Talia Rosen - New York Presbyterian Westchester Division, Inpatient Horizon Unit; Theo Mack- Academics West School-Based Clinical Psychology; Runqin Shi - Pace University Counseling Center; Laura Baruch - Pace University Counseling Center

The Bloch-Elkouby Lab for Suicide Prevention and Research is delighted to welcome four new Ferkauf Adult Psy D students to the lab! Welcome, Laura Baruch, Theo Mack, Talia Rosen, and Runqin Shi– we’re thrilled to have you on the team!

Dr. Bloch-Elkouby will lead a structured discussion about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Dr. Aafjes-van Doorn at the upcoming SPR International Annual Meeting in Ottawa, Canada, June 26 – 29, 2024.

We are thrilled to share that on of our incredible research assistants, Runqin Shi, will be starting her PSYD in Clinical Psychology at Ferkauf this Fall. Please join us in congratulating Runqin on this achievement! We can’t wait to see what lies ahead.

We are delighted to announce that our wonderful lab coordinator, Inna Goncearenco, is starting an exciting new journey as she begins her PhD in Clinical Psychology at George Washington University this Fall. Inna’s expertise and passion have been invaluable to our team, and we are confident that she will continue to excel in her doctoral studies. Please join us in congratulating Inna on this achievement and wishing her all the best in her future endeavors!

We are thrilled to announce that several of our talented lab students have successfully matched with prestigious externship sites. Please join us in congratulating Ronit, Alexis, Adelaide and Shibani on their well-deserved success! We are incredibly proud of their accomplishments!

Ronit Shvarzman matched with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai – Psychosis Risk Program

Alexis Aberman matched with the New York-Presbyterian-Westchester Behavioral Health Center Track 6: Inpatient DBT on the Self-Injurious Behavior Unit

Adelaide Jones matched with the Brooklyn College Counseling Center

Shibani Datta matched with the Montefiore - Adult Literacy Program

Interested in learning more about suicide prevention and resiliency? Join us on Thursday, 4/4/2024 for a panel discussion, light dinner, and networking! This event is co-sponsored by the Yeshiva University Office of Alumni Affairs, Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Wurzweiler School of Social Work, and the Yeshiva University Counseling Center and will feature Dr. Bloch-Elkouby and several other experts in suicide prevention.

Learn more about the presenters and register here

Congratulations to our amazing Research Assistant, Lucy Walsh, on getting matched for a prestigious internship at Mount Sinai Morningside in New York! We know that you will be an outstanding intern and we wish you great success!

Congratulations, Inna, on the acceptance of your abstract “Hidden Barriers: Exploring Self-Disgust and Disgust with Others in Individuals with Concealed vs. Disclosed Past-Month Suicidal Ideation” for poster presentation at the 2024 APA Annual Meeting in New York, May 4 - 8.

Dr. Bloch-Elkouby will present preliminary findings about the therapeutic alliance and clinical judgment in therapeutic encounters with AI-powered virtual patients.

Congratulations, Alexis, on the acceptance of your abstract on the role of self-compassion as a change mechanism in suicide-specific psychotherapies for poster presentation at the SPR International Annual Meeting in Ottawa, Canada, June 26 – 29, 2024.

Dr. Bloch-Elkouby will chair a symposium “Using cutting edge AI research to enhance clinical training and suicide prevention” at the upcoming ADAA 2024 conference in Boston on April 11 - 14, 2024.

Dr. Bloch-Elkouby was awarded the Bergin and Garfield Emerging Scholar Award by Society for Psychotherapy Research.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention awarded $1.5M FOCUS grant for the project “Effectivness of Diagnostic vs. Symptom-Only Suicide Crisis Syndrome Assessment (SCS-A) for post-discharge suicide prevention (Co-investigator: Dr. Bloch-Elkouby).