Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology
Applied Research Lab
Barbara Gerson, Ph.D.
Barbara Gerson is a psychodynamically-oriented therapist, working with children, adolescents, adults, and couples. She got her Ph.D. from NYU in the School Psychology Program and completed postdoctoral training in the Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis at NYU. In addition to teaching at Ferkauf, Dr. Gerson has a private practice in NYC and Westchester.
She is primarily interested in supervising applied research — i.e., research with direct implications for interventions and research of ongoing programs and treatments, particularly those focused on children with special needs or trauma-related.
Lab Members
Amanda Addolorato Macdonald is currently in her fifth year in Yeshiva's combined school/ child clinical psychology program. Her clinical interests include trauma, neuropsychology, forensic psychology, and Cognitive Behavior Therapy.
She is currently working on a study that will survey school psychologists and assess their perceived preparedness and ability to deliver trauma-informed treatment after traumatic incidents within the community and school system. Amanda is also interested in forensic psychology, including forensic and parental fit evaluations, as well as trauma-informed treatment for children after being physically or sexually abused.
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Carolyn Harvey is a future child psychologist who aims to work with a diverse population of children, adolescents, and parents. She is also curious about parent involvement in therapy and its relations to treatment outcome. In my clinical experiences, I have seen ways in which parents have been immensely valuable to the therapeutic process and ways in which parents have been detrimental. Therefore, I am additionally interested in investigating the effects of child-therapist alliance and parent-therapist alliance on treatment outcome in psychodynamic therapy.
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In view of these interests, I am conducting a study as part of an ongoing research project on the effects of psychodynamic child psychotherapy at the Parnes Clinic. The study has two objectives: (1) to determine if there is a change in the child/adolescent from pre-post treatment in terms of behaviors/symptoms and emotion regulation and (2) to investigate several factors that may affect change, such as therapeutic alliance (child-therapist and parent-therapist alliance) and the child’s presenting problem (internalizing versus externalizing).
A graduate of Wellesley College and alumna of Teach For America, Jennifer Yu holds a Master's degree in Secondary Special Education and is currently a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the School-Clinical Child Psychology Program at Ferkauf. Her most recent experiences include working with twice-exceptional children at the Quad Manhattan and an externship at the Churchill School, a school for children with language-based learning disabilities. Currently, she is completing an externship in the School Based Mental Health Program at NY Presbyterian Children's Hospital.
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My research interests are in risk and resilience factors in at-risk populations. Currently, I am researching the influence of perceived teacher-student relationship quality on the social-emotional functioning and academic performance of adolescents with learning disabilities.
Laurie Scherer is a student, teacher, and artist whose passion lies in nurturing the social-emotional development of youth by weaving together art and science. Laurie is currently a 4th year doctoral candidate in the School-Clinical Child Psychology program at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Simultaneously, she is completing her certification in Dance/Movement Therapy. Her background in psychotherapy, special education, neuropsychological assessment, movement, and mindfulness research has allowed her the privilege of working closely with youth with special needs through The Meeting House after school program and The Aaron School, as well as at-risk populations through Maimonides Medical Center, the Parnes Clinic and as Dean of Students for the national non-profit Breakthrough Collaborative. In her spare time, Laurie can be found teaching, dancing and performing Lindy Hop and Latin/Ballroom dancing in and around NYC.
Laurie is thrilled to be working under the tutelage of Dr. Gerson. Under her guidance, Laurie has completed a literature review exploring the potential benefits of mindfulness-based practices for diverse populations of youth. Going forward in her research, Laurie hopes to study the social-emotional effects of mindfulness techniques amongst adolescents with special needs as well as those from at-risk populations.
Ayelet Gottesman received her BA in Psychology from Yeshiva University, Stern College for Women. She enjoys learning about attachment, early childhood development, and psychology of religion. Ayelet loves working with children, especially the really little ones, and is excited to be working towards a career in that field. In her spare time, she likes playing with her adorable baby daughter, cooking, and going for walks.
Ayelet is interested in studying the relationship between parental attachment and religious change. She is interested in how the parental attachment relationship may parallel the attachment relationship to God, and how that relationship manifests itself in an individual's religious choices. Specifically, Ayelet hopes to study attachment and religious change amongst Orthodox college students.
Matt Stahl grew up in Boston and attended Franklin & Marshall College, where he received a B.A. in Government and Diplomacy. Before attending Ferkauf he worked with children in outpatient and residential settings.
He has a strong interest in psychodynamic theory and attachment. His current research involves the use of psychodynamic techniques at the Parnes Clinic at Ferkauf. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, dog and cat.
Zakiya Adams is currently a member of the graduating class of 2019 at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology and is a member of the School-Clinical PsyD program. Before attending Ferkauf, she attended Emory University where she received a Bachelor of Science and completed a double major in Educational Studies and Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology. While at Emory she completed an Honor’s Thesis that involved research with international students. The final project was entitled, The International Student Experience: A Case Study at One American University. As such, she interested in continued research with international students. Another research interest of Zakiya’s is the process of psychodynamic therapy and its efficacy. In keeping with this, she is currently working on a research project that focuses on identifying the key elements of psychodynamic therapy utilized by doctoral students.
There are two other areas of research that she is interested in, but have not yet explored. These are research with children with Autism and research with Caribbean immigrants. The first is driven by the experiences that she has had thus far working with both children and adolescents with Autism, implementing Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Therapy and behavior plans. The second stems from the fact that she is an international student who originates from Trinidad and Tobago and as such has an increasing interest in the experience of Caribbean families who live in the United States.