Faculty

Related Links
Clinical Child Psychology Program

Research Interests
ERIC M. VERNBERG, Ph.D., from University of Virginia (1988) and completed internship at Children's Hospital National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Research Interests: I work from a developmental psychopathology approach to understand how experiences with violence and other traumatic events shape child and adolescent adjustment. Based on this understanding, I design and test interventions to help children maintain (or regain) developmental trajectories for healthy self-regulation and personal competence by reducing exposure to social toxins, strengthening protective factors, and providing empirically-supported psychological interventions. Current research initiatives include:

- Intensive school-based mental health services for children with serious emotional disturbances.
- Violence prevention in public schools, including bully-victim-bystander programs and threat assessment
- Children's recovery from severely traumatic experiences, including terrorism and disasters

Selected Publications
Vernberg, E. M., *Jacobs, A. K., *Nyre, J. E., *Puddy, R. W., & Roberts, M. C. (2004). Innovative treatment for children with serious emotional disturbance: Preliminary outcomes for a school-based intensive mental health program. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 359-365.

Vernberg, E. M. (2002). Intervention approaches following disasters. In A. M. La Greca, W. K. Silverman, E. M. Vernberg, & M. C. Roberts (Eds.), Helping children cope with disasters and terrorism (pp. 55-72). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Roberts, M. C., *Jacobs, A. K., *Puddy, R., *Nyre, J. E., & Vernberg, E. M. (2003) Treating children with serious emotional disturbance in schools and the community. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34, 519-526.

*Jacobs, A. K., *Randall, C. J., Vernberg, E. M., Roberts, M. C., & *Nyre, J. E. (in press). Providing services within a school-based intensive mental health program. In R. G. Steele & M. C. Roberts (Eds.), Handbook of mental health services for children, adolescents, and families. New York: Kluwer.

*Dill E. J., Vernberg, E. M., Fonagy, P., Twemlow, S. W., & *Gamm, B. K. (2004). Negative affect in victimized children: The roles of social withdrawal, peer rejection, and attitudes towards bullying. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 159-173..