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We are advancing understanding of
self-injury among youth and adults.Click here to go to our homepage
The Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery was launched in 2003 to understand what was then widely believed to be a new and emerging behavior among youth and adults. Since that time we have conducted multiple studies on a wide variety of topics and have begun the process of translating what we and others have learned into user friendly materials for individuals who injure as well as those who live with, care about, and work with them. The resulting Self-Injury and Recovery Research and Resources (SIRRR) website was developed to house all of the materials we have produced so far. We have been graced with the assistance and support of many people along the way – key staff, affiliated researchers, educators, and clinicians, and many students. In some cases, their contributions remain visible through their names on publications and other materials. In other cases, their signatures remain evident only to those of us who have had the good fortune to work with them on building the infrastructure of our project, on conducting our studies, or on translating these into user friendly materials.
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Our People
Janis Whitlock, Ph.D., MPHDirector
Janis Whitlock, Ph.D., MPH is the Director of the Self-Injury & Recovery Resources research program. Janis has worked extensively in the area of adolescent and women’s health and possesses formal training in Public Health and Human Development. She is particularly interested in the social, cultural, and contextual factors which influence adolescent development and identity formation. She has published in the areas of adolescent connectedness to school and community and, more recently, in self-injurious behavior in adolescents and young adults.
Julia ChapmanLab Coordinator & Research Aide
Julia Chapman is the lab coordinator for the Self-Injury & Recovery Resources research program, providing research and coordination support to the program. Julia graduated with a BA in Psychology from the University of Rochester in 2016 and has experience working in research and clinical settings. She is especially interested in how adverse experiences and family relationships relates to adolescent development and the development of maladaptive coping mechanisms. She hopes to pursue a professional degree in Social Work or Mental Health Counseling and become a practicing therapist.
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Students & Other Affiliates
Kaylee Kruzan, PhDCommunication Department
Kaylee Kruzan received her PhD in the Department of Communication at Cornell in 2019. Her current research utilizes a theory of existential psychology to explore emotion regulation and anxiety mitigation in on- and offline contexts. She joins the lab to work on the analysis and development of a measure to assess readiness to change in individuals who self-harm based on the transtheoretical model of behavior change (TTM). Additionally, Kaylee is interested in the prevention and treatment of psychopathology including NSSI and related disorders with high comorbidity.
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Collaborators
Carrie Ernhout, MA, LMFT, LMHC
Carrie Ernhout, MA, LMFT, LMHC, is the former Study Coordinator for the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery. Carrie is a licensed mental-health clinician, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Psychology. Carrie continues to collaborate with Dr. Whitlock on a web-based training intervention for self-injury. Carrie is particularly interested in the role of evidence-based therapy in the treatment of child and adolescent mental health disorders; the role of parents and other family members in recovery; risk and resilience across the lifespan; and the integration of Eastern philosophic practices into Western therapeutic interventions.
Elizabeth E. Lloyd-Richardson, Ph.D.
Elizabeth E. Lloyd-Richardson, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with specialized training in Health Psychology and adolescent health risk behaviors. She has extensive experience in developing and conducting treatments that promote healthful behaviors in adolescents and young adults, particularly in the areas of weight loss, physical activity, smoking cessation, and non-suicidal self-injury. She has authored over 50 papers and book chapters on these topics. She maintains an active clinical research lab with graduate and undergraduate students, with a particular interest in involving students in meaningful community-based research projects.
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Other Contributors
John Eckenrode, Ph.D.
John Eckenrode, Ph.D. is a project partner and co-PI on several of the studies currently underway. He is Professor of Human Development at Cornell University and Director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. He is also Director of the National Data Archive of Child Abuse and Neglect. His research concerns child abuse and neglect, the effects of preventive interventions, and stress and coping processes and he has authored numerous books and articles in this and related areas.
Amanda Purington, MPS
Amanda Purington is the Director of Evaluation and Research for the ACT for Youth Center of Excellence, housed in the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research at Cornell University. With undergraduate and graduate degrees from Cornell, Amanda has a passion for using research and evaluation to help communities to promote and support the health and well being of youth. Her work in the Bronfenbrenner Center has focused on promoting positive youth development, investigating non-suicidal self-injury in general populations of adolescents and young adults, and evaluating the effectiveness of a large-scale adolescent sexual health initiative. Amanda works to bridge research and evaluation with practice and policy-making to prevent youth risk-behavior and promote healthy development.
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Consultation Services
We do provide a range of consulting services for youth-serving professionals, school personnel, and clinical/medical professionals. We are most commonly asked to provide education and guidance related to:
- Self-injury epidemiology, function, etiology and co-morbidity
- Detection, intervention and common treatment modalities (ideal for youth-serving professionals and clinical professionals with little self-injury experience)
- Self-injury recovery
- Strength-based prevention strategies
For more information about our consultation services, please contact the project director, Janis Whitlock, at jlw43@cornell.edu
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Would you like to join our listserv?
Send an email to crpsib-l-request@cornell.edu. The body of the message should simply be “join”. Be sure to send your “join” message from the email address where you want to receive CRPSIR (previously CRPSIB) updates.
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Contact CRPSIR
We welcome your thoughts, suggestions, and stories. Please feel free to email us at self-injury@cornell.edu or fill out the following contact form.