Apryl A. Alexander

Last updated

Apryl Alexander
Apryl Alexander Conversation on Race Equity.jpg
Alexander in 2020
Bornc. 1983 (age 37–38)
Louisiana
NationalityAmerican
Alma materVirginia Polytechnic Institute, Radford University, Florida Institute of Technology
Known forAdvocate and policy maker for proper education on sexual consent in schools
Scientific career
FieldsForensic and Childhood Trauma Clinical Psychology
InstitutionsUniversity of Denver

Apryl A. Alexander (born c. 1983) [1] is an American clinical and forensic psychologist who is an associate professor at the University of Denver. Alexander directs students at the Denver Forensic Institute for Research, Service and Training (Denver FIRST), and engages in clinical psychology practice. She is co-founder of the University of Denver's Prison Arts Initiative where incarcerated individuals engage in a therapeutic, educational arts curricula.

Contents

Early life and education

Alexander was born in Louisiana and was driven to pursue higher education from a young age. [2] In 2001, she pursued her undergraduate education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, becoming the first woman in her family to pursue a postsecondary education. [3] She started her degree planning to pursue veterinary studies, when her volunteer experiences working with sexual assault and domestic violence survivors changed her path. [4] Alexander switched her major to psychology and minored in sociology and, in 2005, graduated with a Bachelors of Science. [5] She worked as a counsellor at the Women's Resource Center in the New River Valley in Radford, Virginia. [2] As a CARE (Crisis Advocate Responding Effectively) companion, she provided support to adults and children who had faced sexual assault. [2] During this experience she saw patterns in the behavior and stories of the sexual offenders, such that they often had trauma in their own backgrounds. [2]  This led Alexander to shift her career towards education strategies for offenders. [2]

Alexander's motivation to pursue a master's degree at Radford University was driven by her experience as a counsellor, but also by the interactions she had with Ann Elliott, a professor of psychology at Radford, while at the Women's Resource Center. [2] [1] While at Radford, she was active in community engagement and education of alcohol awareness, internet safety, and sexual assault. [2] She worked in the Office of Substance Abuse and Sexual Assault Education and conducted exit interviews for the Radford Aware Program for students that violated alcohol policies. [2]

Alexander pursued her graduate degree in clinical psychology at the Florida Institute of Technology. [1] She studied there because of The Family Learning Program which supports individuals and their family members affected by sexual abuse. [6] Alexander concentrated in Forensic Psychology and also studied child and family therapy for sufferers of maltreatment and trauma. [6] She obtained a master's degree in 2009, and completed her PsyD by 2012. [6] Alexander worked in a variety of settings where she interfaced with offenders as well as victims to elucidate evidence-based approaches to addressing violence. [4]

Career and research

Alexander was recruited to Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama in 2013, where she became an assistant clinical professor within the department of psychology. [1] Alexander got involved in the treatment program offered in collaboration between Auburn and the Department of Youth Services to provide education and normative experiences to adolescents who had sexually offended. [6]

In 2016, Alexander was recruited to the University of Denver where she became a clinical assistant professor in the Graduate School for Professional Psychology as well as the director of Denver FIRST (Forensic Institute for Research, Service, and Training), an Outpatient Competency Restoration Program. [7] In 2017, Alexander founded the Prison Arts Initiative. [5] As the co-director, from 2017 to 2019, Alexander helped design and implement therapeutic creative programming for incarcerated individuals in Colorado State Prisons. [5] As of 2019, Alexander was appointed faculty affiliate of the Scrivner Institute of Public Policy, and in 2020 she was promoted to tenured associate professor of the Graduate School of Professional Psychology. [5]

Trauma and psychological illness

Alexander's early research explored how accumulation of trauma over a lifetime impacts psychological stress scores in victims. [8] Polyvictimization, or high accumulation levels of victimization, accounted for most of the variability in psychological distress among college females and importantly, accounted for significantly more variability than any individual category of victimization on psychological stress. [8] Her findings highlight the severe impact of polyvictimization on mental health and the importance of healthcare professionals looking at cumulative victimizations in the history of their patients as opposed to focusing on single instances when providing diagnoses and care. [8]

Alexander was interested in looking at the rates of post-traumatic stress disorder in individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness to assess this correlation. [9] She found that true rates of PTSD might be underrepresented due to the primary concern being severe mental illness in individuals where trauma might have been the precursor to the mental illness. [9] Her findings suggest the importance of probing the prior traumatic experiences of mentally ill in order to target treatment towards more trauma-centered approaches if necessary. [9]

Importance of sex education in preventing sexual assault

In 2018, Alexander gave a TEDx talk in Denver where she discussed her research on the importance of sex education in preventing sexual assault in teens. [4] She talked about her research exploring the backgrounds and statistics of childhood sex offenders, recounting that one third of sexual offences are committed by individuals under the age of 18. [10] She further explored what was considered as a sex offence in the record of these young adults, and the majority of them were not what one typical thinks of as sexual offences. [10] Unfortunately, the label of sex offender remains permanent in the lives of these children as they move into adulthood, even though less than 4% of these individuals never go on to commit another offence. [10] During her time in Alabama, Alexander found that the majority of adolescents who committed sexual offences were not educated about consent until after they committed sexual offences. [10] However, once given the education on why their actions were considered offences, they learned and they understood, which made Alexander adamant about ensuring that all students are given the chance to be educated on consent in school, prior to high school, to prevent children's lives from being ruined by their labels. [10] After her talk, Alexander continued on a path towards making her research and advocacy into policy changes. [4] She provided legislative testimony for a bill that would mandate consent education as a component of the sexual education courses in schools, and this bill was passed and made into a law in 2019. [4]

Community engagement and advocacy during the COVID-19 crisis

Alexander has been involved in science communication and advocacy work during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was featured in Denver's ABC News discussing how the variability of responses and actions taken from state-to-state increased uncertainty and fear in the population. [11] Alexander was featured on Denver ABC News to discuss her ideas about shifting the language of the COVID-19 pandemic from “social distancing” to “physical distancing” as a means to reduce isolation and improve mental health. [12] She emphasized maintaining physical distance but staying socially connected in as many ways as possible. [12]

Alexander has been communicating with her community regarding the difference in treatment that certain groups have been receiving throughout the pandemic. [13] She has been particularly concerned with how institutional marginalization has led to exacerbated marginalization during COVID, especially with the homeless, low wage, and racial/ethnic minority populations. [13] She emphasizes documenting as rigorously as possible who is getting tested, treated, dying, and recovering every step of the way to track these disparities and begin to address them as effectively as possible. [13] Alexander and a team of researchers and advocates published an article on the topic in a Research-to-Policy Collaboration. [14]

Awards and honors

Select publications

Related Research Articles

Hebephilia is the strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in pubescent children who are in early adolescence, typically ages 11–14 and showing Tanner stages 2 to 3 of physical development. It differs from pedophilia, and from ephebophilia. While individuals with a sexual preference for adults may have some sexual interest in pubescent-aged individuals, researchers and clinical diagnoses have proposed that hebephilia is characterized by a sexual preference for pubescent rather than adult partners.

Juvenile delinquency Illegal behavior by minors

Juvenile delinquency, also known as "juvenile offending", is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. For example, in the United States of America a juvenile delinquent is a person who is typically below 18 years of age and commits an act that otherwise would have been charged as a crime if they were an adult. Juvenile crimes can range from status offenses, to property crimes and violent crimes.

Physical abuse Medical condition

Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact. In most cases, children are the victims of physical abuse, but adults can also be victims, as in cases of domestic violence or workplace aggression. Alternative terms sometimes used include physical assault or physical violence, and may also include sexual abuse. Physical abuse may involve more than one abuser, and more than one victim.

Pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty at age 10 or 11, and boys at age 11 or 12, criteria for pedophilia extend the cut-off point for prepubescence to age 13. A person must be at least 16 years old, and at least five years older than the prepubescent child, for the attraction to be diagnosed as pedophilia.

Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. When force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester. The term also covers any behavior by an adult or older adolescent towards a child to stimulate any of the involved sexually. The use of a child, or other individuals younger than the age of consent, for sexual stimulation is referred to as child sexual abuse or statutory rape. Live streaming sexual abuse involves trafficking and coerced sexual acts and or rape in real time on webcam.

Sibling abuse includes the physical, psychological, or sexual abuse of one sibling by another, more often younger sibling by older sibling. A fourth category that brought attention from researchers during the first decade of the 21st century is sibling relational abuse, which derives from relational aggression.

Forensic psychotherapy

Forensic psychotherapy is the application of psychological knowledge to the treatment of offender-patients who commit violent acts against themselves or others. This form of treatment allows for a therapist to potentially understand the offender and their mental state. It gives the individual providing treatment the opportunity to examine further whether the offender’s criminal behavior was a conscious act or not, what exactly their association with violent behavior is, and what possible motives could have driven them. The discipline of forensic psychotherapy is one that requires the involvement of individuals other than simply the therapist and patient. A therapist may collaborate with other professionals, such as physicians, social workers, and other psychologists in order to best serve the offenders’ needs. Whether the treatment is successful or not relies on a multitude of things, but typically ensuring that a systemic approach is taken and that all involved in the treatment process are well informed and supportive has proven to be the most effective. In addition to group work, forensic psychotherapy may also involve therapeutic communities, individual interaction with victims as well as offenders, and family work. In order for this specialized therapy to be as effective as possible, it demands the compliance of not only the patient and therapist, but of the rest of society as well. The main focus of forensic psychotherapy is to obtain a psychodynamic understanding of the offender in order to attempt to provide them with an effective form of treatment. Guidelines have been set to ensure proficiency in the field of Forensic Psychology.

Victimisation is the process of being victimised or becoming a victim. The field that studies the process, rates, incidence, effects, and prevalence of victimisation is called victimology.

Child sexual abuse, also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child, indecent exposure, child grooming, and child sexual exploitation, including using a child to produce child pornography.

David L. Corwin is a board-certified psychiatrist, child and adolescent psychiatrist, and forensic psychiatrist. Corwin has done extensive work into the long-term impact of child violence and abuse on health, and has promoted family support and treatment programs. Corwin has worked as a consultant, a lecturer, a trainer, and an evaluator of suspected or known child sexual abuse cases throughout many countries, as well as serving as an expert witness of child sexual abuse cases. Corwin has founded, directed or chaired groups that serve to advance prevention and protection against child violence and abuse, as well as furthering the education and research of the impact of child abuse.

Michael C. Seto

Michael Chikong Seto is a Canadian forensic psychologist, sexologist, and author. He is director of Forensic Rehabilitation Research at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, where he says his research focuses on pedophilia, sexual offenses committed against children, child pornography, risk assessment, offenders with mental disorders, psychopathy, and program evaluation.

Nadine Kaslow

Nadine J. Kaslow is an American psychologist, the 2014 president of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the editor of the Journal of Family Psychology. Before her current affiliation with Emory University, Kaslow worked at Yale University. She was recipient of the 2004 American Psychological Association award for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology.

The feminist pathways perspective is a feminist perspective of criminology which suggests victimization throughout the life course is a key risk factor for women's entry into offending.

Rebecca Campbell is Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University. She is known for her research pertaining to sexual assault and violence against women and children and the effects of treatment by law enforcement and medical staff on victims' psychological and physiological well-being. Campbell has been involved in criminal justice research on the investigation of Detroit's untested rape kits, wherein DNA evidence obtained in thousands of rape kits was left in storage and not analyzed. She has received numerous awards for her work including the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Louise Kidder Early Career Award (2000), the American Psychological Association (APA) Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest (2008), the APA Division 27 Council on Educational Program’s Excellent Educator Award (2015), and the U.S. Department of Justice Vision 21 Crime Victims Research Award (2015).

Simona Ghetti is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Davis, where she is affiliated with the University of California Davis Center for Mind and Brain. She is known for her research on the development of episodic memory, reconstructive memory, and metamemory in youth, with a specific focus on individuals who have had traumatic experiences.

Barbara L. Bonner is a clinical psychologist and expert on juvenile sex offenders. She is known for her research on the assessment and treatment of abused children, prevention of child fatalities due to neglect, and treatment of children and adolescents with problematic sexual behavior. Bonner is the CMRI/Jean Gumerson Endowed Chair and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. She serves as the Director of the Child Abuse and Neglect at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

Karen Saywitz American psychologist

Karen Jill Saywitz was an American psychologist, author, and educator. She worked as a developmental and clinical psychologist and professor at the UCLA School of Medicine and Department of Psychiatry and Development. For more than 20 years Saywitz taught child development and was director of several mental health programs for families. She also developed "non-leading" techniques for interviewing child witnesses and victims, based on cognitive and developmental psychology principles. She died of cancer in 2018.

Jennifer Woolard is a developmental psychologist known for work within the juvenile justice system. Woolard is Professor of Psychology and Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University. She is involved in the Youth In Custody Practice Model Initiative at the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, which seeks to adopt evidence-based developmentally-appropriate practices within juvenile correctional institutions.

Marguerita Lightfoot is a counseling psychologist known for her research in the field of preventive medicine, especially in regard to HIV prevention and advocacy for homeless youth. She is Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine and the Chief of the Division of Prevention Science. She serves on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development among Children and Youth.

The Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM) is a transdisciplinary model describing the effect attachment relationships can have on human development and functioning. It is especially focused on the effects of relationships between children and parents and between reproductive couples. It developed initially from attachment theory as developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, and incorporated many other theories into a comprehensive model of adaptation to life's many dangers. The DMM was initially created by developmental psychologist Patricia McKinsey Crittenden and her colleagues including David DiLalla, Angelika Claussen, Andrea Landini, Steve Farnfield, and Susan Spieker.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "2020 Emerging Scholars: Dr. Apryl Alexander". Diverse. 2020-02-05. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Apryl Alexander M.S. '07 - Radford University". www.radford.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  3. ↑ "Psy.D. Alumna Named 2020 Emerging Scholar". Florida Tech Ad Astra. 2020-04-01. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Stories, Local. "Meet Trailblazer Apryl Alexander". VoyageDenver - Denver. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "About". Apryl A. Alexander, Psy.D. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Psy.D. Alumna Named 2020 Emerging Scholar". Florida Tech Ad Astra. 2020-04-01. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  7. ↑ "2020 Emerging Scholars: Dr. Apryl Alexander". Diverse. 2020-02-05. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  8. 1 2 3 Richmond, Jessica M.; Elliott, Ann N.; Pierce, Thomas W.; Aspelmeier, Jeffery E.; Alexander, Apryl A. (2009-05-01). "Polyvictimization, Childhood Victimization, and Psychological Distress in College Women". Child Maltreatment. 14 (2): 127–147. doi:10.1177/1077559508326357. ISSN   1077-5595. PMID   19047476. S2CID   32550831.
  9. 1 2 3 Alexander, Apryl A.; Welsh, Elena; Glassmire, David M. (2016-10-19). "Underdiagnosing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in a State Hospital". Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice. 16 (5): 448–459. doi:10.1080/15228932.2016.1234142. ISSN   1522-8932. S2CID   79269481.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Sexual Violence is preventable - here's how | Apryl Alexander | TEDxMileHigh , retrieved 2020-05-03
  11. ↑ "America's COVID-19 recovery may not be similar to what is happening in China". KMGH. 2020-04-02. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  12. 1 2 "Stay-at-home orders could serve as an important test for the future of remote working". KMGH. 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  13. 1 2 3 "Dr. Anica — Dr. Anica Talks Activism with Dr. Apryl Alexander". Dr. Anica. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  14. ↑ "Mitigating the Implications of Coronavirus - Issue 5". research2policy. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  15. ↑ "Box". spssi.app.box.com. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  16. ↑ "Early-career and Mid-career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Benefit Children, Youth and Families". APA. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  17. ↑ "The Early Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Research/Practice in the Field of Child Maltreatment". APA. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  18. ↑ "APA Achievement Award for Early Career Psychologists". APA. Retrieved 2020-05-03.
  19. ↑ Fix, Rebecca L.; Falligant, John Michael; Alexander, Apryl A. (2020). "Simulated judicial decision-making for African and European American adolescents with illegal sexual behavior: The impact of medical data and victim race/ethnicity". Behavioral Sciences & the Law. 38 (1): 51–65. doi: 10.1002/bsl.2431 . ISSN   1099-0798. PMID   31840310.
  20. ↑ Alexander, Apryl A. (2018-11-21). "Confluence Model of Sexual Aggression in College Males: Examining Polyvictimization". Violence and Gender. 6 (2): 139–141. doi: 10.1089/vio.2018.0025 . ISSN   2326-7836.
  21. ↑ Morais, Hugo B.; Alexander, Apryl A.; Fix, Rebecca L.; Burkhart, Barry R. (2018-02-01). "Childhood Sexual Abuse in Adolescents Adjudicated for Sexual Offenses: Mental Health Consequences and Sexual Offending Behaviors". Sexual Abuse. 30 (1): 23–42. doi:10.1177/1079063215625224. ISSN   1079-0632. PMID   26792116. S2CID   22934722.
  22. ↑ Fix, Rebecca L.; Alexander, Apryl A.; Burkhart, Barry R. (2018-07-01). "From Family Violence Exposure to Violent Offending: Examining Effects of Race and Mental Health in a Moderated Mediation Model Among Confined Male Juveniles". International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. 62 (9): 2567–2585. doi:10.1177/0306624X17731101. ISSN   0306-624X. PMID   28905691. S2CID   7832787.
  23. ↑ Falligant, John Michael; Fix, Rebecca L.; Alexander, Apryl A. (2017-05-19). "Judicial Decision-Making and Juvenile Offenders: Effects of Medical Evidence and Victim Age". Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. 26 (4): 388–406. doi:10.1080/10538712.2017.1296914. ISSN   1053-8712. PMID   28441096. S2CID   4428424.
  24. ↑ Morais, Hugo B.; Joyal, Christian C.; Alexander, Apryl A.; Fix, Rebecca L.; Burkhart, Barry R. (2016-12-01). "The Neuropsychology of Adolescent Sexual Offending: Testing an Executive Dysfunction Hypothesis". Sexual Abuse. 28 (8): 741–754. doi:10.1177/1079063215569545. ISSN   1079-0632. PMID   25656521. S2CID   6998169.
  25. ↑ Alexander, Apryl A.; Welsh, Elena; Glassmire, David M. (2016-10-19). "Underdiagnosing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in a State Hospital". Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice. 16 (5): 448–459. doi:10.1080/15228932.2016.1234142. ISSN   1522-8932. S2CID   79269481.
  26. ↑ Richmond, Jessica M.; Elliott, Ann N.; Pierce, Thomas W.; Aspelmeier, Jeffery E.; Alexander, Apryl A. (2009-05-01). "Polyvictimization, Childhood Victimization, and Psychological Distress in College Women". Child Maltreatment. 14 (2): 127–147. doi:10.1177/1077559508326357. ISSN   1077-5595. PMID   19047476. S2CID   32550831.
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