Apryl Alexander
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Apryl A. Alexander (born ) is an American clinical and
forensic psychologist Forensic psychology is the application of scientific knowledge and methods (in relation to psychology) to assist in answering legal questions that may arise in criminal, civil, contractual, or other judicial proceedings. Forensic psychology includes ...
who is an associate professor at the
University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...
. Alexander directs students at the Denver Forensic Institute for Research, Service and Training (Denver FIRST), and engages in
clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...
practice. She is co-founder of the University of Denver's Prison Arts Initiative where incarcerated individuals engage in a therapeutic, educational arts curricula.


Early life and education

Alexander was born in Louisiana and was driven to pursue higher education from a young age. In 2001, she pursued her undergraduate education at
Virginia Polytechnic Institute The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...
, becoming the first woman in her family to pursue a postsecondary education. She started her degree planning to pursue veterinary studies, when her volunteer experiences working with
sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...
and
domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...
survivors changed her path. Alexander switched her major to psychology and minored in sociology and, in 2005, graduated with a
Bachelors of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
. She worked as a counsellor at the Women's Resource Center in the
New River Valley Virginia's New River Valley region, colloquially named, is a four-county area along the New River in Southwest Virginia in the United States, including such major features as Claytor Lake, part of the Jefferson National Forest, the city of Ra ...
in
Radford, Virginia Radford (formerly Lovely Mount, Central City, English Ferry and Ingle's Ferry) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of 2020, the population was 16,070 by the United States Census Bureau. For ...
. As a CARE (Crisis Advocate Responding Effectively) companion, she provided support to adults and children who had faced sexual assault. 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. This led Alexander to shift her career towards education strategies for offenders. Alexander's motivation to pursue a master's degree at
Radford University Radford University is a public university in Radford, Virginia, United States. It is one of the state's eight doctorate-granting public universities. Founded in 1910, Radford offers curricula for undergraduates in more than 100 fields, graduate ...
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. While at Radford, she was active in community engagement and education of alcohol awareness, internet safety, and sexual assault. She worked in the Office of Substance Abuse and Sexual Assault Education and conducted
exit interview An exit interview is a survey conducted with an individual who is separating from an organization or relationship. Most commonly, this occurs between an employee and an organization, a student and an educational institution, or a member and an a ...
s for the Radford Aware Program for students that violated alcohol policies. Alexander pursued her doctorate degree in clinical psychology at the
Florida Institute of Technology Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech or FIT) is a private research university in Melbourne, Florida. The university comprises four academic colleges: Engineering & Science, Aeronautics, Psychology & Liberal Arts, and Business. Approxim ...
. She studied there because of The Family Learning Program which supports individuals and their family members affected by sexual abuse. Alexander concentrated in
Forensic Psychology Forensic psychology is the application of scientific knowledge and methods (in relation to psychology) to assist in answering legal questions that may arise in criminal, civil, contractual, or other judicial proceedings. Forensic psychology includes ...
and also studied child and family therapy for people with a history of maltreatment and trauma. She obtained a master's degree in 2009, and completed her
PsyD The Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D. or D.Psych.) is a professional doctoral degree intended to prepare graduates for careers that apply scientific knowledge of psychology and deliver empirically based service to individuals, groups and organizatio ...
by 2012. Alexander worked in a variety of settings where she interfaced with offenders as well as victims to elucidate
evidence-based Evidence-based practice is the idea that occupational practices ought to be based on scientific evidence. The movement towards evidence-based practices attempts to encourage and, in some instances, require professionals and other decision-makers ...
approaches to addressing violence.


Career and research

Alexander was recruited to
Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...
in Auburn, Alabama in 2013, where she became an assistant clinical professor within the department of psychology. 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. In 2016, Alexander was recruited to the
University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...
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. In 2017, Alexander founded the Prison Arts Initiative. As the co-director, from 2017 to 2019, Alexander helped design and implement therapeutic creative programming for incarcerated individuals in Colorado State Prisons. 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. Alexander has since moved to the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte, or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs thr ...
, where she serves as an associate professor in the university's Public Health Management and Policy department, and is the Metrolina Medical Foundation Distinguished Scholar. Additionally, she serves as the director of the Violence Prevention Center at the university, but continues as an affiliate faculty member at the University of Denver.


Trauma and psychological illness

Alexander's early research explored how accumulation of trauma over a lifetime impacts psychological stress scores in victims. 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. 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. Alexander was interested in looking at the rates of
post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...
in individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness to assess this correlation. 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. 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.


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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. After her talk, Alexander continued on a path towards making her research and advocacy into policy changes. 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.


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. 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. She emphasized maintaining physical distance but staying socially connected in as many ways as possible. Alexander has been communicating with her community regarding the difference in treatment that certain groups have been receiving throughout the pandemic. 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. 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. Alexander and a team of researchers and advocates published an article on the topic in a Research-to-Policy Collaboration.


Awards and honors

*2020 Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education *2019 Michele Alexander Early Career Award for Scholarship and Service from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues *2019 Early Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Benefit Children, Youth, and Families, American Psychological Association (APA) Committee on Children, Youth, and Families *2017 Karen Saywitz Early Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Research, American Psychological Association (APA) Division 37 Section on Child Maltreatment *2017 APA Early Career Achievement Award, American Psychological Association (APA) Committee on Early Career Psychologists *2016 Outstanding Recent Alumna, Virginia Tech Influential Black Alumni Awards, Virginia Tech Alumni Association *2011 The Elizabeth B. Wolf Outstanding Clinical Student Award, Florida Tech School of Psychology


Select publications

* Falligant, J. M., Fix, R. L., & Alexander, A. A. (2020). Simulated verdicts for adolescents with illegal sexual behavior: The impact of medical data and race/ethnicity. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 38(1), 51–65. doi: 10.1002/bsl.2431 * Alexander, A. A. (2019). Confluence model of sexual aggression in college males: Examining polyvictimization. Violence and Gender, 6(2), 139–141. doi: 10.1089/vio.2018.0025 * Morais+, H. B., Alexander, A. A., Fix+, R. L., & Burkhart, B. R. (2018). Childhood sexual abuse in adolescents adjudicated for sex offenses: Mental health consequences and sexual offending behaviors. Sexual Abuse, 30(1), 23–42. doi: 10.1177/1079063215625224 * Fix, R. L., Alexander, A. A., & Burkhart, B. R. (2018). 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 * Falligant, J. M., Fix, R. L., & Alexander, A. A. (2017). 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 * Morais, H. B., Joyal, C. C., Alexander, A. A., Fix, R. L., & Burkhart, B. R. (2016). The neuropsychology of adolescent sexual offending: Testing an executive dysfunction hypothesis. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 28(8), 741–754. doi: 10.1177/1079063215569545 * Alexander, A. A., Welsh, E., & Glassmire, D. (2016). Underdiagnosing PTSD in a state hospital. Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, 16(5), 449–460. doi: 10.1080/15228932.2016.1234142 * Richmond, J. M., Elliott, A. N., Pierce, T. W., Aspelmeier, J. E., & Alexander, A. A. (2009). Polyvictimization, childhood victimization, and psychological distress in college women. Child Maltreatment, 14(2), 127–147. doi: 10.1177/1077559508326357


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Apryl A American forensic scientists Women forensic scientists Forensic psychologists 1983 births Scientists from Louisiana University of Denver faculty Virginia Tech alumni Radford University alumni Florida Institute of Technology alumni Living people