Meet PAU Alumna Dr. Florencia Iturri

Many Palo Alto University (PAU) alumni find themselves with opportunities they didn’t anticipate during their studies. This holds true for Florencia Iturri, PhD ’20 and her work in starting the Legal Education Attainment Program (LEAP) at Harris County Juvenile Probation.  This important program arose from identifying a need in the adolescent population and a decision to meet it through innovation.

LEAP was conceived in 2020 and implemented in 2021 after Dr. Iturri learned about a similar existing effort in Utah. With support from her then supervisor, Uche Chibueze, PsyD, and colleagues Lyndsey Keyte, PsyD and Elizabeth Gale-Bentz, PhD, the program was developed to work with youth deemed “not fit to proceed” in the judicial system. The “not fit to proceed” definition means that the adolescents, due to their mental health or intellectual developmental disability, don’t understand enough about their legal circumstances to participate fairly in judicial proceedings. Importantly, this definition does not imply that the youth should be considered dangerous, but the only existing resources for them within this definition is usually a stay in a state hospital. However, these hospital programs also have 12-18 month wait times, which leaves the youth in limbo. The LEAP program allows most of its participants to stay in their communities and receive services much more quickly.

Dr. Iturri shares that developing this program was an important way to meet the needs of judicially impacted youth and it also helped her grow as a forensic psychologist. LEAP has enhanced her abilities to evaluate and restore clients, better understand the differences in working with children as opposed to adults, and how to teach others to teach. Building a new program in this arena has also lent itself to learning a great deal about legislation, grant funding, working with a multidisciplinary team, and understanding legal languages across varying jurisdictions. Dr. Iturri credits her PAU education with providing excellent forensic training and leadership development, which helped her to be confident in her abilities to take on new challenges. The clinical management work while in school was translatable to the various administrative needs of starting a new program, and her research experience ensured that the LEAP program would be grounded in literature. 

Having LEAP well established has allowed Dr. Iturri to leave her position as Director in the hands of her colleague, Toni Walker, PhD, while she takes on yet more new challenges in running the specialty court for human trafficking and the specialty court for mental health. In this new work, she is able to help youth finish their probation and become better equipped to avoid future issues. Finding ways to decompress is important, and Dr. Iturri finds time to enjoy crocheting, hot yoga, reading, board games, and the newest Hunger Games book.