Lasting Habits and the Impact of a Mentor

By: Wyatt Lim-Tepper

In reflecting on where I am today and how I envision A Curiae in the future, one particular experience stands out in my mind. My first year working for the federal courts, our team was invited to the Western District of Texas in El Paso to participate in a quality improvement program. I was a bright eyed and curious court coordinator, eager to absorb everything I could about treatment courts. During the program, each team was tasked with presenting a few interesting components of their problem solving court. After a few presentations, the host team, Sendero Reentry Court, shared about theirs and their strategies and approach to clients. District Judge Frank Montalvo provided some information on the court and said, “We’re not teaching tools, we’re developing habits. You can lose tools, but you keep habits.” The quote blew my mind. I knew I wanted to learn from and work with this man. 

Observing Sendero was astonishing. The proximity of the district to the border resulted in various border prosecution and organized crime related indictments. However, the therapeutic approach to how court staff worked with participants was incredible. Each person reflected deeply on their lives through Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT); they participated in a group, Shadows to Light programming, and experienced regular drug testing, court appearances, and collaborative support. A participant read a beautiful reflective essay about their life, and we learned there were structured essays attached to the phase system.  Our entire team left El Paso excited to implement so much of what we had seen back in San Francisco. 

Judge Montalvo and I kept in touch over the years, checking in about our respective work and growth. In 2019, I hosted a Collaborative Courts Summit, inviting districts from around the country to San Francisco. Judge Montalvo was one of over 150 attendees. He showed a genuine interest in my approach to reentry, from community partnership to program management with the court. He not only wanted to learn about our programs in the Bay Area but also about how I approached the work myself. Our check ins and conversations about the growth of the northern California programs over time ultimately led him to establish an academic partnership with the University of Texas El Paso, which allowed him to implement a coordinator role - modeled after my own role -utilizing a social worker to solve reentry issues in the community. 

Though Judge Montalvo has since gone senior and subsequently retired from the bench, his influence remains a cornerstone of my work. A few weeks ago, I had the honor of sharing dinner with him in San Francisco,updating him on A Curiae’s progress and our vision for the future. He has consistently been an incredible support and inspiration throughout my career, and I’ll forever be grateful to have him as a mentor. His foundational philosophy — focusing on developing lasting habits over temporary tools — continues to guide our mission to empower individuals and transform lives within the federal reentry system.