The purpose of this certificate is to empower school personnel to identify threatening situations and to manage them appropriately within the school setting. This program is rooted in the safe-schools initiative and merges the perspectives of professional school psychology and criminal justice.
The safe-schools initiative was collaboration between the Secret Service and the US Department of Education. The goal was to adapt the original Secret Service threat assessment process for schools in order to reduce school violence and create safe school climates so that our nation’s schools would be secured. In the aftermath of horrific school violence incidents, this initiative tried to answer two questions: 1) Could we have known this was going to happen? 2) What could we have done to prevent it? This three course strand will explore these questions with empirical support.
Additionally, because many situations are handled by school personnel before law enforcement can arrive, school employees need to know how to respond. They need to be able to identify, assess and manage individuals and groups who may pose threats of targeted violence. Related topics include 1) the role of principles, teachers, coaches, counselors and school psychologists in preventing and responding to violence in the school setting; 2) confidentiality laws; in which situations can professional act without fear of breaking these laws and 3) boundaries; in which circumstances should the school act to keep students safe and when must law enforcement be called in.
After successful completion of the program coursework, students will be able to:
1. Identify explicit threats of violence
2. Recognize warning behaviors associated with violence
3. Identify consultation and counseling models suitable for the school setting
4. Demonstrate applications of consultation skills in a threat management context
5. Recognize and employ relevant methods and sources in order to respond appropriately in the school setting
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