Course Description: Behavioral threat assessment (BTA) were developed to prevent targeted attacks, such as school shootings. However, there are concerns about the use of BTA in schools, including as it relates to student mental health and disparities around race/ethnicity and special education status. This session details results of a key informant roundtable, conducted with 17 stakeholders in school mental health, public health, and education. Considerations for BTA from the roundtable include student privacy, resources for implementation, its current conceptualization in schools, police involvement, equity for historically marginalized populations, experiences and understandings of BTA outcomes, and the critical role of school social workers and other mental health professionals on BTA teams. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will be able to list at least three considerations for implementing behavioral threat assessments in K-12 schools.
2. Participants will be able to describe two recommendations for implementing threat assessment in K-12 schools.
3. Participants will be able to describe the role of school social workers in behavioral threat assessment in K-12 schools.

Speakers: 

Ricardo Canelo is the Associate Project Coordinator for the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) Network Coordinating Office (NCO), based at Stanford University School of Medicine. Ricardo helps coordinate the work of 12 centers that provide training and technical assistance to the mental health workforce to increase the use of evidence-based mental health prevention, treatment, and recovery support services across the United States. 

Jessica E. Gonzalez, MSW has worked in the community as a social worker providing mental health services in school and outpatient clinic settings to youth of diverse socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds. Jessica also has over 6 years of experience in project management support and coordination for research and evaluation in the areas of early childhood learning and development, special education, post-secondary education attainment, and delivery of school mental health services. 

Content level: Beginning

Target Audience: School Social Workers

Refund policy: No refunds will be given.

School Social Work Association of America, 1789, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. School Social Work Association of America maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 7/27/2023-7/27/2026. 

Note: Many state licensing boards impose specific limitations on course content, distance education, or other elements of continuing education, even when courses are taken from approved providers. It is your sole responsibility to ensure that the courses taken will meet the requirements for your license.