Behavioral Health Trainings

This presentation will introduce the concept of threat assessment and the range of warning signs that have been present in school shootings, including threats, leakage, and attack-related behavior. In addition, the concept of evidence of imminence will be presented to highlight the differences between non-imminent vs. imminent danger.

This presentation draws on the writings of perpetrators to gain insight into the dynamics driving them toward violence. Though school shooters often claim that they are retaliating for some injustice they have endured, the sources of their violence are typically found in their flawed sense of self, disturbing personality traits, and the drive to transform themselves from unknown, powerless “nobodies” into figures of power and significance.

This is an interactive training in which the attendees are given examples of student writings and discuss their reactions, including what steps they would take to respond to a potential risk.

This presentation reviews a tragic case in which a student made a homicidal threat that was reported to the school. The school conducted a threat assessment and rated the student as a low-level threat. Three months later he came to the school with a gun and opened fire. The presentation reviews the school's response to the threat and what more could have been done to prevent the attack.

School shooters typically fall into one of three psychological types. This training explains these types, using examples of actual perpetrators and explaining how their behavior varies. Having explored the three psychological types, we then examine additional factors that occur frequently in the lives of the shooters, including personal, family, and school-related incidents and issues.

This presentation examines college and university shooters from several angles, including differentiating random vs. targeted attacks, exploring psychological types (psychopathic, psychotic, or mixed), and identifying the many life factors and stresses that put them on the path of violence. A better understanding of the perpetrators will help prevention efforts by aiding staff in recognizing students or staff who present a risk of impending violence.

Though these perpetrators did not attack their schools, both had recently been students in higher education and had reasons to be hostile toward their institutions. In fact, their behavior raised serious safety concerns at their schools. This workshop examines their behavior while students to help identify warning signs and potential points of intervention.

It is critically important that your threat assessment system is seamless and integrated into your daily operations. In this training, Nolan provides strategies drawn from his experience in building threat assessments, for organizing and implementing your threat assessment team effectively.

In the current climate, there is not preventative practice more important that threat assessing. In this training, Nolan provides a foundational knowledge of the threat assessment, framing it as the pivotal cornerstone for managing threats and behaviors within a community.

Often overshadowed, suicide and self-harm stand as forms of violence equally pertinent to school communities, deserving comparable attention to gun violence. In this training, Nolan provides practical guidance towards maintaining wellness on campus and being in tune to the mental wellbeing of your students.