2020 Level 1 and Level 2 Trainings

For the General Training, which focused on the Salem-Keizer/Cascade Level 1 threat assessment process, administrators, counselors, and school psychologists from two local school districts, San Luis Coastal Unified and Coast Unified School District, attended the first training in late September of 2020. Additional participants were from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, mental health therapists from San Luis Obispo County Behavioral Health, San Luis County Sheriff's Office, and San Luis Obispo City Police Department. There were several attendees who were associated with community-based organizations and private mental health practice.

Despite being an 8 hour, virtual training divided into two, half-day sessions, 75 attendees participated in the event. A follow-up Level 1 Case Review with John Van Dreal was conducted with the Coast Unified School Team in February of 2021. San Luis Coastal Unified's school psychologists and administrators are scheduled to have a Level 1 Case Review with John Van Dreal in June of 2021.

The Advanced Training (Level 2) was conducted in October of 2020 in which twelve professionals representing educational institutions, mental health agencies, and law enforcement were recommended to attend. This 8-hour, two half-day training covered advanced threat assessment concepts as well as reviewed the role of the Level 2 Community Team within the Salem-Keizer/Cascade Model. The B-HARP Team has been receiving additional case reviews and mini-skills workshops with Dr. Tau that started in January 2021 and will conclude at the end of June of 2021.

Dr. Tau and Dr. Holifield are in the process of designing a specific training geared towards mental health professionals to be held in the near future. The plan is to offer continuing education credits to mental health professionals who attend. Dr. Holifield, Dr. Tau, and John Van Dreal  are already collaborating for a follow-up General and Advanced Training for Fall of 2021. The training will include the members from the original training cohort as well as new members for the second training cohort.

Since we wanted an even busier October, B-HARP debuted our Mental Health Provider training October 21st, 2021. Therapists, counselors, and other mental health professionals are a crucial component of a threat assessment network, as they are in a position to not only help identify possible threats, but provide treatment to individuals who have made threats.

Over 60 Central Coast mental health providers registered for the training, where Dr. Tau and Dr. Holifield conducted an innovative 3-hour training specifically catered for our audience. We heard one piece of feedback from participants over and over: we want more training, and we want a longer training. In response to the feedback, we are working to bring back a longer iteration of the training Fall of 2022. 

Every time B-HARP would present its accomplishments and detail our trainings to stakeholders and members of the community, the first question was always the same: if this threat assessment network is so effective, why only have it for K-12? Well, we listened. May 2022 brought the inaugural B-HARP Community Threat Assessment Training, and the expertise of a new consulting expert. Lieutenant Dave Okada brought his 30 years of threat assessment experience and collaborated with Dr. Tau and Dr. Holifield to create a training that was the first of its kind. 

Local businesses, agencies, and school districts were introduced to threat assessment principles with a specific focus on adult populations and community support, as businesses and agencies are not always equipped to deal with threats in the same way as school districts, and have different needs. 

Taking place in the Hot House in downtown San Luis Obispo, the two-day training started with a plenary session, where B-HARP collaborated with the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce to train 30 San Luis Obispo County residents and hold a FAQ session with Lt. Okada and Dr. Tau. Recognizing the needs of agencies and businesses for flexibly, a second day of training was conducted, where Lt. Okada led case studies and deep dives into example threat assessment situations.