Given their training and expertise in school safety, children's mental health, crisis prevention and intervention, and educational law, school psychologists are critical members of school-based threat assessment teams. In the course of conducting threat assessments, they may also encounter ethical dilemmas that result from the challenges of working within a multidisciplinary team. This session will discuss some of the possible ethical dilemmas encountered when conducting school-based threat assessment, including limits of confidentiality, storage of records, and protecting the rights of children and families. Utilizing a problem-solving framework, participants will identity and explore ethical challenges that may arise at various stages in the threat assessment process.

Workshop Objectives:

This session will help participants

1. identify steps in the threat assessment process and potential ethical considerations at various stages;
2. understand key findings from relevant research and the implications for school psychologists engaged in school-based threat assessment;
3. integrate recommendations and best practice guidelines with ethical standards in the development of comprehensive violence prevention protocols;
4. articulate steps and objectives in the development of a threat assessment protocol; and
5. apply a problem-solving framework to identify and resolve ethical dilemmas in the multidisciplinary threat assessment process.

Prerequisite Knowledge

Basic understanding of school-based threat assessment and NASP’s Principles for Professional Ethics.

Practical Tools

Threat assessment flowchart, ethical problem-solving model.