John Van Dreal - Youth Violence Prevention: The Pathway Back Through Inclusion and Connection

Praise for Youth Violence Prevention: The Pathway Back through Inclusion and Connection

A great resource and guide for school and district leaders based on actual, practical, and relevant scenarios and events. A must-read for educators and those who work on ensuring and maintaining student safety in a school setting. The authors are actual practitioners with decades of firsthand knowledge and experience in how to manage, facilitate, and resolve such critical and complex situations and incidents.Salam A. Noor, PhD, former chief state schools officer for Oregon and currently president and CEO of Education Consultants International, LLC

This book illuminates both the logistical and programmatical steps in assuring a successful assessment program through a lens of equity, which often goes overlooked in the analysis of behavioral threats on our school campuses. Through student voice, schools can capitalize on what matters most, balancing inclusion and restorative practices in a manner that is fair for all.Dr. Hank Gutierrez, deputy superintendent, office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, Fresno, California

Youth Violence Prevention: The Pathway Back through Inclusion and Connection builds on the research-based practices developed and implemented by John Van Dreal and his colleagues around student threat assessment. The authors, based on their years of experience in education, have a laser-like focus on disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline by providing a comprehensive road map on how to reengage students through prevention, interventions, and community connections.Mary Paulson, deputy executive director, Oregon School Boards Association

As longtime educators, mental health professionals, and violence prevention experts, the Van Dreals and McCarthy provide a proven model of school behavioral threat assessment and management that educators, mental health professionals, and law enforcement professionals identify with. The valuable case studies for prevention of youth violence provide threat assessment teams and school personnel with critical steps in securing information for appropriate collaborative intervention. Youth Violence Prevention: The Pathway Back through Inclusion and Connection is essential for anyone working to identify, assess, and prevent youth violence.Tom Kelley, training and education specialist, Texas School Safety Center

As a threat assessment professional, I would highly recommend this book to school district threat assessment teams. The authors have crafted a text that provides realistic and complex cases along with insightful and practical questions for further team discussion. A perfect training supplement to Assessing Student Threats: Implementing the Salem-Keizer System, Second Edition by John Van Dreal et al.Joseph E. Holifield, PhD, threat management coordinator, Behavioral Health Assessment and Response Project (B-HARP), San Luis Obispo, California

What sets these authors apart from so many others is that their work is anchored in decades of real-life experience in dealing with student threats and threat assessments in the public school setting. This rare level of experience allows the Salem-Keizer Cascade Model to guide assessors toward a response that is neither overreactive nor underreactive. This book will be an invaluable resource for training school administrators, mental health professionals, and law enforcement personnel in implementing the Salem-Keizer Cascade Model. Many of the students depicted in the books case studies will immediately be recognizable by any educator with even a few years of student management experience, and walking the reader through the assessment considerations in these specific cases will undoubtedly translate to a better prepared and more effective assessment team member.Joseph Parks, JD, (retired) executive director of Safety and Security Services, Plano Independent School District; Lieutenant (retired) Plano Police Department, Plano, Texas

If you are a school administrator or an SRO or have another role in school security, you need this book for your toolbox. The cases presented could happen in any school around the world, and the behavioral-based approach for assessing and intervening in each case is straightforward. When used as intended, the Salem-Keizer Cascade threat assessment system works to avoid bias and is 100% student centered.Neil Musser, assistant principal and director of safety and security, Ellensburg School District, Ellensburg, Washington

Success for teachers, students, and families in overcoming trauma or crisis situations within a school community must be steeped in preventive measures. This book is a wonderful resource to build positive intervention strategies to assist any school district in creating that security lens!Carlene Yell, MEd, assistant principal, director Federal Programs, Maryetta Public Schools, Stilwell, Oklahoma

John Van Dreal, Coleen Van Dreal, and Courtenay McCarthys work is highly respected, and their book is a must-read for anyone in the field of student threat assessment. The case scenarios and the Salem-Keiser Cascade Model prepare school teams for real-life threat assessments. This guide provides a gold-standard process for those working in the field.Dan Beaudoin, student support coordinator, student threat assessment coordinator, Capital Region ESD 113, Tumwater, Washington

John Van Dreal and his colleagues approaches and content are operationally and best-practices based and serve well those in the threat assessment and management arenas. Ive had the benefit of working with John in recent years and have found his wisdom and practices superlative. I consider John a leader in his field and have even incorporated his approaches and content into my professional services in the public and private sectors. Ive come across multiple models for threat assessment and management in the school arenas, and I have found Johns approaches and model to be the clearest and most operationally sound. John brings a wealth of multidimensional information and experience to the table; you dont want to miss out!Manny Tau, PsyD, CTM; clinical and forensic psychologist, Certified Threat Manager

When our district felt there was a potential threat, we were so relieved to have the Salem-Keizer Cascade student threat assessment framework to know when to complete an assessment, whom to involve, and how to evaluate the possible threat. We also learned how to really identify needs for interventions and supports in a way that has helped decrease risk and increase academic success for all students. We have been grateful to know how to approach these situations by following these violence prevention protocols and training tools.Miriam Campbell, LCSW, Provo City School District, Provo, Utah

The Salem-Keizer Cascade Model provides our six-county region in Western Colorado with a preventative, proactive system grounded in collaboration to keep children safe. Its power is showcased in these case studies. While there is no simple solution to assessing threats, the model embraces the grey of these situations while empowering threat assessment teams with interventions for the student exhibiting threatening behavior that are not necessarily reliant on the courts or the mental health system. This system reminds communities that they can effect change through relationships, and it helps remove emotion and fear from a community response. It has made our region safer.James R. Pavlich, executive director of operations, Montrose County School District, Montrose, Colorado