ALERT
November 2nd, 2016
Abbotsford, B.C., High School Stabbing
Violence Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) and Traumatic Aftermath

Dealing with the Aftermath of a High Profile Tragedy

Sadly the tragic stabbing attack at Abbotsford Senior Secondary has ensued in the death of a student and another listed in stable condition.

Due to the extensive coverage nationally and internationally through news media/social media this has created a critical period for our province and beyond. We are now in a “critical period” which is a predictable timeframe for increases in worrisome, threat making or threat-related behaviours that will extend at least two weeks beyond when the media coverage subsides.

Of utmost importance for professionals and parents to understand is that high-profile trauma intensifies already existing symptoms in identified vulnerable, and troubled youth. This can include those who identify with the victims and those who identify with the alleged perpetrator increasing their justification for targeting youth through bullying, threats, or other acts of violence.

Being caught within the “impact zone” of a high profile trauma means that some youth may be impacted by the widespread coverage of the violent incident.

For those who have recently experienced threats or acts of violence this incident could cause traumatic stimuli for them and it is important to reach out to such students at this time.

Given that we have seen an increase in worrisome and threat-related behaviour throughout BC and across Canada, it is important to be mindful of any changes in the behavioural baselines of students.

Due to the critical period and the impact zone that this current tragic event has created it is important to be aware of any students that may self identify throughout this time and ensure that your VTRA process is followed by continuing to collect data in collaboration with local support agencies prior to taking any disciplinary measures.

Given the viral nature of viewing of this incident it is imperative that our counselling and support staff have the resources to respond to any conscious or unconscious cries for help as they may emerge throughout the critical period. One of our greatest concerns is the number of our students who have watched once, or multiple times, the actual video of the incident. This may be important information for staff and parents to know when dealing with students exhibiting worrisome behaviour.

Please find attached some guidelines for staff and parents which may assist when working through this traumatic event.

J. Kevin Cameron, M.Sc., R.S.W., B.C.E.T.S., B.C.S.C.R.
Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress
Diplomate, American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress
Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Threat Assessment & Trauma Response

Theresa Campbell, M.A.
President, Safer Schools Together Ltd.

PDF version of this alert available here – abbotsford-november-2016

Attachments:

guidelines-for-parents

guidelines-for-staff-dealing-with-traumatic-events-3

ALERT

June 12th, 2016

Orlando Florida Nightclub Shootings

Violence Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) and Traumatic Aftermath

The worst mass shooting in American history brings with it a very complex dynamic, which is the intersecting of Criminal Radicalization and Hate Crimes against one of the most vulnerable groups in North America. Early indicators are that the perpetrator heeded the call of international terrorists to target “gay nightclubs” on North American soil. The “call” for someone who is not fully committed to engage in serious violence and attack a random nightclub would be difficult. But with the current divisiveness in the United States around Gay Marriage and other LGBTQ related topics, the “call” to target Sexual and Gender Minorities is far more “justifiable” in the minds of both radicalized and hateful individuals and groups. Although the Canadian climate is generally better than that of our American counterparts on issues of promoting acceptance, there are plenty of recent hate crimes involving violence against sexual and gender minorities in our own Country as well.

*NOTE: This ALERT is done in collaboration with our colleague Dr. André P. Grace, Canada Research Chair in Sexual and Gender Minority Studies at the University of Alberta.

Part One Violence Threat Risk Assessment

1. We are currently in the first Critical Period that will take us to the end of the academic year. This period is more complex as professionals, children and youth alike are all tired as the school year winds down.
2. As this is clearly targeted towards sexual and gender minorities, we must be very attentive to both these vulnerable youth and those you know have targeted them in the past.
3. Of equal concern is these youth now have the most tangible evidence of how hated they really are by some in our communities. Therefore our efforts to be connected to them during this period are paramount. (It would be appropriate to formally identify healthy staff that has a connection with LGBTQ youth and have them directly ask those youth how they are doing in the aftermath of the Florida Shootings).
4. Also show caring concern for staff and parents who are sexual and gender minorities.
5. This tragedy will increase the justification process for bullying, mean behavior and acts of violence.
6. In recent traumatic events across North America we have seen a significant increase in the use of anonymous based social media platforms to spread and incite hatred. Depending on your region, a variety of anonymous apps may be popular including: Ask.fm, Yik Yak, Whisper, and Ogle. Given the inherent lack of accountability with anonymous platforms, we need to remain vigilant in monitoring these platforms for any escalation of targeted hatred.
7. Several posts through social networking by ‘so called’ Christians in the United States have supported the Orlando attack calling it an “act of God” which will also increase the risk for suicidality amongst gender and sexual minorities.

Part Two Impact on Sexual and Gender Minorities

Sexual and gender minorities compose a demographically complex population, which WorldPride 2014 organizers in Toronto described using the LGBTTIQQ2SA acronym that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, intersex, questioning, queer, two-spirited and allies. While the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects this diverse group against discrimination on the grounds of sexual and gender differences, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia persist. By virtues of their ages and ongoing development, sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth are particularly vulnerable in our schools and communities. They continue to experience adversity and trauma caused by an array of stressors that can affect their physical and mental health and make them prone to risk taking and various negative life outcomes including substance abuse and suicide ideation, attempts, and completions. An event like the terrorist attack on the LGBTQ community in Orlando can be a real trigger for SGM youth who may be fearful and even traumatized in the aftermath of such horror. Moreover, it can lead to targeting of SGM youth, which Anthony D’Augelli, an expert on victimization and mental health among high-risk youth, calls retaliatory dangers. Thus the attack can be a trigger for bullies and other aggressive youth and adults who would target vulnerable SGM youth.

In the aftermath of the heinous crime in Orlando, Principals, teachers, guidance counselors, and other caring professionals need to ensure the health, wellbeing, safety, and security of SGM students in our schools and communities. Here are some key considerations:

1. It is important to monitor the behavior and treatment of SGM youth, especially those who are out and visible, since they can be particularly vulnerable and subjected to symbolic violence (such as name-calling and graffiti on lockers and in washrooms) as well as physical violence (such as bullying behaviors that may include physical assaults).
2. In recent years Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) Clubs have become more common in Canadian schools. SGM youth view them as safe spaces where they can socialize and talk about issues important to them. It is important to be vigilant about safety and security around GSA meetings, since they can be a targeted site for inflicting hurt on congregated SGM youth and their allies. Principals and teacher facilitators of these clubs have a particular responsibility to take care here.
3. It is also important to talk to youth about websites and social media that tend to accelerate homo/bi/transphobic narratives and targeting of sexual and gender minorities in the aftermath of events like the Orlando massacre. Angry, disenfranchised youth can be particularly influenced when they are exposed to negative messaging and calls to engage in imitative (copycat) activities.

Part Three Resources

Educators need to build knowledge and understanding of sexual and gender minority youth and those who would perpetrate violence against them in schools and communities. To assist you in educational and outreach initiatives, explore and use the following resources:

1. Advice for educators and an array of other resources focused on supporting sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ) youth and addressing their comprehensive health issues, can be found at http://chewproject.ca/resources/.
2. In September 2015, the University of Toronto Press released André P. Grace’s new book entitled Growing into Resilience: Sexual and Gender Minority Youth in Canada. Part II is co-authored with Kristopher Wells. The book argues that, despite recent progress in civil rights for sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQ) in Canada, ensuring SGM youth experience fairness, justice, inclusion, safety, and security at school remains an ongoing challenge. It investigates how teachers, healthcare workers, and other professionals can help SGM youth build the human and material assets that will empower them to be happy, healthy, hopeful, and resilient. The book draws upon the personal narratives of SGM youth, emphasizing ways to link research, policy, and practice so youth can thrive. As a resource for those professionally engaged in work with SGM youth as a diverse sub-population of youth, Growing into Resilience is a timely and useful book. It includes a typology focused on stressors, risk taking, asset building, and indicators of thriving. For more details, visit http://www.ismss.ualberta.ca/AndreGrace and click on the order form.
3. On May 17, 2016, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) released Grace and Wells’ new Canadian resource, which is published in English and French. The resource is entitled Sexual and Gender Minorities in Canadian Education and Society (1969-2013): A National Handbook for K-12 Educators. This detailed resource examines what has been done in Canada to improve the situation of sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQ persons) in Canadian society and, more specifically, in education since the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969. In it, educators will find a wealth of ideas, resources, and practices to help them deal with this important equity issue. For more information, visit http://www.ismss.ualberta.ca/AndreGrace and click on the order form.

Conclusion

As noted by President Barack Obama, there were more mass shootings in the United States last year then there are days in the Calendar: meaning on average over one per day in 2015! Canada is not immune to this contemporary phenomenon. In the field of Violence Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) we distinguish between “Traditional” versus “Non-Traditional” Offenders and most of the high profile crimes are being committed by the non-traditionals (those with no history of violence until they commit the crime). We have also never seen a time in which serious violence and the justification for it has become so widespread and commonplace. Therefore, as has always been a theme in these ALERTS, increase your connections with those you are most concerned about. This includes potential violent offenders and potential victims, as we want them to know they can come to us for help.

There is a special obligation for faith-based school staff and other professionals to prioritize the obligation to “love thy neighbour as thyself”over religious beliefs that put sexual and gender minorities in a negative light. At the end of the day, all educators and other professionals are required by their codes of professional conduct to be ethical and caring. This means we all need to be there for every student across differences including sexual orientation and gender variation.

Sincerely,

Kevin Cameron, M.Sc., R.S.W., B.C.E.T.S., B.C.S.C.R.

Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress

Diplomate, American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress

Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response

Theresa Campbell, M.A.

President, Safer Schools Together Ltd.

André P. Grace, Ph.D.

Canada Research Chair in Sexual and Gender Minority Studies (Tier 1)

Professor, Department of Educational Psychology

Director of Research, iSMSS

University of Alberta

CANADIAN CENTRE FOR THREAT ASSESSMENT & TRAUMA RESPONSE

Box 1102, Lethbridge, AB, T1J 4A2 – Tel: (403) 394-9468

Fax: (403) 388-0454 – Web: www.cctatr.com – E-mail: [email protected]

SAFER SCHOOLS TOGETHER

#209 15335 34th Ave Surrey, V3S 3W3 – Tel: (604)560-2285

Web:www.saferschoostogether.com – E-mail: [email protected]

For publication 17 November 2015

ALERT: Terrorist Attacks in Paris: North American Implications for Criminal Radicalization

Overview:

As you are aware, we are currently in a Critical Period from the ongoing aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris and the subsequent air strikes by France against several targets in Syria. These series of Traumatic Events are elevating the anxiety of many Canadians and Americans as the possibility of “imitators”, as understood in the Violence Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) Model. Furthermore organized and committed offenders may be considering action. The attacks are somewhat “innovative” as there were multiple targets at the same time and very broad site selection so as to suggest ‘you are not safe anywhere’: thus the essence of terrorism.

From a general North American perspective, events in war torn countries do not draw the same concern by citizens because that is what is expected (much like cities that fail to pay attention to evolving gang crises because it is the ‘bad guys killing the bad guys’ – It doesn’t hit home until “innocent victims” are killed in the crossfire – then it is viewed as a problem). It would appear from the rhetoric of some Canadians and the actions of others (Mosque set on fire in Ontario) that the attacks in France are viewed as ‘too close to home’ and the heightened anxiety is increasing symptom development of many individuals. The problem is “the higher the anxiety the greater the symptom development” and the risk of triggering or intensifying already existing criminal radicalization in some is very high.

Circularity:

As anger towards so-called Islamic Extremist groups builds in North America, Canadian and American Muslim Communities are too often left to bear the crushing weight of responsibility for acts they did not commit. One growing area of concern is that “empty vessels” who are already depressed and suicidal and looking to kill for a cause, prior to being killed or killing themselves, are drawn to this high profile world issue looking for a way to ‘go out with a bang’. This is not new to us: many of the same types of individuals who were shooting up their schools in the aftermath of Columbine are the same types that are going, or attempting to go, overseas to join the fight or act out here at home. Now we have evolving empty vessels in some cases searching out the Muslim community and other communities/organizations to find a place to fit. Without training in VTRA many community and religious leaders struggle with how to help a troubled individual and even if they worry about criminal radicalization, who can they turn to for support? As the Muslim Community has been targeted themselves we are asking too much to simply say “report and we (professionals) will handle it”. We need to actively look for ways to include Islamic Schools and Muslim leaders in our Community Protocols for VTRA.

The Muslim Community Behind Closed Doors

Muslim community leaders have spoken outright against every terrorist act since 9/11 and continue to do so. This is done to ensure that the general public doesn’t overgeneralize a few incidents and make broad assumptions about the religion as a whole. What remains to be unknown to the public are what conversations and activities are taking place amongst leaders and activists in the Muslim community behind closed doors? It is in these internal dialogues where one can begin to fully understand the impact terrorism has had on everyone; including Muslims.

These internal dialogues are shifting the narrative from ‘talk’ to ‘action’.  More recently, seminars, sermons, workshops, conferences, and counselling programs have been developed and funded solely by the Muslim community to prevent criminal radicalization. In some areas, strong partnerships have been developed between community leaders, government, and law enforcement agencies. According to many leaders, what seems to still need improvement is a multi-agency and comprehensive approach to preventing criminal racialization. Such an approach requires strong working alliances, an increase in opportunities to discuss risk-enhancers and risk-reducers, and an agreed upon framework to work from. However, without trust, very little communication and sustainability is possible.

Trust

In order to develop trust in the Muslim community, understanding is paramount.  In order to better understand the reality of the Muslim community, better data must be collected which ultimately leads to better assessments and interventions. For example, many have commented on ‘radical online messaging’ as an important issue to understand, and certainly it is; however, who is susceptible to such messaging, and why, requires more examination. This detailed analysis from an insider perspective is a key focus of our work and one that includes rather than excludes authentic authors. It is also heavily supported and endorsed by an enormous amount of community leaders, organizations, and members. We are sharing this simply to support the idea that when you put a group of people together and allow them to dialogue as equals, understanding increases and trust quickly follows.

In the Muslim community, it is quite apparent that battling the negative perceptions of Islam and Muslims resulting from high profile terrorism is a daunting task with serious implications. As the community prepares to support thousands of displaced refugees, having to also deal with public relations issues is an added stress that has and can continue to cause burnout in so many dedicated volunteers. As such, front line workers and authentic leaders have been advocating for a more practical and less political approach to solving this problem. Simply put, community leaders believe, and research supports, that if someone who is unaware of the Muslim reality meets a Muslim, they are less likely to have negative attitudes towards them or their faith. This is leading to more Open-Houses in Mosques and other information sessions to offer counter-narratives and counter-examples to combat media generalizations. These are great places to start building trust which can lead to a wide stock of social capital as both insiders and outsiders work together to prevent a shared problem, leading to shared success, and ultimately a better shared society.

Key Points:

1) The school-police relationship is still the foundation for Stage I VTRA and both should be formally connecting with each other to review the VTRA protocol/process. Mental Health, Child Protection, Probation, and other related partners also need to be brought into the loop as to the contents of this communication.

2) Under-reaction is still the biggest problem we have where even VTRA trained professionals, for a variety of reasons, do not activate the protocol.

3) Play close attention to VTRA cases where the individual being assessed has inordinate knowledge of violent incidents worldwide and/or the possession of radical promotional literature.

4) High profile violence does not cause people to go from zero (no risk) to sixty (extreme risk) – instead it simply “intensifies pre-existing symptoms”.

5) The age, gender and socio-economic backgrounds of the perpetrators of these many violent acts is so varied that most high-risk and “primed” for violence individuals can find at least one attack they can identify with (identification with the aggressors). Therefore keep in mind that the more abled a troubled individual can identify with a perpetrator the more it will increase their overall level of risk.

6) The “target selection” has also been very broad from targeted violence of people personally known to the perpetrators to “types of targets” (not personally known but viewed as justifiable targets) such as multiple death homicides of police officers in Moncton, New Brunswick and Las Vegas, Nevada to completely “random target selection” cases. *Therefore “Target Selection” and “Site Selection” are broad and so multiagency collaboration needs to be intensified to meet the current social dynamics.

7) All VTRA cases that come to your attention need to include a comprehensive review of that individuals’ online behaviour and digital footprint as that is where we find the most blatant pre-incident signs and indicators. The role that social media plays as both a risk enhancer to existing ideology as well as a prominent contributing source of VTRA data has never been stronger. An accurate VTRA risk determination cannot be made without reviewing the entirety of their digital baseline.

8) We need to “strategically” intensify our connections with our highest risk children and youth (Empty Vessels) during this time as no one can engage in a serious act of violence unless they feel “justified” in attacking that target or type of target. The power of positive, meaningful human connection is one of the best violence prevention strategies we can easily employ.

Notwithstanding the current climate in North America, the commitment to formalized multi-agency collaboration for Violence Threat Risk Assessment and the development and use VTRA Protocols has set us apart as a leading Nation. Our level of commitment to learn and act together has already made a significant impact across this country, please remain vigilant.

Sincerely,

Kevin Cameron, Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response

Theresa Campbell, President, Safer Schools Together

Mahdi J. Qasqas, PhD Candidate, President and Founder of 3OWN | Muslim Youth and Family Services,

Provisional Psychologist and Certified Counsellor