BIT/CARE/TAT Training

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Training for BIT/CARE/TAT Professionals

Behavior Intervention, Campus Assessment Response & Education, and/or Threat Assessment Teams (BIT/CARE/TAT teams) exist at every UW university and serve a critical role in early identification, support, and deterrence of escalation for students exhibiting behavioral signs of distress, disruption, or potential danger to self or others.

In 2020, Universities of Wisconsin President Ray Cross approved a behavioral health workgroup recommendation to sponsor bi-annual training opportunities to help these multidisciplinary teams stay current on best practices. The goal is to provide opportunities for campus professionals across the UW System to hone their skills in detecting and responding to potentially high-risk situations, leading to the prevention of individual and campus tragedies and contributing to student well-being and success.

Spring 2024 Training Sessions

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January 15, 9:00-10:30 AM (virtual): Wade Harrison, Legal Issues

Behavior Intervention, Campus Assessment Response & Education, and/or Threat Assessment Teams (BIT/CARE/TAT teams) exist at every UW university and serve a critical role in early identification, support, and deterrence of escalation for students exhibiting behavioral signs of distress, disruption, or potential danger to self or others. Join us for an interactive session with Wade Harrison from the Universities of Wisconsin Office of General Counsel where we will discuss legal considerations, best practices, challenges related to intervention and reintroduction to the campus environment, and other topics.

February 26, 9:00-10:30 AM (virtual): Brett Van Ess, Threat Management in Wisconsin Higher Education

Join Dr. Brett Van Ess, Director of Threat Intervention Services at UW-Madison, for a session focused on threat management in Wisconsin higher education. Dr. Van Ess is an ATAP Certified Threat Manager and DHS National Threat Evaluation and Reporting (NTER) Master Trainer and holds a PhD from King’s College, London. His session will provide foundational concepts and considerations for university-based threat assessment and management practitioners. It will present general principles for building or evaluating programs in higher education, give practical examples of case processes, and offer resources for future use.

March 5, 10:30 AM-Noon (virtual): Brian Van Brundt, Triage Risk Assessment (D-PREP Pathways Tool)

Join Dr. Brian Van Brunt for a practical, case-based walkthrough of how a research-informed triage process strengthens BIT/CARE work from first report to follow-through. This session focuses on how teams can quickly and consistently sort incoming concerns, reduce subjective decision-making, and match the right level of outreach, support, and containment to the right level of risk.

Participants will learn how to organize information such as baseline vs. change, intent and capability, pathway-to-harm indicators, leakage and communications, stabilizers/protective factors, and contextual stressors (including personal, academic, interpersonal, and environmental triggers). The training emphasizes defensible documentation, bias-aware decision points, and clear thresholds for when to move from triage into deeper assessment, higher-touch case management, or coordinated safety planning.

The session includes guided case studies where the group will practice applying the triage steps in real time: what to ask, what to document, how to identify “unknowns” that matter, and how to translate risk signals into action. The training also includes an overview of Wayfinder (Suicide), a non-clinical, integrated approach to identifying suicide risk indicators and protective factors, and to connecting students with timely support without turning BIT/CARE into a therapy office.
Key learning outcomes:

  • Apply a research-based triage framework to sort concerns consistently and reduce ad-hoc decision making.
  • Use Threat and Risk assessment concepts to identify risk drivers (stressors, intent, capability, pathway indicators) and protective factors that shape intervention choices.
  • Strengthen equity and reduce bias by using structured decision points and shared language across disciplines.
  • Improve documentation and legal defensibility by clearly separating observed behavior, reported information, analysis, and action steps.
  • Translate triage findings into proportionate interventions (supportive outreach, monitoring, behavioral expectations, safety planning, referral, and escalation pathways).
  • Recognize when a case needs higher-resolution assessment (e.g., violence risk assessment, coordinated law enforcement consultation, clinical evaluation).
    Incorporate Wayfinder concepts to identify suicide risk concerns and build non-clinical support pathways aligned with campus resources.

April 24, 10:30 AM-Noon (virtual): Brian Van Brundt, Advanced Violence Risk Assessment (D-PREP DarkFox Tool)

This advanced training builds directly on the Triage Risk Assessment program and focuses on what happens when a case moves from team triage to a deeper dive into the concern. Participants will learn how (and when) to transition from a broad triage approach to a full violence risk assessment (VRA), using the Threat and Violence Risk Assessment concepts to guide comprehensive information gathering, analysis, and risk management decisions.

Dr. Brian Van Brunt will review research-supported indicators associated with targeted violence and show how to evaluate the nature of written, verbal, and social media-based threats, including how to interpret ambiguity, context collapse, sarcasm, fixation, leakage, and escalation patterns. The session emphasizes a disciplined approach to distinguishing transient vs. substantive threats, assessing intent, capability, and opportunity, and mapping where an individual appears to be on a pathway-to-harm while also identifying stabilizers, buffers, and points for interruption.

Using a guided case study, participants will practice the DarkFox Violence Risk Assessment process from start to finish, including how to structure interviews (online or in-person), integrate collateral information, and use supplemental tools and documentation templates to avoid common pitfalls (confirmation bias, “single-source certainty,” and over-reliance on likability or diagnosis). The training also addresses operational questions teams wrestle with in real life: who should lead the assessment, how to coordinate roles across disciplines, and how to translate findings into a practical, monitorable plan.

Key learning outcomes:

  • Identify the decision thresholds for moving from triage to a full VRA, including what “unknowns” trigger deeper assessment.
  • Apply Threat and Violence Risk concepts to evaluate intent, capability, pathway indicators, leakage, fixation, stressors, and protective factors in a defensible way.
  • Analyze threats across modalities (written, verbal, social media) for specificity, plausibility, escalation, audience, and context, including transient vs. substantive distinctions.
  • Conduct (or support) structured VRA interviews in-person or online, including strategies for rapport, eliciting detail, exploring access to means, and testing narratives.
  • Integrate collateral sources (records, witnesses, digital artifacts, prior incidents) while guarding against bias and over-weighting any single data point.
  • Use the DarkFox system and supplemental materials to produce clear risk formulations, not just checklists.
  • Develop risk mitigation plans that are actionable and measurable (support, monitoring, restrictions, coordination with law enforcement when appropriate).
  • Strengthen team readiness in the advanced skill set areas that follow assessment: documentation, report writing, role clarity, and interview training pathways.

May 27, 9:00 AM-3:00 PM: In Person Training, UW-Stevens Point

Resources from Past Trainings

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