Program Description: High-profile acts of violence are often followed by stories that attempt to explain what happened and why. While these narratives can be compelling, they rarely offer clear guidance for how clinicians, educators, and communities can prevent harm before it occurs. This training builds on existing research and explanatory frameworks to shift the focus from retrospective understanding to forward-looking prevention.
Using a developmental, contextual, and ethically grounded approach, this workshop explores how risk emerges through the interaction of individual vulnerabilities, social environments, and systemic factors. Participants will learn to recognize behavior-based warning signs without relying on stigmatizing assumptions, apply multi-tiered prevention strategies, and navigate the ethical tensions inherent in this work.
Program Learning Objectives: At the end of this program, participants will be able to:
1. Explain how descriptive and explanatory models of violent behaviors can be extended into practical, prevention-focused approaches for use in clinical, educational, and community settings.
2. Describe how risk for serious harm develops over time through the interaction of individual, social, and environmental factors, rather than being determined by diagnosis, identity, or personality alone.
3. Recognize behavior-based warning signs that may indicate increased vulnerability or need for support, while avoiding assumptions that stigmatize neurodivergent individuals or those with mental health challenges.
4. Apply developmentally informed, tiered prevention strategies (universal, targeted, and intensive) to real-world scenarios involving youth and young adults.
5. Use ethical decision-making principles to balance safety, autonomy, dignity, and inclusion when responding to concerning behaviors or situations.
Credits Offered: 2 Continuing Education Credits for psychologists and educators. (75% score or higher required)
The Pennsylvania Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. PPA maintains responsibility for this program and its content. The Pennsylvania Psychological Association is an approved provider for Act 48 Continuing Professional Education Requirements as mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.