Municipal District of Greenview

By Emily Keller

MUNICIPAL DISTRICT OF GREENVIEW

MD of Greenview funds Violence Threat Risk Assessment Training for 60 local participants

Oct 3, 2019 | 5:30 AM

The Municipal District of Greenview has funded new Level One Violence Threat Risk Assessment Training, also called VTRA.

The North American Center for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response, or NACTATR, administered the training to 63 participants from October 1 to 2 at the Burnside Performing Arts Centre in Valleyview.

Tammy Charko, the Student Support Facilitator for Northern Gateway Public Schools, explains the training.

“It analyzes pathways to violence that an individual goes on before they strike out to harm themselves or others, and it’s about picking up on the worries and behaviours that individuals have, and working out of the silos that we typically work in, within our own departments and bringing that information out to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together.”

Charko adds that an action plan is then to be put in place regarding the violence risk.

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The training involves different community agencies, including schools, RCMP and Mental Health and Children and Family Services.

Charko says that it’s about getting everyone able to help identify and prevent violence.

“It’s just to bring everybody on the same page, have the same language, and be aware of the same behaviours to keep in mind, and understand who our team members are. So when somebody, even if it’s a community agency becomes aware of a particular behaviour, they can bring it to the other team members and say ‘Hey, this is what I see, this is what I heard, what do you think, or what do you know?’.”

The training is meant as an intervention that prevents school shootings and other violent incidents.

Charko says it is also away to bring a different perspective to the situation.

“What it does is it takes the fear away, and you look at it with a different lens, as not as a panic lens, but more so as a, ‘Okay, this kid needs help, this kid needs support, what can we do?’, and you look at it with a different intellect than just sheer panic.”

The training is used in 281 communities across Canada and in approximately 45% of the school divisions in Alberta.