Upcoming Trainings & Events

Please go to Training and Threat Programs for a general menu of WTS training services.

Upcoming Trainings & Presentations
by WTS Staff & Consultants

 _______________________________________
Extreme Overvalued Beliefs:
New Scientific and Operational Data
Reid Meloy, Ph.D. and Tahir Rahman, M.D.
ATAP Threat Management Conference
August 9, 2022
Anaheim, CA
Click here for more information and to register.


Crossfire: Our Violent Political Discourse
Philip Saragoza, M.D.
ATAP Threat Management Conference
August 9, 2022
Anaheim, CA
Click here for more information and to register.

Slippery and Unmanageable:
The Case of a Persistent Stranger Stalker
Stephen G. White, Ph.D. and Detective Rande Christiansen
ATAP Threat Management Conference
August 10, 2022
Anaheim, CA
Click here for more information and to register.

Pitfalls to Avoid in Threat Assessment and Profiling:
Lessons from Mistakes I’ve Made
Ronald F. Tunkle,  MCJ
ATAP Threat Management Conference
August 10, 2022
Anaheim, CA
Click here for more information and to register

3 Days of Expert Training in Threat Assessment
November 1-3, 2022
McLean, Virginia

Produced by
Specialized Training
Site host: Capital One Financial Services
With in-person and virtual options
Enjoy early bird savings now through July 31st
Earn CE Credits

Assessing and Managing Risk of Violence on Campus and in the Workplace with the WAVR-21 V3
Date: November 1, 2022
Speaker: Stephen White, Ph.D.
This one-day introduction to using the WAVR-21, co-developed by Dr. White and Dr. Reid Meloy, will focus on the practical application of the instrument, using case studies and interactive exercises to illustrate the relationship of the factors on the WAVR to violence risk. The instrument is an evidence-based “SPJ” (structured professional judgment guide) for use by multi-disciplinary teams and practitioners in work and campus settings, and is increasingly recognized as the go-to SPJ for these settings. Dr. White will explain how case data is integrated with professional or clinical judgment, informing the many challenging case management decisions that threat assessors must make, and the do’s and don’ts of strategic interventions. The steps on the pathway to targeted violence will be discussed, as well as the motives, commonalities, and differences among perpetrators who choose violence.
Advanced Threat Assessment and Threat Management: Front Line Defense for Evolving Threats
Date: November 2-3, 2022
Speaker: Reid Meloy, Ph.D., ABPP

In this two-day workshop, Dr. Meloy will provide the most up to date information on various violence risk topics. The program will showcase the threat assessment and management process, identify the warning behaviors for targeted violence, the latest research on communicated threats, and summarize what is known about mass murderers, mental illness and violence, and stalking of public figures and prior sexual intimates, Topics will include an overview of the WAVR-21, the “dark triad” of targeted violence, the emerging threat posed by domestic violent extremists and anti-government groups, and strategic public and private partnerships for risk mitigation. Additionally, Dr. Meloy will introduce the TRAP-18 (Terrorist Radicalization Assessment Protocol) his validated instrument for assessing the risk of terrorism-driven violence.

For more information and to register, go to the Specialized Training website.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Stalking: Causes, Consequences, Intervention, and Threat Assessment Considerations

Jerrod Brown, Ph.D., MA, MS, MS, MS, and Kostas Katsavdakis, Ph.D., ABPP
Oct. 14, 2022
The American Institute for the Advancement of Forensic Studies (AIAFS)
Click here for more info and to register.

On-Demand Online WAVR-21 Training:
An Introductory Course  
Dr. Stephen White & Dr. Reid Meloy

The Global Institute of Forensic Research hosts a remote access introductory WAVR-21 training. This On-Demand training will provide attendees with a solid introduction to the WAVR-21 while earning 5 hours of valuable Continuing Education Credit.

Please go to the GIFR website for further details and to register.

Structured Professional Judgement Tools
for Violence Threat Assessment
Dr. Stephen White
Association of Threat Assessment Professionals,
New England Chapter
May 19, 2022
Lexington, MA
Click here for more information and to register. 

WAVR-21 Training
Our next two-day in-depth threat assessment workshop 
with WAVR-21 creators
Drs. Stephen White and Reid Meloy
March 8 and 9, 2022
Mountain View, California
Hosted by Intuit, Inc. 
at their corporate headquarters
This offering will be both live and virtual!
You have your choice to join us in person
or Zoom-in from work or home
The workshop will cover the foundations and proper use of the WAVR-21, and best practices in threat assessment and management in work and campus settings. We will discuss each of the WAVR items, illustrate with case examples their relationship to violence risk, and how practitioners can combine their WAVR findings with professional judgment to address challenging case management decisions. Topics included are mental disorder and violence, stalking, bullying, the suicide-homicide connection, domestic/intimate partner violence, data gathering and interviewing strategies, bias issues, and the expanding landscape of extremist and domestic terrorism.
To register contact Dr. Stephen White by email: swhite@wtsglobal.com
You will then be directed to a registration form.

Discounts for “TAP” members and active law enforcement.

PLEASE NOTE: Our host, Intuit, requires proof of vaccination for those attending in person. Attendees must bring proof to the training site. If you are not vaccinated you may switch your attendance to virtual.

Protective Intelligence Event
February 21-23, 2022
Austin, TX
Join Ontic, a WAVR-21 software partner, for three days in Austin to explore the latest strategies and technologies propelling protective intelligence forward. Learn from renowned speakers, industry leaders, and practitioners on the future of security, and network with your peers. Dr. Stephen White will be a panel member addressing “The Importance of Threat Assessment for Modern-Day Security Programs.”
Drs. Stephen White & Philip Saragoza
will conduct an invited workshop:
Extremism and Violence Risk
in Organizational Contexts
at the 2022 AETAP Conference
April 25-28, 2022
Nuremberg, Germany
More information on the workshop
will be available in the coming weeks.
Stalking Risk Profile Workshops
Our Australian colleagues, Rachael MacKenzie and Troy McEwan, authors of the SRP, an excellent tool, will conduct several virtual workshops in North American
time zones in February and March.
Advanced Threat Assessment and Management
Dr. Kostas A. Katsavdakis
January 6, 2022
For more details and to register: American Academy of Forensic Psychology

The High School Hit List: A Case Study and Review
Dr. Philip Saragoza
Oct. 23, 2021
Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law

And…

Advanced Case Debriefing Workshop:
A format for existing threat assessment teams
to maximize their continuing learning and growth.

Have you had training from experts, including perhaps from us? Have you attended conferences and bench-marked with other threat assessment practitioners and organizations? What’s next?

Consider a private workshop in which your threat assessment team prepares your own case presentations and then engages with us in a technical debriefing.

The best lessons and insights for you and your team ultimately come from your own case experience. If you include outside threat assessment experts to consult on cases, you hopefully learn even more from their perspective and contribution.

We have practiced post-case debriefs for years and are increasingly recommending it. The cases may still be active, but are more often considered resolved or inactive.

Among its advantages, this format illuminates the nuances in assessment strategies and case management that are particular to an individual organization, its culture, and its in-house practitioners. We can personalize teaching points and go beyond what is accomplished in general threat assessment workshops or public trainings. Discussing your own cases also provides a great way to improve assessment skills using the WAVR-21 V3.

The workshops are usually a full day and may include up to five or more cases that the team has prepared. In-depth discussion typically identifies obstacles and opportunities at various levels and how an organization’s threat management program and protocol may be improved.

Threat assessment consists of general principles, but threat scenarios present a wide variety of individual differences – in subjects of concern, targets and their expectations, and work environments and topography – calling for flexibility in response and selected interventions.

Threat assessment teams in organizational settings ideally meet regularly to discuss new and ongoing cases. But they rarely get an opportunity for a “retreat” with an expert to delve more deeply into their more challenging cases and the inherent “lessons learned” opportunities such exercises offer.

  • Typical issues that teams address or recognize in their case presentations:
  • Disagreements on opinion of risk among team members
  • Information silos: Strategies to identify and collect useful data
  • Recognizing bias errors and process flaws such as “disciplinary drift”
  • Interviewing strategies with different kinds of subjects, for example individuals that are paranoid, very litigious, intimidating, or suicidal
  • Identifying the possible unintended consequences of actions taken in a given case
  • Communicating findings and managing fear, especially when a team’s objective opinion of risk differs from concerned clientele
  • Managing one’s own emotions and personal concerns as a team member
  • Identifying thresholds for appropriate engagement of threat assessment experts
  • How different cases would be coded on the WAVR-21, and how to weigh and integrate findings

The critiques and discussions are conducted respectfully, as we offer teaching points and raise questions for attendees’ consideration. Threat assessment lives on information and collaboration. Attendees often come to recognize how collecting more reasonably available information leads to better-informed case management decisions.As an alternative to in-person workshops, webinars can be arranged, and are especially effective if scheduled periodically. We emphasize that the advanced case debriefing workshops are best suited for existing teams that have had some basic training in threat assessment and have some demonstrated experience working together.

For further information and pricing please contact Dr. Stephen White: swhite@wtsglobal.com.

Also please consider:
Help Support 
The Threat Assessment, Prevention, and Safety Act of 2019

As many of you may know, this bill in the House of Representatives (HR 838) is slowly moving forward, and outlines the beginning of a national strategy for threat assessment and management as a standard of practice. The bill is supported by many bipartisan sponsors in the House.

Your organization can help by formally endorsing this bill with a public letter of support. With organizational endorsements from institutions of higher learning, corporations, and other entities, the bill can become law.

The bill will direct a DHS Task Force to recommend a national strategy for preventing targeted violence through threat assessment and management, with grants then being awarded to establish community-based units for implementing the national strategy.

Dr. Reid Meloy has been very involved in assisting with the legislation. If you or your organization are interested in helping with a letter of endorsement, please contact Reid (reidmeloy@gmail.com), and he can fill you in on the relatively simple next steps.

Make no mistake, this is truly a much-needed and long-awaited step forward. The legislation is informed – it reflects an understanding of targeted violence dynamics and thus meaningful and practical ways to prevent it at all levels of awareness and intervention.

You can show your stakeholders what the bill is about with this YouTube video by its author, Congressman Brian Babin: click here to view video.