School Threat Assessment Certificate Program

Jason Matlock, Senior Advisor, Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management, Public Consulting Group

Jason Matlock is a senior advisor for the Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management business line at Public Consulting Group. For the past three years Jason has traveled the country supporting school districts from 200 to 200,000 students with their journey to have effective and equitable BTAM programs. In addition to consulting and training staff, Jason has been the product lead for PCGs digital BTAM case management solution inside of their EdPlan platform. Working to bridge the gap between the needs of practitioners and the capabilities of large-scale software. His current focus is on expanding adoption and fidelity of implementation of the SK Cascade Student Preventive Threat Assessment and Management Protocol.

Before joining PCG, Jason spent 25 years in the public safety space. He spent 13 of those years with the Minneapolis Public Schools as the Director of Emergency Management, Safety & Security. He led the team that is responsible for all security, emergency management, and threat assessment functions within the district as well as supporting behavior response and intervention for any behaviors that pose a safety risk. During Jason’s tenure the department underwent a complete redesign. Increasing in size, scope, and responsibility after the district made the decision to move away from school resource officers. The department used stakeholder input and engagement as well as best practices to create a system that emphasized adult responsibility to guide, educate and protect students in new ways.

Jason is a long-time member of ATAP and spent a decade collaborating with leaders from across the country as a part of the Council of Great City Schools (CGCS). Traveling to districts providing peer review and improvement suggestions and organizing an annual gathering to promote collaboration and learning.

Prior to moving into education full time, Jason was a police officer in Illinois where he had a wide range of experience from patrol through SWAT entry team member and spent the last 6 years as an SRO for a middle school in a smaller economically depressed district where he had to balance safety and positive engagement and supports for students. Jason holds a Masters of Public Affairs from the University of Minnesota Hubert H. Humphrey School and a bachelor’s degree in law enforcement and justice administration with an African American Studies Minor from Western Illinois University. He is a proud husband and father of three daughters.

John Van Dreal, Chief Architect, Violence Prevention Solutions, Public Consulting Group

John Van Dreal is a school psychologist, the chief architect of violence prevention solutions for Public Consulting Group, and the retired director of Safety and Risk Management Services for the Salem-Keizer School District. He continues his career consulting with school districts and communities on behavioral threat assessment systems and violence prevention. He has over 35 years of experience in threat assessment and management, psycho-educational evaluation, crisis intervention, behavioral intervention, and security and risk management systems consultation. He is the recipient of the 2024 Association of Threat Assessment Professional’s Lifetime Achievement Award and is recognized internationally as an expert in threat assessment and as a pioneer of multidisciplinary threat assessment.

In 1999, he began the development and implementation of the Salem-Keizer Cascade Model, an evidence-based, multi-agency student threat assessment system considered by experts to be a best practice. Through that collaboration, he has worked daily with educators, law enforcement, trial court personnel, juvenile justice, and mental health personnel in preventive behavioral threat assessment—the management of youth and adult threats of aggression within the schools, institutions, and the community. He served as Chair of Oregon’s Mid-Valley Student Threat Assessment Team from its inception in 2000 through 2015 and continues to provide consultation to its membership. He has served as a member of the Marion County Threat Advisory Team since 1999. He is the editor and principal author of the book Assessing Student Threats: Implementing The Salem-Keizer System, Second Edition and has advised on, or contributed to, a number of threat assessment guides, publications, articles, and documentaries. His third book (authored with Courtenay McCarthy and Coleen Van Dreal), Preventing Youth Violence: The Pathway Back through Inclusion and Connection, was released in March of 2022. He regularly provides training and consultation to audiences nationally on threat assessment systems, preventing and mitigating human violence, school security, and response options for violent intruder and active shooter situations.

John is dedicated to his community, patronizing locally owned establishments and supporting nonprofit arts and human services organizations. He is a musician, a published poet, and a nationally renowned fine artist with paintings in several notable collections. Finally, he is lucky to be the partner of a gifted school counselor, the proud father of two brilliant adult children, and a loving companion to his dog, Jojo.

Courtenay McCarthy, Lead School Psychologist, Salem-Keizer Public Schools

Courtenay McCarthy is the lead school psychologist in student preventive behavioral threat assessment and management for Salem-Keizer Public Schools. She is also chair of the Mid-Valley Student Threat Assessment Team and is a member of the Marion County Threat Advisory Team. While partnering with John Van Dreal, she has refined the Salem-Keizer student threat assessment system to reflect leading practice in behavioral threat assessment, violence prevention, early intervention, and equitable practices. Courtenay has over two decades of experience in prevention, threat assessment and management, psychoeducational evaluation, intervention with at-risk youth and families, and behavioral consultation and intervention. As a certified threat manager and nationally certified school psychologist, she regularly provides training and consultation on student threat assessment systems implementation and youth violence to school districts and community agencies throughout the nation. She also provides workshops, symposiums, and content presentations to national audiences. In addition, Courtenay is a contributing author to the book, Assessing Student Threats: Implementing the Salem-Keizer System – Second Edition (Van Dreal, et al. 2017) and a co-author on the book, Preventing Youth Violence: The Pathway Back through Inclusion and Connection (released in March of 2022).