BY: PATTI OLIVEIRA, COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR
INTERVIEW BY: CHANTELLE QUESNELLE, MENTAL HEALTH LEAD
GUEST: LISA HICKLING-MILLER, SCHOOL COUNSELOR,
THREAT ASSESSMENT & INTERVENTION TRAINER
FEBRUARY 3, 2025
Some of the most important life lessons are the simplest ones—the kind we first learn as kids. When my youngest had mastered hand-eye coordination, he loved labyrinths. If you've ever traced your finger along their winding paths on paper—maybe with your child—you know the quiet focus it brings. Unlike a maze, a labyrinth offers a purposeful path that loops and twists without dead ends or shortcuts. You follow it steadily toward your destination, requiring patience and trust in the journey ahead. All around the world, labyrinths are used to quiet the mind, calm anxieties, and encourage self-reflection. That same mindset serves us well in life’s challenges—taking things slowly, thoughtfully, and step by step.
Navigating the threat assessment and intervention process is a lot like moving through a labyrinth. The journey doesn’t always follow a straight line. It's about taking each step with care and patience. As in a labyrinth, where each turn must be thoughtfully considered, addressing needs requires a full view of the situation—understanding the causes behind behaviours, not just reacting to them.
Chantelle: The goal is always to create a safe, supportive environment for students to thrive. However, when a student expresses alarming words, actions, or behaviours, school staff needs a response plan. It isn’t just about addressing any concern or potential about safety, it's about understanding a student’s needs, identifying early signs of distress and putting the proper supports in place. Can you unpack that for families who are listening?
Lisa: It’s scary for parents to hear that there are threats or potential safety issues in schools. That’s why we want to ensure that everyone understands that we have a very coordinated, systematic process of responding to and ensuring that we’re keeping kids safe in our schools… Safety concerns are taken seriously and responded to…and we very much look at this as an intervention process. Worrisome behaviour is telling us that we need to be paying attention to the student, and we need to be understanding what their needs are and [acknowledge] that there are needs that aren’t being met.
Chantelle: It is about focusing on that intervention piece—recognizing that there is an evidence-informed process in place to wrap around a student, their family and school team, and that parents and caregivers are part of that team.
Lisa: If the school becomes aware of a threat or threatening information, the initial stage involves the school administration interviewing students and gathering information. If there are imminent safety risks, they investigate immediately, and the police will be contacted. The second stage is about assessing the level of risk and then matching the response to that level. [That intervention] involves internal school counsellors, psychology support, mental health agencies… it’s very much a wrap-around support intended to understand and address any risk factors. In the threat assessments that I’ve been involved in, and in stories told during training…what’s interesting is that when a student expresses worrisome behaviour, we can rewind and notice that there were signs before… And so we respond to even what might seem like a relatively benign threat very seriously because we know that it is basically a cry for help, “Something is going on with me.” So, we want to respond appropriately at that level to prevent it from potentially getting to a higher level of risk or threat.
This focus on the bigger picture is similar to following the winding path of a labyrinth, where looking too closely at one moment might obscure the path ahead. Students' struggles aren’t isolated incidents; they often stem from deeper issues that must be addressed with collaboration and support.
Understanding a student's needs isn't always as straightforward as in a labyrinth. Teachers, administrators, mental health professionals, and sometimes law enforcement come together to assess concerns and determine the best way forward. There may be setbacks and moments of uncertainty—but just as every turn in a labyrinth matters, every step toward understanding a situation involving a potential threat is important.
Ultimately, this process requires patience and persistence, like walking through a labyrinth. It's not about quickly labeling a situation as a ‘threat,’ but about understanding the complexities of each situation and the people involved and ensuring that supports match the needs that have been identified. When schools, community agencies and families commit to this thoughtful, step-by-step approach, they can create safer, more supportive environments where no one feels lost or left behind, and success is just around the next turn.
