INFO BOX: The Behavior Intervention Team
Susan Sasso – Chair
Associate Vice President and Associate Dean of Students
Scott Miller – Vice Chair
University Counseling Center Director
Kent Ray – OUPD Captain
Joyce Allman – Associate Provost for Academic Advising
Katy Powers – OU Cares Coordinator
Linda Patison – Student Affairs Financial Services Director
Distressed students, faculty and staff on the Norman campus may start receiving more attention as an intervention team works with the university community to reach out to individuals sooner to find them help.
“There’s some people on campus who care about you, and they are concerned about you,” Susan Sasso said, describing how the Behavior Intervention Team may approach individuals. “Would you be willing to come in and talk with us and see if there is some way we can help you?”
The team was formalized in October 2012, to promote student, faculty and staff success and campus safety by identifying individuals who show signs of possible disruptive or violent behavior and intervening early on, according to OU BIT’s website.
Behavior intervention teams have become a national campus in the post 2007 Virginia Tech shooting era, according to the National Behavior Intervention Team Association. While care and behavior intervention teams existed on campuses before Virginia Tech, their functions are dramatically shifting to proactive prevention.
OU has had a Threat Assessment Review Committee since the time of the Virginia Teach incident, Susan Sasso said. The focus of OU’s Behavior Intervention Team is to care and have concern for members of the campus community who may be in distress.
“This is not a disciplinary force or about being in trouble,” Sasso said. “ It’s about making sure we’re taking care of each other and helping each other.”
Sasso is Associate Vice President and Associate Dean of Students and member of Threat Assessment Review Committee. She is also the Chair of the team.
Other members of the team include the University Counseling Center director, the OUPD Captain, the Associate Provost for Academic Advising, the OU Cares Coordinator and the Student Affairs Financial Services Director. The Chair and Vice Chair have received training through National Behavior Intervention Team Association, and there will be more training this semester.
There are many departments around campus and programs like Threat Assessment Review Committee and OU Cares which care and may have concerns about individuals within the community, the Behavior Intervention Team’s Vice Chair and University Counseling Director Scott Miller said.
“The biggest value of [the team] is that it’s a kind of central location any department can speak up and say ‘we’re concerned about somebody,’” Miller said. “We can make sure they are OK and get them connected to resources.”
Sasso and Miller said they have completed about a dozen presentations around campus to encourage community members to be aware and show they care.
Students, faculty, staff and parents are encouraged to report concerns about individuals showing signs of distress by calling or emailing the team, Sasso said. Their phone line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In late March, the team added an electronic form on the website, Sasso said. The team receives an average of five to six reports each day.
A report should be made when an individual demonstrates a decline in work or academic performance, exhibits disruptive or disturbing behavior, goes through dramatic changes in appearance or mood, abuses alcohol and drugs, acts paranoid or suspicious, gets angry or frustrated frequently or struggles with health problems, according to OU’s Behavior Intervention Team’s website.
“The thing that has made the greatest impression on me so far is just the number of people in this community who truly care about the other people in the community and want them to be successful,” Sasso said.
Sasso said team will speak with the people making the reports and the individuals they are concerned about to find out what may be going on and the team will coordinate to get them connected to resources to address those concerns. The team keeps tack of reports on each student to maintain a connection with students and provide further assistance if the needs rises.
“The idea behind the behavior intervention team is if we are able to reach out to people sooner, they hopefully never elevate… their behavior never escalate to the level of a threat,” Sasso said.
The reports often come in pieces, Sasso said.
A professor may notice an outgoing student is suddenly withdrawn and doing poorly in class. An employer may notice they are also missing deadlines and not showing up for meetings. Someone in residence hall may notice the same student experiencing distress, she said.
“Each of those pieces by themselves might not seem that big of a deal, but when you centralize that information, you go ‘Boy, this is somebody who has had a major shift from what is normal for them,’” Sasso said. “Then you reach out, and you try to get them the help they need.”
The team also helps students who are experience physical illnesses but can’t afford treatment by connecting with resources who may get them treated, and students struggling with classes because of personal or work related issues by putting them in touch with academic advisors who can help them find solutions, Miller said.
The response has been positive, Sasso said. Most people appreciate the care and concern, and the team has been ably to positively affect their lives.
“You have the right to say you know what I’m not the least bit interested, mind your own business,” Sasso said. “But that hasn’t happened.”
