The Prince Albert and Area Community Threat Assessment and Support Protocol is up for renewal in March, and the Prince Albert Catholic School Division is happy to re-sign.
PA Catholic Education Director Lorel Trumier said she’s seen first hand how effective the program is since the division first signed on.
“The benefits are immeasurable to the community,” Trumier said.
“We look at different ways to be proactive or supporting others in what’s happening in their lives and so it gives us a strong process to follow, and we can work together in our community, especially when there’s finite resources. It is a very efficient methodology, so I think it benefits us greatly.”
Superintendent Charity Dmytruk updated the board about the protocol during Monday’s regular meeting.
The protocol is based on the Centre for Trauma Informed Practice’s (CTIP) Assessment for risk to other’s model. It’s a prevention model that promotes a multi-disciplined and multi-agency approach to threat assessments and interventions.
The protocol was originally signed in November 2013 and re-signed in January 2015.
The committee is made up of organizational leads from each protocol partner. The committee meets regularly to discuss current trends.
CTIP executive director Kevin Cameron has worked with the division in the past and trustees watched a video message from him as part of the presentation. Cameron discussed how his vision of trauma comes from his experience working on traumatic events like the Taber School shooting. Through this he created the Violent Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) protocol.
“He is one of the pioneers of the VTRA process and so we’ve been lucky over the years to have them support our school division directly and work with school divisions and organizations across the country and in North America,” Trumier said. “This is something true and dear to his heart in terms of the work that he’s done.”
“The Centre for Trauma Informed Practices (CTIP) has developed a comprehensive multidisciplinary (multi-agency) Violence Risk Assessment (VTRA) community protocol where small towns and cities, and large urban areas have formal written agreements that bind leading agencies and service providers together for a common and consistent practice regarding assessment, prevention and intervention for violence risk in its many forms,” Cameron was quoted as saying during the presentation.
The committee has revised and updated the local protocol to reflect the most current model in risk assessment.
Trumier said the protocol is an evolving document and changes as society shifts. Since the last signing of the document, the COVID-19 pandemic happened and changed the way society responds to trauma.
“It’s a very good process in the long run, so we’re we’ve been lucky to have Kevin Cameron,” Trumier said. “He is a joy to work with and does a really good job at helping professionals and individuals and different organisations accomplish something that can be very difficult and challenging.”
The protocol supports collaborative planning among the partners to reduce violence and reflect safe, caring and restorative approaches. It also includes area experts that respond to the diversity of Prince Albert. It fosters the timely sharing of information about individuals in the community who pose a risk for violence towards themselves or others and promotes the development of supportive and preventative plans.
There is training taking place on Feb. 7-8 and March 5-6.
The current partners include the Catholic Division, Saskatchewan Rivers School Division, Prince Albert Police Service, Ministry of Corrections and Policing, Child and Family Services, Prince Albert Fire Department, Saskatchewan Health Authority, Parkland Ambulance, Ministry of Education and Saskatchewan Polytechnic.
She said that the division was lucky to be able to work with such a great group of partners.
“I think at the end of the day it really benefits the Community,” Trumier said.
The Protocol signing is scheduled for current and new partners is scheduled for Tuesday, March 5 during training at Sask Polytech Prince Albert campus.
Pat Rivard from the Centre for Informed Trauma Practices will be there for the signing.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
