WHAT IS YOUR DUTY TO WARN?

Some professionals are required by law to report violence or threats of violence. They are called mandated reporters and must, by law, call professional agencies to report even a suspicion of threat risks. You may voluntarily become a mandated reporter by deciding you will take the risk to have someone upset with you if you are overly concerned in error.

The state of our world today suggests that you are best served by overreacting rather than underreacting to your intuition. You will not have to make the final judgment that someone is at risk. You can call in the experts. Mental health professionals, law enforcement, child protective services or other appropriate agencies need to be called in if you ever are concerned about violence. The rule of thumb for managers is that it is better to err on the side of being overly concerned than it is to read a name of one of your employees on the front page the next morning after you did nothing. Memorize the phone number for your local Crisis Hotline. You can always call them for advice and let them make the decision if you are overly concerned. That is what they are trained for and will be available for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Listening for Suicide Risk

• A direct statement of the intention to commit suicide

• A specific plan

• History of attempts

• Vague statements about suicide or their own funeral

• History of depression

• Hopelessness or recent losses

• Alcohol or drug use

• Ill health

• Impulsivity

• Stressful events

• Adolescent or elderly

• Access to or availability of weapons

Risk of Homicidal Behavior

• Direct threats

• Access to or availability of weapons

• Substance Abuse

• History of past acts of violence

• History of explosive, persecutory, paranoid , suspicious, angry , hostile behaviors

• Verbalized a plan to do an action

• Verbalized an identified victim

• Apparent unwillingness to collaborate during a conflict

  ____________________ LOCAL CRISIS HOTLINE

  ____________________ LOCAL MENTAL HEALTH

  ____________________ EMERGENCY NUMBERS

Remember that the number for 911 in most communities is "911." It is easy to remember for a reason