By Aaron L. Austin, Ed.D., Consultant, TNG Consulting, LLC
As part of our Tip of the Week series on the revised NABITA Industry Standards for Behavioral Intervention Teams, two complementary standards, Standards 11 and 12, are worth discussing. These standards focus on collecting data and how we use that data to conduct productive meetings.
Standard 11. Referral Receipt and Review: The team has a process for receiving, reviewing, and triaging all referrals.
For your Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) to develop intervention plans to assist at-risk members of your community, you must first gather information. To do this, the BIT needs a centralized, publicly available system for receiving referrals, such as an electronic referral form. However, not all referrals will be submitted through this system, so the team should be prepared to receive referrals by phone, email, or via communication from community members with BIT members. Regardless of how a referral is received, the team should document all BIT referrals in the centralized system by completing the referral form themselves if the information is received through some other means.
After identifying how to centralize the referral process, you should determine how to receive and respond to the referrals. To ensure a standard and timely response to referrals, a designated employee or BIT member should be responsible for reviewing referrals each workday. This individual is trained and empowered to determine and take appropriate actions, and they should do so before each team meeting. This may include assigning a new case to the agenda, conducting a welfare check, or coordinating with the BIT Chair to enact an emergency team meeting. The team should advertise that the system is not monitored 24 hours a day and stress the importance of contacting campus or local law enforcement for emergencies.
The BIT should have an established process for obtaining additional information from referral sources when needed since some cases will require more information than what was included in the initial referral. Additionally, some cases require the BIT to provide an update(s) to the individual who submitted the referral. The BIT does this in accordance with FERPA, state law, and institutional policy, by using standardized and personalized communication.
The team should also allow for the receipt of referrals submitted anonymously. Many members of our campus community, especially students, want to share what they know with the BIT, but not if it means becoming personally involved. Naturally, this creates issues with our ability to follow up with the reporter for additional information. However, it is better for the team to be aware of a student in distress than it is for the team to have a reporter to contact. As we educate the community about submitting referrals, we need to be transparent about our processes. Community members may be hesitant to refer out of fear of what happens next because they don’t understand how or what the BIT does. Additionally, students may think a referral gets the person they are referring “in trouble.” If this is the case, the team should consider enhancing its community education strategy to clarify its goals and services.
Practical tip: After a referral, the BIT should send a simple (even automated) message. It should reassure the referral source that the information has been received and the team is taking prompt, appropriate action. Attention should be paid to crafting the language in the response because it may be the first interaction the referral source has with the team and may set the tone for the relationship moving forward. Here is a sample automated response:
Thank you for bringing this information to the Behavioral Intervention Team’s (BIT) attention. We will assess and evaluate your referral within 24 hours, and a team member may contact you to follow up. If, at any point, you would like to include additional information you believe is pertinent, please file another referral at [URL of referral form] or contact the BIT at [email address]. This referral system is not monitored 24 hours a day. Please contact campus safety or local law enforcement in case of an emergency. For more information about the BIT, including its procedures and protocols, please visit [BIT website].
Standard 12. Meeting Operations: The team holds meetings at regular intervals, following an agenda and established process for facilitating team meetings.
Most BITs meet once a week or every other week at a set time for the entire academic year. The team’s caseload and number of new referrals per week should be considered when setting the frequency and length of meetings, but the team should meet at least twice monthly. Failing to establish and adhere to a consistent meeting time can create confusion for team members, which may lead to absences and incomplete information. The team must also select a protocol for emergency meetings to address urgent issues. Consistency and dependability are key for BIT meetings, not only regarding timing but also in their format and agendas.
BITs should use an agenda to identify the individuals of concern who will be discussed in the meeting. Potential agenda items include the individual referred, the name of the referral source, the presenting issue, the individual’s year in school, and whether they live on or off campus. To ensure members arrive at meetings with the necessary information, the agenda should be distributed before the meeting and clearly outline which individuals of concern will be discussed so the members can arrive prepared. When team members are unprepared, meetings are inefficient. Team members should not be on their laptops to gather real-time information; they should be expected to source it beforehand.
As outlined in previous standards, the BIT process follows these three phases: 1) Gather data from the referral and team members, 2) Assess the data using objective risk rubrics, and 3) Deploy interventions based on the level of risk. The BIT meeting should follow these three phases for every individual of concern who is discussed. Follow this process to avoid unproductive meetings. The Chair should keep the discussion moving, but all team members should be responsible for knowing and following these expectations.
Practical tip: Do not cancel meetings because there are few or no cases. Keep this time reserved on the team’s calendars and use it to engage in team discussions regarding how the team is functioning. Alternatively, it may be an excellent opportunity for team training. NABITA has many on-demand resources, including the 20-Minutes to…Trained and Talking BITs series. You can also review previous cases, conduct tabletop exercises, review policies or procedures, or engage in other professional development opportunities.
Stay tuned for the remaining Tips of the Week in the BIT Standards refresh series.