Behavioral Threat Management Consulting
Practical guidance for organizations facing concerning behavior, complex safety decisions, and the need for a clear prevention program.
Prevention through informed action
Behavioral threat assessment and management is a structured process for understanding concerning behavior, evaluating the potential for violence, and choosing actions to reduce risk. It considers the person, the circumstances, possible targets, and available sources of information. ATAP’s RAGE-V provides a framework applicable to both public and private organizations.[1]
The work connects assessment with action: gather information, consider its reliability and context, develop an individualized management plan, and reassess as circumstances change. A useful assessment explains what is known, what remains uncertain, and what steps may improve safety.[1]
Attention belongs on behavior and context. A single behavior does not establish that someone will become violent. Patterns such as escalating aggression, communicated attack plans, or testing a target’s security may warrant assessment in combination with other information.[5]
Coordinate leaders, human resources, security, legal counsel, and appropriate support resources around employee or former-employee concerns, threatening customers, stalking, intimate partner violence affecting work, and difficult workplace transitions.
Help government agencies, public-facing offices, and other public institutions establish reporting channels, coordinate responsible personnel, and respond to threats involving staff, officials, service users, or community members while respecting their public responsibilities.
How Signal Mountain Group can help
We develop policies, procedures, and consulting engagements for organizations of different types and sizes, from a small office establishing its first reporting process to a larger organization refining a multidisciplinary team. We tailor recommendations to your people, resources, operating environment, and decision-making responsibilities.
Develop or review reporting pathways, intake and triage procedures, team roles, escalation thresholds, information-sharing practices, documentation, referral options, and case review and closure processes. We work with organizational counsel on legal requirements and policy approval.
Help organize available information, identify gaps, consider aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and develop practical management options. Situations may involve threatening communications, persistent unwanted contact, stalking, fixation, workplace grievances, or intimate partner violence affecting organizational safety.
Support coordinated planning around sensitive meetings, employment transitions, access restrictions, victim safety, and communication with stakeholders. We help clarify responsibilities and when law enforcement, clinical professionals, legal counsel, or other specialists should be involved.
Help teams put policy into practice through training, tabletop exercises, case-review routines, and program evaluation. Follow-up consultation can help organizations reassess changing circumstances and improve procedures after an incident or exercise.
A demanding professional credential
A Certified Threat Manager (CTM) holds ATAP’s professional credential in behavioral threat assessment and management. The rigorous certification process requires documented qualifying experience, professional references, application review, and successful completion of an examination. Candidates generally need five years of qualifying experience, or three years with two years of qualifying ATAP membership, including a significant role in an average of at least six full behavioral threat assessments annually during the required period.[2]
ATAP reports that successful candidates commonly spend several months studying. Credential holders must follow its ethical code and earn continuing recertification points. These requirements distinguish a professional certification from attendance at a training course.[2]
A small international community: ATAP’s public directory lists approximately 300 Certified Threat Managers. This is an approximate directory-based count reviewed in October 2026; the roster changes as credentials are awarded and maintained.[3]
CTMs bring skills in gathering and interpreting information, communicating risk, developing management strategies, documenting decisions, and working across disciplines. Their role can include helping a team connect facts to actions, recognize limitations, and make appropriate referrals. The credential does not replace a legal or clinical license or guarantee an outcome.[4]
Current developments · October 2026
In March 2026, the FBI and American Hospital Association released resources to help health care organizations build multidisciplinary threat assessment and management teams. The guidance emphasizes identifying and addressing concerns before violence occurs.[6]
The FBI’s 2025 swatting advisory describes false emergency reports intended to send armed responders to a target’s location. Publicly available personal information can help attackers select and target victims. Reporting procedures should account for digital threats and coordination with local responders.[7]
A March 2025 FBI warning identified a sharp increase in activity by violent online networks exploiting minors and other vulnerable people through threats and coercion. Organizations serving these populations need clear referral and evidence-preservation procedures.[8]
Current FBI guidance emphasizes combinations of concerning behaviors, including disclosed violent plans and troubling interest in previous attackers. Staff need a way to report observations early so a qualified team can evaluate context, urgency, and appropriate support.[5]
Safety, accountability, and sound decisions
Civil liability can involve a claim that an organization owed a duty of care, failed to meet that duty, and caused compensable harm. In violence-related negligence cases, relevant questions may include foreseeability, what the organization knew, and the reasonableness of its response. Applicable duties and defenses depend on jurisdiction, relationships, and case facts.[10]
Workplace safety enforcement is a separate issue. OSHA explains that recognized workplace violence hazards may implicate the General Duty Clause and recommends prevention programs, controls, and training when employers become aware of such risks.[9]
A CTM can help an organization identify gaps, evaluate concerns systematically, recommend proportionate actions, and record the rationale, responsibilities, and follow-up behind decisions. Implemented well, that work can reduce preventable risk and support a more defensible response. Documentation should accurately reflect actions taken and unresolved concerns.[4]
Hiring a CTM does not create legal immunity, guarantee safety, or establish compliance by itself. Organizations remain responsible for implementation. Legal counsel should evaluate applicable duties, privacy, employment and civil-rights issues, and any claim of liability. Our consulting supports that work with behavioral threat management expertise.
We help North Carolina organizations turn difficult safety questions into a clear, coordinated plan.
Discuss Behavioral Threat Management ConsultingFor immediate danger, call 911. Website inquiries are not an emergency reporting channel.
Reviewed October 19, 2026. These resources inform the explanations above; listing them does not imply endorsement of Signal Mountain Group.