From Stories to Solutions: A Prevention-Focused Approach to Violence Risk
Friday, April 24th
Noon – 2:00 pm CST (2 CEs)
Live via Zoom
Presenters Melissa Hunter, PhD
and Samuel Hunter, PhD
Registration Opening Soon!
High-profile acts of violence are often followed by stories that attempt to explain what happened and why. While these narratives can be compelling, they rarely offer clear guidance for how clinicians, educators, and communities can prevent harm before it occurs. This training builds on existing research and explanatory frameworks to shift the focus from retrospective understanding to forward-looking prevention.
Using a developmental, contextual, and ethically grounded approach, this workshop explores how risk emerges through the interaction of individual vulnerabilities, social environments, and systemic factors. Participants will learn to recognize behavior-based warning signs without relying on stigmatizing assumptions, apply multi-tiered prevention strategies, and navigate the ethical tensions inherent in this work.
Melissa Hunter, PhD
Melissa Hunter, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute and a licensed psychologist in MMI's Department of Psychology. Hunter received her doctorate in school psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi, completed her internship at the Munroe-Meyer Institute and her post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center Child Study Center.
Hunter practiced as a licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania for 15 years, providing outpatient child psychological and behavioral health services and school-based consultation for children and adults with a wide range of presenting needs. She also served as adjunct or teaching faculty at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and taught at Pennsylvania State University for nine years, where she was an associate teaching professor of psychology. Currently, Hunter provides behavioral school-based consultation to the Madonna School, a private school for children and adults with developmental disabilities. In addition, she engages in clinical activities at the Munroe-Meyer Institute. In both settings, Hunter supervises pre-doctoral psychology interns, post-doctoral fellows and undergraduate psychology students. (https://www.unmc.edu/mmi/directory/patient-care/psychology/melissa-hunter.html)
Samuel Hunter, PhD
Sam Hunter, Ph.D., Regents-Foundation Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, is an expert in leadership and innovation, exploring their positive and negative applications, and an expert in counterterrorism and prevention with an emphasis industrial and organizational psychology. He is Director of Academic Research at the National Counterterrorism, Innovation, Education and Technology (NCITE) Center at the University of Nebraska - Omaha.
His research, funded by entities like the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been featured in Fortune, Fast Company, and The Washington Post. He has published over 120 peer-reviewed works and consulted organizations like the Johnson & Johnson, Epic Games, and Lockheed Martin.
He is a fellow at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI). (https://www.unomaha.edu/uno-experts/faculty-experts/samuel-hunter.php)
Learning Objectives
After attending this presentation, participants will be able to:
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Explain how descriptive and explanatory models of violent behavior can be extended into practical, prevention-focused approaches for use in clinical, educational, and community settings.
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Describe how risk for serious harm develops over time through the interaction of individual, social, and environmental factors, rather than being determined by diagnosis, identity, or personality alone.
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Recognize behavior-based warning signs that may indicate increased vulnerability or need for support, while avoiding assumptions that stigmatize neurodivergent individuals or those with mental health challenges.
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Apply developmentally informed, tiered prevention strategies (universal, targeted, and intensive) to real-world scenarios involving youth and young adults.
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Use ethical decision-making principles to balance safety, autonomy, dignity, and inclusion when responding to concerning behaviors or situations.
Continuing Education
The Nebraska Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Nebraska Psychological Association maintains responsibility for this program and its contents. Participants attending the live webinar can receive 2 CEs for psychologists as well as master's level clinicians, with full attendance required. No partial credit is awarded; late arrival or early departure will preclude awarding of CE credits for psychologists attending the live webinar. Those arriving more than 15 minutes after the scheduled start time or leaving before the workshop is completed will not receive CE credits.
This program meets the criteria of an approved continuing education program for mental health practice.
References
Welch, C., Senman, L., R., Picciolini,C., Robison, J., Wetphal, A., … & Penner, M. (2003). Understanding the use of the term weaponized autism in all alt-right social media platform. Journal of autism and development disorders, 53(10), 4035-4046.
Hunter, S. T., Neely, B. H, Welch, C., & Moeller, A. N. (2025). Reconciling Jekyll and Hyde: The future of masculinity research within the domestic violent extremism context. American Psychologist.
Hunter, S., d'Amato, A. L., Elson, J.S., Doctor, A. C., & Linnell, A. (2024). The Metaverse as a Future Threat Landscape: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. Perspectives on terrorism (Lowell, Mass.), 18(2), 100.
Cancellation Policy: Written notification is required on or before April 20, 2026, for complete refund of registration fee. All questions, comments and complaints should be directed to the NPA Central Office, at 402-475-0709, 877-355-7934 or npa@ nebpsych.org.
