Critical Response Associates LLC.

Our Staff and Associates

	Dr. Marc McElhaney, a licensed consulting psychologist and a registered mediator, serves as CDR’s CEO and directs the Critical Response Team. Dr. McElhaney works exclusively in the areas of threat assessment, critical incident management and conflict resolution. Since 1977, he has consulted with hundreds of organizations (typically large corporations and law enforcement agencies) in regards to the assessment, management and resolution of high-risk incidents. He has also helped schools and corporations develop workplace violence policies and crisis response programs. Additionally, he has more recently presented workshops and training programs, primarily in the areas of workplace violence prevention, conflict resolution and crisis management For more information, see The Role of the Threat Assessment Consultant .
	Kelly Schaeffer joined Critical Response Associates in March, 2001 after serving in various administrative positions at Coopers & Lybrand, Post Properties and most recently as Operations Manager at Turner Services. Her duties include general administrative tasks, assistance to clients, and graphic design in putting together and publishing our quarterly Critical Responder newsletter.
	Dr. Carol Beavers is a management coach and consultant who develops strategies for helping management deal with crises within their organizations, in addition to providing counseling to impacted employees. She provides training throughout the United States in regard to harassment, workplace violence and critical incident management. Carol has worked with numerous governmental and private organizations and served as a consultant to companies impacted by the Oklahoma City bombing, the Atlanta “Day Trader’ shooting and the 2001 World Trade Center attack. She has appeared on CNN and the Fox Network and regularly appears on local media, as the crisis expert following high profile events.
	As a specialist in organizational communication and behavior, Dr. Todd Conklin works with organizations as a trainer and workshop leader in the area of workplace violence prevention. Todd has spent much of his career coaching managers in the art of “meaningful conversations around worker behavior” and the detection of aberrant behavior. He presents workshops internationally and is the author of Simple Revolutionary Acts: Ideas to Revitalize Yourself and Your Workplace.
	Dr. Michael H. Corcoran has been in the threat assessment field since 1970 when he entered the United States Secret Service. As founder and President of the Workthreat Group, Dr. Corcoran is based in the Southern California area and serves as our primary consultant in that region. He has recently co-authored a text on threat assessment (Violence Assessment and Intervention) and also serves as President of the California University of Protection and Intelligence Management (CUPIM) . In addition, Dr. Corcoran teaches classes and training programs in violence assessment and management, and has also assisted in designing, implementing and advising hostage/crisis negotiation teams for local law enforcement and private industry.
	Based at our Tampa, Florida office, Dr. Rob Ehrlich has been consulting for over twenty years with corporate human resources, security, medical and legal staff regarding employees with aggression, substance abuse, psychiatric and other behavioral problems. Dr. Ehrlich has extensive experience in training supervisors how to effectively detect, intervene with, and monitor troubled employees, and how to safely terminate aggressive employees when necessary. He also works in the areas of corporate crisis management, executive coaching and management consultation, and integrates these skills to design and implement workplace violence prevention programs.
	Dr. Thomas Evans is the Clinical Director of the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Diagnostic Clinic, located in Cleveland, Ohio. He is an Assistant Clinical Instructor at Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Department of Child Psychiatry. He is also the President of The Institute of the Study of Interpersonal Violence, a non-profit organization that conducts research in all aspects of violence, including school violence, stalking, domestic violence and child abuse. Tom is involved in all aspects of the risk assessment process, and specializes in fitness for duty evaluations.
	Dr. Gregory Firestone is an internationally recognized mediator, mediation trainer and dispute resolution consultant. Dr. Firestone helps businesses and governmental entities develop dispute resolution systems and provides conflict resolution training and mediation services. He also serves as Director of the Conflict Resolution Collaborative at the University of South Florida. In 2002, Dr. Firestone received the 2002 Presidential Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution.
	As the Director of Client and Consulting Services for Gup & Associates, Inc., Dr. Nancy Gup, Licensed Psychologist, has been providing quality employee assistance and behavioral health services to businesses on a national basis since 1991. She brings to CRA a broad background that includes psychological disability management, executive coaching, drug free workplace consultation, training & development programs, and over fifteen years teaching at the university level. She has presented at several national professional conferences including the American Psychological Association and American Psychological Society Conferences.
	Besides his work with CRA, Dr. Joseph Konieczny currently serves as a Consulting Psychologist with Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Juvenile Court Diagnostic Clinic and the District Five Forensic Center in Mansfield, Ohio. As such, he is responsible for conducting psychological evaluations of offenders for the courts, in regards to sentencing, custody and other forensic issues. In addition, he conducts psychological evaluations for the Bureau of Disability Determination in his home State of Ohio.

Benefits of a Threat Assessment Consultant

Sometimes, when an individual is exhibiting behavior which suggest a possible risk to employees or customers, it can be beneficial to consult with a specialist who manages these situations on a day-to-day basis, with the following benefits:

Threat Assessment

When a potentially dangerous individual or situation is identified, there is a legal obligation to investigate and respond. Determining whether someone represents a real threat is a difficult process, which often requires a rather specialized evaluation process. An outside consultant often can also access information that the employer cannot reasonably obtain.

Threat Management

Response Strategy Based on this risk assessment, the consultant can help management formulate the appropriate response to reduce risks to the company and its employees, both immediate and in the long-term.
Defusing Violence The consultant will often engage the subject, not only to assess the level of risk but also to help manage and reduce the threat. In most situations involving conflict, a third party is required to de-escalate and negotiate with angry individuals in a more effective and expeditious manner than is possible (or desirable) with those within the organization.
Monitoring An outside consultant will be better able to monitor and follow-up with a potentially violent employee, by having a less restricted access to outside resources and to the subject himself.
Disengagement Many incidents involving terminated employees are because the individual could not separate effectively from the company. The company is not able to aid in that separation without a risk of reinforcing the relationship or even inflaming the subject. Often, a terminated employee identified as high-risk is more effectively managed and therefore monitored by a third party liaison.
Coordination of resources An outside consultant can manage and coordinate external resources in a way that management cannot. These external resources can be quite valuable in long-range management and monitoring of high-risk individuals.

*As I final note, we recommend strongly that if a potentially high-risk employee is about to be terminated, that consultation with a specialist be considered prior to termination, as the options are reduced considerably once termination has occurred.

For more information, contact Dr. Marc McElhaney at 404.870.9777.