John Van Dreal

John Van Dreal is a school psychologist and the retired director of Safety and Risk Management Services for Salem-Keizer Public Schools. He continues his career consulting with school districts and communities on behavioral threat assessment systems and violence prevention. He has over 35 years of experience in threat assessment and management, psycho-educational evaluation, crisis intervention, security, and emergency management. He is the recipient of the 2024 Association of Threat Assessment Professional’s Lifetime Achievement Award and is recognized internationally as an expert in threat assessment and as a pioneer of multidisciplinary threat assessment.

In 1999, John began the development and implementation of the Salem-Keizer Cascade Model, a multi-agency student threat assessment system considered by experts to be a leading practice. He is the editor and principal author of the book Assessing Student Threats: Implementing The Salem-Keizer System, Second Edition and has advised on, or contributed to, a number of threat assessment guides, including the International Handbook of Threat Assessment, Second Edition (Meloy & Hoffmann); Threat Assessment in the Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and to Creating Safe School Climates (US Secret Service/US Department of Education); and Making Prevention a Reality: Identifying, Assessing, and Managing the Threat of Targeted Attacks (Behavioral Analysis Unit, FBI). He has been interviewed by television, radio, and print news outlets, including National Public Radio, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Mother Jones, Esquire, and HBO. His third book (authored with Courtenay McCarthy and Coleen Van Dreal), Preventing Youth Violence: The Pathway Back through Inclusion and Connection, was released in March of 2022. He regularly provides training and consultation to audiences nationally on threat assessment systems and preventing and mitigating human violence.