In this episode we will hear from Dr. Lisa Pescara-Kovach.

Dr. Lisa Pescara-Kovach is a professor of educational psychology at The University of Toledo where she also serves as the Director of the Center for Education in Mass Violence and Suicide and Chair of the Mass Violence Collaborative. Lisa has her B.A. in Psychology, M.A. in Experimental Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology with a minor in Child Clinical Psychology. In addition to her work at the university, she served on the advisory board of the National Association of Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment (NaBITA) from 2017 until 2021 and has since moved onto the advisory board of the International Association of Care and Threat Teams (InterACTT).

Dr. Pescara-Kovach’s international and national level peer-reviewed and invited presentations include, but are not limited to, the topics of suicides and homicides related to bullying victimization; behavioral threat assessment; and prevention through postvention in school, campus, and workplace shootings. She is certified in psychological autopsy, mental health first aid as well as group and individual critical incident stress management.

Lisa has a forthcoming book through Routledge Publishers, co-authored with Dr. Brian Van Brunt and Jeffrey Solomon titled, White Supremacist Violence: Understanding the Resurgence and Stopping the Spread. Her most recent publications address media contagion in connection to suicides and targeted shootings as well as the mental health and mass shooting myth. Her work on media contagion, female shooters, threat assessment, and post-mass shooting mental health has been featured in Salon, The Hill, the Californian, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and the Colorado Sun.

Recently, she served as an expert witness for the plaintiff in the estate of Gabriel Taye v. Cincinnati Public School District lawsuit (see https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/04/us/gabriel-taye-suit-settlement/index.html). She is also a web content creator for Navigate 360 (formerly the ALICE Training Institute). Within the regional community, Dr. Pescara-Kovach has served as the region’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Fundamentals of Mental Health trainer since 2014 and is the co-founder and director of the Northwestern Ohio Critical Incident Stress Management team.

lisa.kovach@utoledo.edu

https://www.utoledo.edu/education/centers/mass-violence-suicide/

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/appvid/mobile/ptsdcoach_app.asp

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/suicide-prevention

https://greentreemediallc.com/

https://thisisyournormal.com/