Aggression Identification & Management
for the Resident Advisor

The importance of knowing which students may be a threat to themselves or others is universally understood. And because a large percentage of students live in on-campus housing, Resident Assistants play an important role in identifying students who may potentially cause harm. Having the right training will allow them to identify possible threats and to respond effectively.

Acts of aggression can disrupt everyday life on campus, and can even impinge on campus safety, and threaten individual well-being. They occur virtually every day on campuses across the country–and run the gamut from the most minor safety infractions to incidents of harassment and intimidation, to actual physical violence that includes fatalities.

A new solution to help your RAs better recognize and respond to acts of aggression

Magna Publications, a leader in higher education resources for over 30 years, is pleased to offer a new resource that helps RAs by equipping them with the skills they need to keep fellow students and others on campus safe from acts of disruption and aggression.

Aggression Identification & Management for the Resident Advisor is an online course designed to give RAs the tools they need to better understand how to identify and manage aggressive and disruptive behavior.

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By taking this course, RAs and other housing staff will learn strategies and techniques to help them identify and manage student attitudes, emotions and actions that may be associated with aggressive and disruptive behavior. This training includes:

An explanation of the three phases of aggression, as well as signs and symptoms that signal increased levels of aggression.
A discussion of the differences between primal and cognitive aggression.
Learning how to perform the art of "safe escape" from aggressive individuals and dangerous conditions.

Aggression Identification & Management for the Resident Advisor was created specifically to help RAs respond confidently when dealing with aggressive or disruptive behavior. The content is presented in video format, followed by discussion, review of a case study, and a "Check on Learning" to ensure comprehension of the lesson. The course consists of three lessons and a final exam and comes with a certificate of completion.

A resource designed for the needs of today's RAs–and reasonably priced for you

The course has been carefully designed with an awareness of the time demands faced by today's RAs, who often have to balance residence hall duties with academic work and other college activities. Aggression Identification & Management for the Resident Advisor offers convenient 24/7 online access, which allows RAs to work through the course when it's most convenient for them, completing assignments at their own pace to accommodate their schedules.

But we've reserved the best news for your budget. This online course is priced per semester–not per Resident Assistant–so you'll pay just $249 no matter the size of your RA group. The price is a budget-stretcher even if you're training only one new RA per semester, but the value grows for each additional person who takes the course. If you have 50 new RAs to train in the semester, that's less than $5 per person.

Your RAs will gain confidence, learn new tactics and improve their job skills

After completing this course, your RAs and other housing staff will be able to:

Recognize and describe the trigger, escalation and crisis phases of aggression.
Identify the differences between cognitive and primal aggression.
Increase their understanding of how less "over" aggressive behavior occurs in the college environment through the "Un-magnificent Seven."
Apply the art of persuasion and safe escape when dealing with extreme aggression.
Perform the Cycle Breathing Technique and understand how it can help.

As your RAs progress through the lessons, they'll take a "Check on Learning" quiz to make sure they understand the important points of each section. As site administrator, you'll be able to check how well each person did on the quizzes–and identify areas that may require additional attention during RA staff meetings. Each person who finishes the course receives a Certificate of Completion, and you'll be able to see to what point in the course each person has progressed.

Since the course is priced on a per-semester basis, each registered user can re-visit some, or all, of the topics in the course at any point in the allotted time frame.

Expert presenter

Aggression Identification & Management for the Resident Advisor is presented by Brian Van Brunt, Ed.D., president-elect of the American College Counseling Association and Director of Counseling and Testing at Western Kentucky University. Dr. Van Brunt has presented nationally on counseling ethics, mandated counseling, testing and assessment at the American College Counseling Association (ACCA), Association of College and University Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD), Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) and the National Association of Forensic Counselors (NAFC).