Published on: August 27, 2026
A NABITA Testimonial by Meritza Tamez, Ph.D.
When I joined Austin Community College nearly three years ago, our Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) looked very different. Our work was spread across multiple areas, several Student Affairs deans, and a structure that made it difficult to apply a shared approach to behavioral intervention.
Dedicated people were doing good work, and we had already brought NABITA to campus for training. But not everyone responsible for BIT work was included in that training, and our BIT was still housed under counseling. We needed a more unified approach across a large, complex institution.
Then, we underwent significant organizational change. Counseling moved, Student Affairs was realigned, and as Executive Dean of Student Rights and Responsibilities, I took on responsibility for behavioral intervention, student conduct, formal student complaints, and academic integrity. We also grew from two BIT case managers to nine, seven of whom were new to the work.
With a larger team and so many people stepping into new roles, we needed to establish an effective approach from the start. Because we’d previously had such a positive experience bringing NABITA to campus, bringing them back was an easy decision.
Why Leadership Needed to Be in the Room
With 29 people involved in our behavioral intervention work, individual trainings weren’t practical. Instead, we brought NABITA’s Vice President, Tim Cason, M.Ed., to campus to deliver a certification course: BIT Standards and Best Practices. A custom training on our campus allowed our entire team to learn together, ask questions, and develop a shared language.
It can feel awkward to require your supervisor to attend a training, but I knew mine needed to be there. Having leadership train alongside practitioners was critical. When our institution was reorganized, my boss took on oversight of this area with little prior experience. I didn’t expect him to become an expert overnight, but I needed a true thought partner who could challenge my thinking on difficult cases, ask good questions, and help work through complicated decisions. So, I made sure he attended.
Our approach to staff development combines shared learning with opportunities to build more specialized expertise. This summer, we funded staff attendance in NABITA’s virtual Structured Interview for Violence Risk Assessment (SIVRA) certification course, and we plan to enroll staff in the fall virtual Building an Individualized Threat Management Plan certification course.
NABITA reinforced something I believe strongly: behavioral intervention cannot depend on one person. Institutions need multiple people who understand both the philosophy and practical application of this work.
The Air Traffic Control Mindset
One thing Tim said keeps coming up in our conversations months after the training. The classic NABITA air traffic control analogy completely changed how we think about coordinating responses.
In our environment, a student may receive outreach from a case manager, a conduct investigator, basic needs, counseling, accessibility services, or several offices at once. Without coordination, students end up telling the same story repeatedly while wondering why the institution isn’t communicating internally.
Now we regularly ask, “Which airplane should take off first?” to help us determine who engages the student first, who waits, and which office is best positioned to continue building the relationship. That simple metaphor gave us a practical way to organize complex situations and has become part of our everyday vocabulary.
When Standards Reinforce Decision-Making
One of the biggest benefits of working with NABITA is the confidence that comes from having an external framework to rely on. Not long after the training, we faced questions about whether the conduct team should have access to all BIT records. Then we attended a Talking BITs session covering the relationship between Student Conduct and BIT. The presenters reinforced exactly what we had been saying.
It wasn’t simply my opinion. We had nationally recognized standards explaining why roles, responsibilities, and information sharing need appropriate boundaries. Those conversations are much easier when everyone understands that the goal isn’t restricting collaboration. The goal is to make collaboration thoughtful, appropriate, and effective.
We’ve continued building on that foundation by following NABITA’s curriculum path. New case managers have completed the recommended training in sequence; experienced staff pursue more advanced offerings; and we regularly attend Talking BITs sessions to assess whether new guidance should shape our current practices.
The Work Doesn’t Stop Here
Tim never suggested there was only one right way to build a BIT. Instead, he challenged us to adapt the standards to fit Austin Community College. We’ve used those standards as our foundation while building systems that fit our institution’s size and complexity.
Our work doesn’t stop with the BIT. In October, we’re bringing Tim back for NABITA’s Responding to Dangerous, Disruptive, and Distressed Behaviors training, this time for faculty, frontline employees, and institutional leaders across the college.
As our organizational structure has evolved, responsibility for recognizing and responding to concerning behavior has become more distributed. Faculty and staff need confidence in identifying what they’re seeing, understanding when a situation represents actual risk versus perceived discomfort, and knowing how to respond appropriately.
Everyone also needs to use the same language. When we train together, use consistent terminology, and reinforce those concepts over time, we build trust. People know what the words mean, what actions to take, and that they’re operating within the same framework.
Continue Building a Shared Response
For more on this topic, NABITA is offering an open-for-registration webinar this September on Responding to Dangerous, Disruptive, and Distressed Behaviors.
Ready to train your team? Learn how to bring NABITA experts to your campus at a free, public information session this October.