Interviewing Certification Course

Every consequential campus decision begins with a conversation. A counselor assesses whether suicidal thoughts have become a plan. A conduct investigator weighs competing accounts. A threat team attempts to distinguish frustration from movement toward violence. A medical professional hears that an examination felt “strange” or “uncomfortable.” What happens next depends on the interviewer’s ability to ask clear, neutral, trauma-informed, and strategically sequenced questions.

Poor interviews do not stay inside the room. They become incomplete risk assessments, unsupported credibility findings, missed behavioral patterns, OCR findings, reversed disciplinary decisions, litigation, and public post-incident reports. This practical course prepares Title IX, VI, and VII professionals, counselors, BIT/CARE teams, law enforcement officers, medical providers, and case managers to gather better information, recognize what has not yet been asked, document findings accurately, and make decisions that are fairer, safer, and more defensible.

Move beyond policy talk and into real-world practice. This immersive interviewing certification course is designed for professionals conducting interviews in counseling, conduct, threat assessment, Title IX/VI/VII matters, healthcare, law enforcement and legal matters. Designed as a certification compliance course, this training will strengthen participants fact-gathering goals, learn to better questions to obtain better information, and respond with greater clarity, confidence, and care. This training experience will review the basics of rapport building, addressing defensiveness, expanding the variety and method of questions in a trauma-informed, efficient, timely and equitable matter.

Using video demonstration, lecture and discussion, participants will improve their skills gathering relevant information without creating unnecessary confusion, delay, or distress. Through is a more confident, capable interviewer who is better prepared to support a fair process, build trust, and respond effectively across complex conduct, counseling, civil rights, case management and threat assessment matters.

Group rates are available. Email bethany@dprep.com with questions.

The training emphasizes:

• timely and effective fact gathering
• minimizing avoidable harm during interviews
• maintaining impartiality and consistency
• improving documentation and report readiness
• strengthening confidence through practice and feedback
• navigating complexity across civil rights, conduct, employment, and safety systems

Participants will learn to:

• Conduct interviews that gather relevant facts in a timely, organized, and impartial manner while minimizing unnecessary harm, confusion, or bias in the process.
• Apply a range of interviewing strategies and question types to clarify timelines, test information, manage complex dynamics, and improve the quality of documentation and final reporting.
• Respond effectively to challenging interview conditions, including credibility concerns, third-party involvement, and emergent safety issues such as threats to self or others.

Who Should Attend

• Counselors, case managers and therapists
• Student conduct and community standards professionals
• CARE, BIT, and threat assessment team members
• Title IX Coordinators, Deputy Title IX Coordinators
• Title VI and Title VII investigators
• Civil rights and equity officers
• College and University Health Care providers
• Human Resources and employee relations professionals
• Case managers and intake staff
• Deans of students and student affairs administrators
• General counsel and campus legal affairs partners
• Residence life leaders involved in response and reporting
• Campus safety administrators who coordinate with equity processes
• Supervisors responsible for overseeing investigations or reviewing reports