Overview
The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College believes it is important to foster an environment that encourages students to maintain a standard of responsibility for self-care which includes the ability to respond adequately to one's emotional, physical, and educational needs. Some students who are distressed engage in behaviors that impact their self-welfare and the welfare of the university community. The presence of demonstrated distress, disruptive or dangerous student behavior can be a predictor of future harm to self or others, and the larger university community. While we acknowledge that no one can predict with any degree of confidence whether a student will eventually progress to acts that are harmful to themselves or others, there are behaviors indicative of higher risk. These behaviors may require further assessment by appropriate professionals to promote the safety of the student and university community.

Mission
The overall mission of the Behavior Intervention Team (BIT) is to provide a systematic response to students whose behavior is disruptive to themselves or the environment, or may be in violation of the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College Student Code of Conduct, to support student success, and to assist in protecting the health, safety and welfare of the students and members of the university community.

Purpose
The purpose of the Behavior Intervention Team (BIT) is to coordinate the resources of the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College to address the needs of students who are experiencing significant behavioral disturbances, in order to recommend collaborative and purposeful interventions aimed at helping students achieve success. Further, the objective of the BIT is to establish a process that is designed to be helpful to students, particularly when the rights of others or an individual's own growth and development are being endangered. This process is also designed to assist members of the university community with a legitimate concern regarding students who seem to be experiencing emotional distress, psychological difficulties, or are unable to handle stressful circumstances. Following a referral or information submission, the Behavior Intervention Team will offer advice and appropriate referrals as needed.

Goals
The goals of the Behavior Intervention Team are:

A. To work towards preventing crises before they occur through the provision of outreach and educational programming, consultation, appropriate referrals, and intervention on request.

B. To assure that the student is contacted through follow-up processes and has access to the appropriate services so that each student has the opportunity to improve his/her welfare, both for their own benefit and for the university community.

C. To create a unified reporting and tracking system that will allow members of the BIT to observe patterns of behavior that may elicit intervention and to provide a documented response to distressed students.