Dr. Rachel Nielsen has worked in mental health for 25 years with a focus on trauma, abuse and violence prevention, risk and threat assessment, forensic psychology, and behavior. Over her career, she has worked in a multitude of settings, including a state psychiatric hospital, Child Protective Services, violent and sexual offender treatment and assessment organizations, child abuse prevention programs, trauma treatment centers, and mobile crisis units. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Academic Psychology (2000), a Master’s degree in Forensic Psychology (2003), a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology (2017), and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (2018).
Dr. Nielsen served as the Executive Director of the Colorado Resilience Collaborative from 2017-2021. She has been integral in developing and formalizing the “Colorado model,” which combats targeted violence by building capacity among interdisciplinary professionals and existing teams through training and consultation. As a subject matter expert in targeted violence prevention and intervention, she has trained and presented around the world, helping others develop strategies and programming that are appropriate for their contexts.
Dr. Nielsen is a staff member with Nicoletti-Flater Associates, a prominent team of police and public safety psychologists in Colorado. The group specializes in trauma prevention and mitigation, threat assessment and management, and public safety psychology. Nicoletti-Flater Associates is renowned for preventing and responding to mass casualty events, school shootings, natural disasters, workplace violence, accidents, child fatalities, suicides, homicides, etc.
Nicoletti-Flater Associates and the Frank DeAngelis Center for Community Safety (named after the former Columbine High School principal) were awarded a significant grant from the Department of Homeland Security to train professionals in K-12 and higher education settings in targeted violence threat assessment and management.
Dr. Nielsen is part of a statewide planning and strategy group with the Colorado Department of Public Safety. She serves on the Steering Committee for the U.S. Prevention Practitioners Network with the McCain Institute at Arizona State University.
At the Summit
The Summit was more than empty words – it made clear that a solution-driven approach is the only way to fight hate. That’s why the working group activities, which are results driven are going to be critical in defeating violent extremism. The Summit brought together the best minds in government, private sector, academia, and civil society. Being surrounded by these experts sparked new ideas – some of which I’ve already implemented or have written about.
