{"id":36585,"date":"2018-12-06T14:21:38","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T21:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=36585"},"modified":"2019-07-03T09:21:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T15:21:10","slug":"faculty-profile-helping-people-survive-trauma-drives-charles-chip-benight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=36585","title":{"rendered":"Faculty profile: Helping people survive trauma drives Charles \u201cChip\u201d Benight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Charles<\/a><\/p>\n

Charles \u201cChip\u201d Benight found himself a little too close to three deadly disasters: a nuclear power plant explosion, an earthquake and a hurricane, all of which led to a life of researching how people survive.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomehow for me that\u2019s a never-ending source of interest \u2014 that human beings can withstand unbelievable experiences, our worst nightmares, and come out of them and do well. Not everyone, of course, but the bulk of people do,\u201d said Benight, 56, a psychology professor in his 25th year with UCCS.<\/p>\n

His own experience with disasters began in 1986. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Freiburg in Germany when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded more than a thousand miles away, spreading a radioactive cloud over Europe. The blast killed two people, and another 28 died soon after from radiation poisoning. More would perish from what is considered the worst nuclear disaster in history.<\/p>\n

Living near the France-Germany border, Benight and his wife tried to decipher conflicting reports about what was safe. \u201cFrance was very pro-nuclear and Germany was not,\u201d he said. \u201cThe German news was saying, \u2018Don\u2019t eat any fresh vegetables. Don\u2019t drink fresh milk.\u2019 The French news was saying, \u2018Everything is fine.\u2019 It was nerve-racking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three years later, Benight was in class at Stanford University when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area, killing more than 60 people. He fell twice running to a doorjamb for cover. \u201cThe aftershocks were very scary as you could not predict when they would hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Charles<\/a>He and his wife, who was pregnant with their first child, moved to Florida in 1992 for his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Miami. Only two days after arriving, they loaded their cat, cockatoo and three dogs into a small car to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Andrew.<\/p>\n

The moving company brought their belongings the day the hurricane hit. When they returned to their new home, part of the roof was missing, windows were broken, and the backyard fence was gone. They remained without electricity for three months.<\/p>\n

The Category 5 storm killed 44 people in Florida. \u201cThe aftermath was simply unbelievable,\u201d Benight said. \u201cThere was destruction everywhere you looked. That was the case the whole time we were there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two months after Benight\u2019s daughter was born in December 1992, his father died following a 10-year struggle with cancer. He returned to his home state of Colorado in 1993 to join UCCS as an assistant professor of psychology. Part of the pull was to be near his mother.<\/p>\n

Benight grew up in Deckers, a rural community along the South Platte River about 50 miles northwest of Colorado Springs. His closest neighbor was a mile away. At 13, he washed dishes and bussed tables at the only restaurant around and played in a country band on the weekends until early in the morning.<\/p>\n

He left high school at the end of his junior year after being accepted to the University of Denver based on his grades and ACT scores. Years later while earning his master\u2019s degree, he took the GED because it was required before becoming a Fulbright Scholar.<\/p>\n

By the time Benight was a professor at UCCS, his research had shifted from how stress correlates with heart disease to how people adapt to trauma. The disasters had piqued his interest in how people cope with them, primarily what factors play a role in survival and what can help those who don\u2019t do well.<\/p>\n

He has studied how people cope with hurricanes, fires, floods, sexual abuse, domestic violence, combat, terrorist attacks and auto crashes. What he discovered is recovery relies largely on self-efficacy, how well a person thinks he can recover from trauma. \u201cIf your self-efficacy is lower, if you\u2019re believing that you can\u2019t manage what\u2019s happening to you, you won\u2019t do as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2000, Benight founded and is the director of the\u00a0Trauma, Health and Hazards Center<\/a>, a cross-disciplinary center that focuses on reducing the effects of traumatic-stress exposure, improving health, and enhancing overall approaches to traumatic events nationwide.<\/p>\n

\"Charles<\/a><\/p>\n

For example, the center created a website<\/a> for those affected by the October 2017 Northern California wildfires that killed 44 people. It uses tools such as videos to empower survivors, including relaxation exercises to help lower anxiety and how to reduce bad coping habits. The center also supports the Veterans Health and Trauma Clinic<\/a> at UCCS.<\/p>\n

Benight received his first two college degrees from Arizona State University: a bachelor of science in business administration in management in 1983, and a master of counseling in counseling psychology in 1986. He graduated summa cum laude both times. In 1992, he earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University in counseling psychology, with a specialization in health psychology, and a minor in psychology.<\/p>\n

He has authored more than 100 publications and received various awards and honors, including being named a 2013 CU President\u2019s Teaching Scholar and being recognized in 2015 for generating more than $5 million in sponsored research since his time with UCCS, joining only a few faculty who have reached that status.<\/p>\n

Most recently, he received the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Distinguished Mentorship Award in November after a few students nominated him.<\/p>\n

\"Charles<\/a>Carrie Yeager in the Ph.D. Clinical Psychology-Trauma program, which Benight spearheaded, is one of the students who nominated him. When she first met him in 2011, she was a software engineer with an interest in trauma but no experience in psychology. She didn\u2019t have any plans to pursue a Ph.D. in psychology.<\/p>\n

That shifted after working with Benight on a web-based program for military behavioral health providers to assess their level of burnout and secondary trauma, which is emotional duress from hearing firsthand about someone’s trauma experiences. Yeager contributed to the book Benight published in 2016 on the research. He was instrumental in her enrolling in the Ph.D. program.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe saw more in me than I saw in myself,\u201d said Yeager, who is scheduled to complete her Ph.D. in 2020. \u201cWithout his encouragement, I do not think I would be where I am today \u2014 and I am very grateful to now have a meaningful career where I can help others that combines my unique background in computer science with traumatic stress research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benight is working on securing more research grants. In the past, he\u2019s received funding from federal agencies such as the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency.<\/p>\n

Helping survivors is never far from his mind \u2014 sometimes he even has dreams about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m never bored in this work,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is always more interesting studies to do and more ways to innovate how we help trauma survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

–Photos by Anslee Wolfe<\/em><\/p>\n

Read earlier faculty profiles<\/a> in this series here:<\/p>\n

Faculty profile: Jessi L. Smith leads the way, speaking her mind<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n