34966D4C9E3C51F3872587F40073AF11 Hearing Summary

Dr. Charles "Chip" Benight, Executive Director, Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience, University of Colorado - Colorado Springs, presented to the committee on the Greater Resilience Information Toolkit (GRIT).  He provided a powerpoint to the committee (Attachment B).  He discussed the mission and vision of the institute and Colorado's mental health challenges.

Dr. Benight discussed the development of the GRIT model and the types of training in the GRIT model, including models specific for educators and health care providers. He stated that GRIT has been used in 43 states and 12 countries. Dr. Benight said that the GRIT model offers emotional support, resilience, encouragement, motivation, reassurance, and resources. He reviewed data related to GRIT training, and that the results showing that those who took the GRIT training show lower distress, stronger resilience, and higher social connectedness compared to individuals who had not taken the training.

Dr. Benight also referenced the work that the institute is conducting on a resilience-based model for care versus medical treatment.