by Reagan Fitzke and Aja Zamundu  

Affiliates of the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience at UCCS attended the 40th annual ISTSS meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, from September 25th through 28th. ISTSS is an international organization of researchers and clinicians dedicated to the field of traumatic science and practice. UCCS Psychology has a strong representation at the conference each year, given the expertise of the Trauma faculty and students within the Trauma Psychology Ph.D. and M.A. programs. From UCCS, five graduate students (Brigitta Beck, Reagan Fitzke, Jenna Happe, Paige Klein, and Alexander Stover) and three faculty members (Chip Benight, Colin Mahoney, and Bernard Ricca) attended and presented at the annual meeting. The following is a summary of their presentations:

• Chip Benight and Bernard Ricca hosted a methods-focused pre-meeting institute entitled, “Inside the Black Box: Dynamic Systems Framework and Methods to Understand Resilience and Impairment Following Trauma.”
• Brigitta Beck presented a poster and a flash talk at the Trauma, Health and Primary Care Special Interest Group meeting on her project, “Does a History of Traumatic Brain Injury Impact Health and Safety Outcomes for Women Receiving an Intervention for Past-Year Intimate Partner Violence?”
• Reagan Fitzke presented a flash talk entitled “Trauma-Related Negative Alterations in Cognition and Mood Moderate the Association Between Sexual Violence Severity and Alcohol Use Coping Motives.”
• Jenna Happe presented two posters, entitled “My Trauma Recovery: A Digital Mental Health Intervention Alleviates Symptoms of Mental Health Conditions Frequently Co-Morbid with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder” and “Greater Resilience Information Toolkit: Trainee’s Perspectives on Usefulness and Acceptability.”
• Paige Klein presented a poster entitled, “Too Close to Home: How Coping Styles, Community Solidarity, and Proximity to Campus Gun Violence Relate to Posttraumatic Stress.”
• Colin Mahoney presented a symposium talk entitled “The Effects of Alcohol and Cravings on PTSD and Depressive Symptoms: Results from a Clinical Trial of Topiramate with Prolonged Exposure to Treat Comorbid PTSD and Alcohol Use Disorder Among Veterans.” He presented alongside Denise Hein, Michelle Bedard-Gilligan, and Shannon Kehle-Forbes. He also presented a poster entitled, “The Power of Support: A Strengths-Based Approach to Revictimization among Women Sexual Assault Survivors.”
• Alexander Stover presented a Flash Talk entitled, “Ecological Momentary Assessment Participation and Compliance Predictors Among Hurricane Florence Survivors.”
• Finally, Colin Mahoney and Reagan Fitzke led the Trauma and Substance Use Disorders Special Interest Group meeting as the faculty chair and student co-chair!

Affiliates were able to celebrate their accomplishments by dining at Limoncello, an Italian restaurant in the North End of Boston. We are so proud of all our faculty, affiliates, and students for all their accomplishments this year at ISTSS!