Organizational Betrayal and Moral Injury

This is from a post over on LinkedIn yesterday by Jason Scriven, Counselling Graduate Student and Therapist in Training:

What I learned this week as a therapist in training:

The moral injury is often worse than the trauma.

I spent a couple of days last week at the Diversified Rehabilitation Group symposium on first responder mental health. The speakers were a combination of clinicians and first responders (RCMP, police, fire, military), and moral injury was mentioned in almost every session.

One RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) member who was involved in a line of duty shooting described the lack of support from the “white shirts” as more damaging than the trauma from the shooting.

What does moral injury look like?

➡️Vietnam veterans returning to a hostile public due to the negative perception of the conflict. Many Americans viewed the war as a mistake and struggled to separate the war from the soldiers fighting it.

➡️Firefighters being asked to run towards burning buildings and then being criticized by senior leadership when they need to take a knee for their mental health.

➡️Any breaking of the compact between first responders and departmental/political leadership that says, “I will die if necessary to do my job,” but in return, you have my back.

Yes, we can treat the trauma associated with being a first responder and yes we can be mindful of the effects of betrayal by those in command.
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This post was inspired by Cpl. Jessica Brown, retired Fire Captain Steve Farina, and Cpl. Mark Bouchard.