Transforming Veteran Identity Through Community Engagement: A Chaplain–Psychologist Collaboration to Address Moral Injury

Abstract

Moral injury (MI) is gaining traction within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as an essential construct for understanding an important dimension of suffering experienced by U.S. combat-deployed Veterans. A VA chaplain and a psychologist at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia co-facilitate a 12-week Moral Injury Group (MIG) to provide education about MI, the collective responsibility for the consequences of warfare, and related topics. A Community Ceremony in the VA chapel, immediately following Week 10, brings together VA staff, family, and friends of MIG Veterans as well as the wider society. MIG Veterans define MI and deliver a personal testimony about their MI and its effects. As Veterans’ burdens are shared by a community made more conscious of the realities of warfare, Veterans and civilians reconcile and Veteran identity shifts from that of a disabled patient to that of an adaptive leader and “prophet.” Data on the MIG has thus far been collected for purposes of quality improvement and measurement-based care. We report outcomes, through a case study of a MIG Veteran who shows decreases in suicidality, religious struggles, and depression, along with increases in posttraumatic growth, self-compassion, and life functioning. We also discuss plans for future research and development.