Moral Injury in Service Members
- Average Rating:
- Not yet rated
- Categories:
- Clinical Skills
- Faculty:
- Debra Nofziger | Heather Tompkins
- Course Levels:
- Introductory
- Duration:
- 4 Hours 30 Minutes
- Media Type:
- Webinar
- License:
- Access for event date only.
Tags: Moral Injury
Description
Description:
Moral injury may develop from exposure to events (acts of commission or omission) that transgress an individual’s deeply held values and beliefs, leading to negative psychological, spiritual, and social consequences. Morally injurious events can erode core beliefs about what is right and wrong in oneself or others—about goodness, trustworthiness, and benevolence. While it is an ancient concept that battlefield transgressions may inflict emotional harm on the warfighter, there has been growing interest in moral injury in the mental health field and other circles. Some experts suggest that the extended operations in Iraq and Afghanistan may have increased service members’ risk for developing moral injury, given the ambiguous nature of the operations, including unconventional guerrilla warfare and changing rules of engagement. More recently, researchers have reported on moral injury experienced by first responders and health care providers from COVID-19-related moral and ethical stressors.
This training will explore where morality comes from, define moral injury and describe how it develops, identify incidents that may contribute to it, and examine various assessment and treatment methods. The focus will be on moral injury in the military population, while recognizing that it also occurs in the civilian population. The presenter will encourage participants to consider challenges they face in identifying and treating moral injury, including how to create a nonjudgmental, safe space for clients to talk about it, and how to distinguish moral injury from common co-occurring problems such as PTSD. Military cases will be introduced to demonstrate approaches for assessing and addressing moral injury. This training is aimed at behavioral health providers and trainees working with service members and veterans as well as clinicians interested in trauma (Litz et al., 2022; Richardson et al., 2020; Rozek & Bryan, 2021).
Training Agenda:
Total Training Time: 4 hours 30 minutes (includes a 15-minute break plus 15 minutes for the introduction period and CE wrap-up)
Instructional Level: Introductory
Credits
Handouts
| CE Memo (168.9 KB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| 1 Analogous Events (0.06 MB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| 2 MISS-M-SF (0.14 MB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| 3 MIOS Clinical Scale (0.07 MB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| 4 MIOS Scoring Instructions and Preliminary Recommendations (0.09 MB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| 5 Moral Injury Questions (0.06 MB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| Moral Injury Handouts_Combined (0.40 MB) | Available after Purchase | ||
| Moral Injury_Slides Handout_Fillable (5.41 MB) | Available after Purchase | ||
Faculty
Debra Nofziger Related Seminars and Products
DBHP, Brooke Army Medical Center
Center for Deployment Psychology
Heather Tompkins Related Seminars and Products
CDP
Heather C. Tompkins, PhD., MS-ATR, LCMHC is a Military Behavioral Health Psychologist with the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. In this role, she provides oversight and fosters collaboration for creative arts related research projects in partnership with the Defense Intrepid Network.
Dr. Tompkins received her BS in comprehensive psychology and art from Troy University, MS in Art Therapy at Florida State University, and post-graduate certification in Substance Abuse Counseling from East Carolina University. She completed a MA and PhD in clinical psychology with a concentration in neuropsychology from Fielding Graduate University. She is a licensed clinical mental health counselor and registered art therapist.
Prior to joining CDP, Dr. Tompkins served as a psychologist at the Department of Veteran Affairs providing assessment and treatment to Veterans with co-occurring substance abuse, mental health, and medical conditions. She has worked across diverse settings in both clinical and non-clinical capacities, including outpatient/community agencies, state hospitals, and military installations providing counseling, training development and facilitation, and consultation. She is trained in EMDR, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Written Exposure Therapy and Art Therapy. Her education and training have allowed her to work with individuals and groups ranging the lifespan to treat, manage, and cope with persistent and severe mental illness, substance abuse, brain injury, PTSD/trauma, and co-occurring disorders, within and outside of the military community.
Complimentary to her professional roles, being a military spouse has provided a unique perspective to the culture, day-to-day life, and stressors of the military family that further informs her work at CDP. Professional interests include moral injury, biopsychosocialspiritual impacts of military life/culture on military spouses, creative arts therapies, mindfulness, and integrative treatment approaches for co-occurring disorders.