Introduction to Moral Injury - Focus on Healthcare Workers

There has been increasing interest in moral injury in first responder communities, healthcare, mental health, and other frontline occupations in recent years. This will surge when moral injury is added to the DSM-5 in September. This timely presentation will be given by Dean Yates, Policy & Advocacy Lead at the Mental Health Council of Tasmania. Dean is the author of Line in the Sand, a memoir published in 2023 that has been acclaimed by moral injury and trauma experts around the world.

This is a free MHCT presentation.

Background

Moral injury was coined in the mid-1990s to describe trauma suffered by American soldiers who fought in Vietnam. Their experiences went beyond the well-known combat scenarios of life threat and fear that is associated with PTSD. Two core types of moral injury have been defined as:

1. Perpetrating, failing to prevent, bearing witness to, or learning about acts that deeply transgress one’s moral/ethical values.
2. Betrayal of what’s right by someone who holds authority in a high-stakes situation.

Moral injury has similarities to PTSD but is a distinct affliction that can occur in any occupation/walk of life. Moral injury is a wound to the soul, a condition that shatters people’s sense of self.

About the presenter

Dean was a long-time journalist and bureau chief for the international news agency Reuters. He covered some of the most traumatic events of the past 25 years, including the Bali bombings, the Boxing Day tsunami in Indonesia’s Aceh province and the Iraq War. Dean’s last role at Reuters was to create and roll out a mental health strategy for the company’s 2,500 journalists. Dean had three admissions to the Ward 17 psychiatric unit in Melbourne (2016-2018) to treat his PTSD and moral injury. He has spoken extensively about both, especially in the workplace context.

Presentation outline

• Moral injury definition & history
• Current context, Covid 19 and the DSM-5
• Similarities and differences with PTSD
• Moral injury in healthcare workers, including mental health sector
• Moral injury prevention and healing
• What worked for Dean