Episode 2

Soul Repair: After Moral Injury is hosted by Dr. Susan Diamond and Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock. And is produced by Studio D Podcast Production.

Episode 2: A Pandemic, Hate-Crimes, Murders, and an Insurrection: Have We All Got Moral Injury Now?

Continuing the conversation begun in Episode 1 with their four guests, hosts Rita and Susan invite them to reflect on how the multiple catastrophes since January 2020 have led to new, far-reaching applications of moral injury well beyond the impact of war on veterans. They explore the richness of the term and its power in focusing on suffering that needs addressing, and they also raise cautions about dilutions of its meaning from overuse or misapplications of it.

Hosts:

Rev. Rita Nakashima Brock, Ph.D., is Senior Vice President for Moral Injury Programs at Volunteers of America (VOA) and a Commissioned Minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the Capital Region. She is a former professor and academic administrator and co- author of Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury After War. An online, one-hour moral distress-relief program at VOA is open to the public at www.voa.org/rest.

Rev. Susan Ward Diamond, D.Min., is Lead Pastor of Florence Christian Church, Florence, KY, and was ordained as a pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1990. She has served on a number of boards and leadership roles in the denomination, including moderator of the church. She is author of The Daily Grind:  GOD with Your Coffee. Her daily blog, “Thoughts for the Day,” can be found at pastorsusantftd.wordpress.com.

Guests:

Dr. Aristotle Papanikolau, Professor of Theology and Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University

Dr. Brian Powers, U.S. Air Force war veteran and Assistant Professor, Vann Fellow in Christianity and the Armed Forces, and Executive Director of the International Centre for Moral Injury at Durham University, UK

Rabbi Nancy Wiener, Founding Director of the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Center for Pastoral Counseling; Dr. Paul and Trudy Steinberg Distinguished Professor in Human Relations at Hebrew Union College and Jewish Institute of Religion

Dr. Joseph Wiinikka-Lydon, Senior Research Analyst, The Intelligence Project, Southern Poverty Law Center and formerly Lecturer in Religion and Assistant Director, Center for Principled Problem Solving and Excellence in Teaching at Guilford College

Resources:

Elizabeth Svboda, “Moral Injury Is an Invisible Epidemic That Affects Millions,” Scientific American, 09/19/2022.

For online Moral Distress Relief: www.voa.org/rest.

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Volunteers of America

If Uncovering Moral Injury has piqued your interest, head over to Volunteers of America at voa.org/moralinjury. There you’ll find resources, conferences and events as well as other ways to connect with the Shay Moral Injury Center.

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