Moral Injury and the Military Veteran: DePaul\u27s Multi-Faith Veterans Support Project

Moral injury is gaining recognition as a serious psychological problem that affects some combat veterans. Moral injury, a feeling of inner conflict that arises when actions taken during deployment betray a veteran’s moral beliefs, is seen by many behavioral health professionals as both a spiritual and emotional health problem that presents unique symptoms and challenges. It is also at the center of a new program from DePaul’s Egan Office for Urban Education & Community Partnerships at the Steans Center—the Multi-Faith Veterans Support Project. Funded by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the initiative aims to improve the quality of life for veterans and their families by making connections between faith communities and behavioral health resources; providing community engagement training and spiritual care training to faith-based organizations on military-related moral injury, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicide and other topics related to service member and family care; and identifying, sharing and advancing best practices among faith communities for proactively engaging veterans and military families and integrating their unique gifts as community assets