Moral injury: The common theme among humanitarian aid workers and war correspondents

This presentation will focus on what Humanitarian Aid Workers and War Correspondents have in common: They are regularly exposed to violence in the routine execution of their jobs; with few exceptions they do not typically receive hostile environment or stress inoculation training; they are vulnerable to Moral Injury - the wounding to the heart and soul when we as humans are exposed to human suffering and tragedy that we cannot prevent. While First Responders have been a target group for TRNs for a long time, the latter two groups - Humanitarian Aid Workers and War Correspondents are less familiar to our community. They are, however, in need of our services. Understanding the distinct cultures of each group is necessary in order to engage them in psychological first aid and disaster mental health. The presentation will include the distinction between Military and Non-military Moral Injury and the distinction between that and PTSD, the risks and resilience of humanitarian aid workers and war correspondents during missions; and the challenges to formulating an appropriate therapeutic response and intervention through a case study on EMDR for Moral Injury repair.

Conference

English

Eva Usadi

Usaid, E. (2024, August). Moral injury: The common theme among humanitarian aid workers and war correspondents. Presentation at the HAP Conference, Philadelphia, PA