Moral Injury & Trauma Support Within Fire Rescue Victoria: Integrating Chaplaincy and Psychological Approaches
Tracks
Royal Poinciana - In-Person Only
| Tuesday, March 4, 2025 |
| 1:00 PM - 1:20 PM |
| Royal Poinciana |
Overview
Jesse Winter and Nicholas Lay, Fire Rescue Victoria
Presenter
Nicholas Lay
Senior Psychological Business Partner
Fire Rescue Victoria
Moral Injury & Trauma Support within Fire Rescue Victoria: Integrating Chaplaincy and Psychological Approaches
Presentation Overview
Emergency services personnel often face potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs), including life-and-death decisions, ethical dilemmas, organisational stresses, and exposure to trauma. Such experiences can potentially lead to moral injury —a profound psycho-spiritual wound. The impact of moral injury has been connected to mental health concerns, including an increase in suicidality and treatment resistance in comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder. In addressing moral injury, chaplains can offer spiritual and emotional care, navigate diverse beliefs and values, and foster meaning-making. Additionally, chaplains offer theological reflection to address moral challenges, religious and spiritual conflicts; and promote forgiveness and purpose. In contrast, psychologists provide evidence-based interventions to address psychological aspects of moral injury and trauma processing as well as assessing and managing clinical risk. If chaplaincy and psychology can provide integrated approaches to moral injury this likely increases the efficacy of post-PMIE support.
This presentation explores current best-practice interventions, including group approaches, and how chaplaincy and psychological approaches can be synchronised in supporting moral injury recovery. This presentation examines these recovery avenues through the research of leaders in moral injury, insights from semi-structured interviews (N=2) and additional ongoing dialogues with individuals experiencing moral injury; and proposes an integrated moral injury support model within FRV.
The evidence around moral injury and support for PMIEs is continuing to develop as is the recognition for the need to support for those experiencing moral injury. Therefore, this presentation helps raise awareness of moral injury, the impact of PMIES as well as support pathways for morally injured individuals. This presentation demonstrates that strengthening collaboration between chaplaincy and psychology offers promising benefits for mitigating moral injury and enhancing well-being and moral resilience in Australian emergency services personnel. This highlights the importance of interdisciplinary teams and collaboration to provide non-siloed holistic care, training, support and intervention for moral injury, pre and post-PMIEs.
Presentation Key Learnings:
1. Increase your understanding & awareness of Moral Injury and the risk it poses to emergency service agencies, especially where there are other mental health diagnoses or traumas present.
2. Understand integrated support approaches for Moral injury, and how to synchronize chaplaincy & psychology to provide collaborative and non-siloed care.
3. Learn about Fire Rescue Victoria's proposed model of integrated care to support their emergency services personnel experiencing moral injury.
This presentation explores current best-practice interventions, including group approaches, and how chaplaincy and psychological approaches can be synchronised in supporting moral injury recovery. This presentation examines these recovery avenues through the research of leaders in moral injury, insights from semi-structured interviews (N=2) and additional ongoing dialogues with individuals experiencing moral injury; and proposes an integrated moral injury support model within FRV.
The evidence around moral injury and support for PMIEs is continuing to develop as is the recognition for the need to support for those experiencing moral injury. Therefore, this presentation helps raise awareness of moral injury, the impact of PMIES as well as support pathways for morally injured individuals. This presentation demonstrates that strengthening collaboration between chaplaincy and psychology offers promising benefits for mitigating moral injury and enhancing well-being and moral resilience in Australian emergency services personnel. This highlights the importance of interdisciplinary teams and collaboration to provide non-siloed holistic care, training, support and intervention for moral injury, pre and post-PMIEs.
Presentation Key Learnings:
1. Increase your understanding & awareness of Moral Injury and the risk it poses to emergency service agencies, especially where there are other mental health diagnoses or traumas present.
2. Understand integrated support approaches for Moral injury, and how to synchronize chaplaincy & psychology to provide collaborative and non-siloed care.
3. Learn about Fire Rescue Victoria's proposed model of integrated care to support their emergency services personnel experiencing moral injury.
Biography
Nicholas Lay is a Senior Psychologist with Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV), providing counselling, supervision, coaching and training to FRV’s operational and corporate staff. Nicholas is also interested in developing and evaluating proactive group interventions and initiatives to support the mental wellbeing of FRV employees. Prior to FRV, Nicholas worked at Victoria Police as a clinician in the Specialist Investigators Support Unit, where he provided wellbeing initiatives and support to detectives working in the crime theme of sexual offending, child abuse and family violence. He later worked in the Mental Health Program team where he facilitated the Trauma and Recovery resilience group program and group reflective practice for sworn members across the organisation.
Jesse Winter
Chaplain
Fire Rescue Victoria
Moral Injury & Trauma Support within Fire Rescue Victoria: Integrating Chaplaincy and Psychological Approaches
Presentation Overview
Emergency services personnel often face potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs), including life-and-death decisions, ethical dilemmas, organisational stresses, and exposure to trauma. Such experiences can potentially lead to moral injury —a profound psycho-spiritual wound. The impact of moral injury has been connected to mental health concerns, including an increase in suicidality and treatment resistance in comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder. In addressing moral injury, chaplains can offer spiritual and emotional care, navigate diverse beliefs and values, and foster meaning-making. Additionally, chaplains offer theological reflection to address moral challenges, religious and spiritual conflicts; and promote forgiveness and purpose. In contrast, psychologists provide evidence-based interventions to address psychological aspects of moral injury and trauma processing as well as assessing and managing clinical risk. If chaplaincy and psychology can provide integrated approaches to moral injury this likely increases the efficacy of post-PMIE support.
This presentation explores current best-practice interventions, including group approaches, and how chaplaincy and psychological approaches can be synchronised in supporting moral injury recovery. This presentation examines these recovery avenues through the research of leaders in moral injury, insights from semi-structured interviews (N=2) and additional ongoing dialogues with individuals experiencing moral injury; and proposes an integrated moral injury support model within FRV.
The evidence around moral injury and support for PMIEs is continuing to develop as is the recognition for the need to support for those experiencing moral injury. Therefore, this presentation helps raise awareness of moral injury, the impact of PMIES as well as support pathways for morally injured individuals. This presentation demonstrates that strengthening collaboration between chaplaincy and psychology offers promising benefits for mitigating moral injury and enhancing well-being and moral resilience in Australian emergency services personnel. This highlights the importance of interdisciplinary teams and collaboration to provide non-siloed holistic care, training, support and intervention for moral injury, pre and post-PMIEs.
Presentation Key Learnings:
1. Increase your understanding & awareness of Moral Injury and the risk it poses to emergency service agencies, especially where there are other mental health diagnoses or traumas present.
2. Understand integrated support approaches for Moral injury, and how to synchronize chaplaincy & psychology to provide collaborative and non-siloed care.
3. Learn about Fire Rescue Victoria's proposed model of integrated care to support their emergency services personnel experiencing moral injury.
This presentation explores current best-practice interventions, including group approaches, and how chaplaincy and psychological approaches can be synchronised in supporting moral injury recovery. This presentation examines these recovery avenues through the research of leaders in moral injury, insights from semi-structured interviews (N=2) and additional ongoing dialogues with individuals experiencing moral injury; and proposes an integrated moral injury support model within FRV.
The evidence around moral injury and support for PMIEs is continuing to develop as is the recognition for the need to support for those experiencing moral injury. Therefore, this presentation helps raise awareness of moral injury, the impact of PMIES as well as support pathways for morally injured individuals. This presentation demonstrates that strengthening collaboration between chaplaincy and psychology offers promising benefits for mitigating moral injury and enhancing well-being and moral resilience in Australian emergency services personnel. This highlights the importance of interdisciplinary teams and collaboration to provide non-siloed holistic care, training, support and intervention for moral injury, pre and post-PMIEs.
Presentation Key Learnings:
1. Increase your understanding & awareness of Moral Injury and the risk it poses to emergency service agencies, especially where there are other mental health diagnoses or traumas present.
2. Understand integrated support approaches for Moral injury, and how to synchronize chaplaincy & psychology to provide collaborative and non-siloed care.
3. Learn about Fire Rescue Victoria's proposed model of integrated care to support their emergency services personnel experiencing moral injury.
Biography
Jesse Winter is a Chaplain with Fire Rescue Victoria and a provisional psychologist. As an Emergency Services Foundation scholarship recipient he is researching how chaplaincy and psychology can address moral injury within emergency services. Jesse’s post-graduate studies in theology and psychology and professional expertise in Chaplaincy & Mental health lays a foundation to research and report on interventions for populations experiencing potentially morally injurious events.
