Moral Injury
Dates/Times: Friday, March 7th, 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM EST, Saturday, March 8th, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM EST
Location: Online Session
Instructor(s): Kristine Chong & Rita Nakashima Brock
Registration Deadline: Friday, February 21st
In this course, we will explore precipitating experiences and coercive contexts that can lead to moral injury and how to recognize it, including how it differs, but is related to, post-traumatic stress. We will examine various pathways to recovery and soul repair for diverse populations, including peer support strategies, the power of the arts and ritual, the role of communities and bystanders, and theological, ritual, and spiritual implications of understanding it. Finally, we will explore community moral responsibility for the aftermath of colonization, war, and violence. The goal of the seminar will be to study these aspects of moral injury as they assist in helping professionals and communities in the work of recovery and repair after war, violence, pandemics, mass shootings, and other high-stakes conditions.
Rita Nakashima Brock
Rita Nakashima Brock, Ph.D., is Senior Vice President for Moral Injury Recovery Programs at the Shay Moral Injury Center at Volunteers of America and a commissioned minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She is the first Asian American woman to earn a doctorate in philosophy of religion and theology and an award-winning author. Among her publications are Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury After War (2012), Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire (2008), and Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us. Dr. Brock was a professor of religion and women’s studies for 18 years and held the Endowed Chair in the Humanities at Hamline University from 1990 until 1997, when she became Director of the Fellowship Program at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. From 2001-2002, she was a fellow at the Harvard Divinity School Center for Values in Public Life, and from 2002-2012, she was a visiting scholar at the Starr King School for the Ministry at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, as well as senior editor in religion at The New Press from 2006-2008. In 2012, she co-founded and directed the Soul Repair Center at Brite Divinity School until 2017, when she joined Volunteers of America (2017) to create moral injury recovery programs.
Kristine Chong
Kristine Chong (she/they) is Director of the Shay Moral Injury Center at Volunteers of America, as well as spiritual care practitioner, network weaver, and editor. Networks and communities they collaborate with include Woori Network, Inheritance magazine, Faith Matters Network, and PANAAWTM (Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry). kristine’s formation is in community organizing, coalition building, peer support groups, and accompaniment (movement chaplaincy & spiritual direction) among BIPOC, queer, immigrant, refugee, formerly incarcerated, maritime worker, survivor, and activist communities. She practices in the Plum Village tradition, korean ancestral wisdoms, freedom movements, and healing justice care. 정 (jeong, a korean relationality of interconnectedness and kinship) is the root of their care ethos, solidarity, and engagement. kristine completed a Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Master of Public Policy at the University of Michigan; Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary; and a Certificate in the Art of Spiritual Direction at San Francisco Theological Seminary – University of Redlands.