Together We Move Forward
Moral Injury Network
Supporting veterans by addressing moral injury and fostering community empowerment
Serving Together for Greater Impact
Who We Are
What is Moral Injury?
Moral injury is the lasting emotional, psychological, social, behavioral, and spiritual impacts of actions that violate a service member’s core moral values and behavioral expectations of self or others (Litz et al., 2009). It is damage done to one’s moral compass and the third leg in the hidden wounds triad: PTS, TBI, and Moral Injury.
Serving Those Who Served Our Country
Learn More About the Moral Injury Network and Resources Available to You
Education
Discover our Educational resources
Advocacy
Learn more about our Advocacy efforts
Healing
Find resources for Healing with our partners
Education
Education is essential for understanding and addressing moral injury. By raising awareness about how ethical conflicts impact mental health, we empower early intervention, foster healing, and build supportive communities.
Advocacy
We conduct advocacy by uniting communities and driving systemic change. We partner with veteran organizations, policymakers, and community leaders to highlight the hidden impacts of moral injury. Through media outreach, grassroots initiatives, and direct policy engagement, we work to secure essential support and resources for those affected by moral injury.
Healing
Healing from moral injury is a multifaceted journey. Many find relief through individual therapy and group counseling, where sharing experiences in a supportive environment fosters validation and understanding. Engaging in group activities, volunteering, and community service also helps rebuild a sense of purpose and connection, empowering individuals to reclaim their moral compass and move toward lasting recovery.
Survey
Curious if you might be experiencing moral injury? Take our brief survey to assess your experiences and uncover personalized resources tailored to your needs. The questionnaire guides you through key questions and, based on your responses, connects you with targeted support—from therapy and group counseling to community and volunteer opportunities. Plus, your input will drive future research and help shape more effective care initiatives. Click the link to start your journey toward healing and recovery.
Thought Leaders of Moral Injury
A collection of academic research focused on Moral Injury
Dr. Shira Maguen
Shira Maguen, Ph.D. is Mental Health Director of the Post-9/11 Integrated Care Clinic and Staff Psychologist on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team (PCT) at the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS), and Interim Vice Chair of SFVAHCS and Professor in the Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF School of Medicine. Dr. Maguen was appointed to and served on the Creating Options for Veterans’ Expedited Recovery (COVER) Commission. She is also the San Francisco site co-lead for the VA Women’s Practice Based Research Network (PBRN) and Director of the SFVAHCS PTSD MIRECC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Dr. Maguen completed her internship and postdoctoral training at the National Center for PTSD at the VA Boston Healthcare System after receiving her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Georgia State University. She is involved with both the research and clinical components of the PTSD program. Her research interests fall under the umbrella of PTSD, moral injury, and suicide, and include risk and resilience factors in veterans, with a particular focus on female veterans. Dr. Maguen was the recipient of a VA Health Services Research and Development Grant that examined the impact of killing in veterans of war and moral injury and is currently conducting a multi-site trial examining a novel treatment for veterans who have killed in war. She has three additional grants to develop an eating disorder screen and self-diagnostic tool for the veteran population, to examine rates of eating disorders in the military population, and to test a treatment for PTSD and moral injury. She recently completed two additional grants that examine the effectiveness of evidence-based treatments in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans via natural language processing and the effectiveness of a behaviorally-based treatment for insomnia (BBTI) in primary care. Dr. Maguen is the author of over 190 peer-reviewed publications, most of which focus on veteran mental health. She also works in a clinical capacity within the Post-9/11 Integrated Care Clinic and treating veterans with evidence-based treatments for PTSD. She supervises research health fellows and other trainees in evidence-based treatments for PTSD, and provides mentorship for trauma-focused research fellows.
Dr. Brett Litz
Dr. Brett Litz is a clinical psychologist and Professor in the Department Psychological and Brain Sciences at Boston University and a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Boston University Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. He is also a research psychologist at the VA Boston Healthcare System, where he directs the mental health core of the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiological Research and Information Center (MAVERIC). Dr. Litz’s recent research entails generating methods for the measurement-based care of PTSD, and developing methods to promote practice-based research in the DoD and the VA. He has also developed and continues to evaluate a new measure of moral injury as an outcome, the Moral Injury Outcomes Scale (MIOS), and is conducting a VA funded national Veteran population study of the prevalence and impact of moral injury. Dr. Litz just completed a VA funded multisite clinical trial testing an expanded version of Adaptive Disclosure, a treatment designed to treat moral injury and traumatic loss and continues to examine novel ways of helping service members and Veterans with PTSD stemming from moral injury and loss and moral injury and traumatic loss as separable problems. Finally, Dr. Litz has been funded by the state of California, through the Veterans Transition Center of California, to conduct a program evaluation of Veterans Healing Veterans, a Norway model designed to heal trauma and moral injury among incarcerated Veterans in California State Prisons. Dr. Litz is a fellow of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, the American Psychopathological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science.