Conference to repair soul of veterans

Raleigh conference to address 'soul repair' for veterans
News and Observer
BY JOSH SHAFFER
March 2, 2014 Updated 3 hours ago

RALEIGH — On Thursday and Friday, Raleigh will host a first-ever conference aimed at treating veterans with wounds no bandage can cover: those in their souls.

The two-day forum is an attempt to bring light to “moral injury,” a condition organizers say comes from making difficult decisions under fire – ones that might violate personal moral codes under normal circumstances. Such injuries show up as survivor guilt, grief or shame, and they can stay bottled up for decades.

Greg Brown, a retired Army chaplain and a conference organizer from Durham, offered the example of soldiers who have been asked to fire at children carrying bombs.

“You’re sometimes asked to betray the things you grew up with,” he said, “things that are morally and ethically right. This has never been tackled before. We do this simply by having the understanding – the deep listening ear we are taught in soul repair.”

Co-sponsored by the N.C. Council of Churches, Quaker House, the Soul Repair Center in Texas and numerous North Carolina churches, the conference features both speakers who can explain the concept of moral injury and veterans who have experienced it. The N.C. Division of Veterans Affairs is also involved.

Organizers point out that moral injury is different from post-traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder that follows the threat of injury or death.

WANT TO GO?
Raleigh’s soul repair conference will be held Thursday and Friday at the North Raleigh Hilton on Wake Forest Road. To register, see www.quakerhouse.org or call 910-323-3912. The cost to attend, which includes three meals, is $125, or $75 for veterans.

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