Wounded Spirit

17/11/2023

St Longinus ?

There are more than 10,000 recognised Saints so what makes St Longinus important? Lots of things really but the one that is immediately important thing is that he was a veteran. A veteran of the regular Legions who oversaw the local militia charged with Christ’s Crucifixion. He was also the one who drove the spear into Christ's body to finish him off.

In the years that followed Longinus is reported to have spent every night of his life being “mauled by a lion”” only to be renewed by the morning so that it could happen all over again. Does this sound familiar? Does this sound like the suffering that many veterans face following traumatic events in their service?

Although this Spiritual Wound and Injury (SW&I) occurred over 2000 years ago it has direct relevance to the suffering faced by many veterans today. Looking at things through a different historical lens is often a good way of understanding today’s issues.

Follow the links to find out more!

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

22/12/2022

Spiritual Wounds and Injuries (Part 1)

I've just been published in the Journal of Health Care and Social Chaplaincy on the topic of Spiritual Wounds and Injuries. This is Part 1 of a three-part series in which I look in detail at the spiritual damages that veterans suffer as a result of their service.

In this first part I unpack the concept of Moral Injury (MI). Due to the nature and intensity of coalition operations in Iraq and Afghanistan over a prolonged period, MI has become one of the “signature wounds” of these conflicts. Spiritual damage is a critical aspect of the MI paradigm. For some people, exposure to complex and demanding environments and situations creates threats to their spiritual understanding and belief systems. These threats may be expressed through doubt about their beliefs surrounding the concept of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent divine creator. Such doubt, uncertainty and distress can negatively affect an individual’s overall mental health and well-being.

This article seeks to achieve two objectives. The first is to introduce some of the history, language and concepts regarding MI, in order to enable spiritual care practitioners to participate in this crucial area of veterans’ health and well-being. This study also serves as a starting point for a deeper discussion on whether spiritual damage is best described in a MI context, or whether a deeper analysis is needed independent of MI syndrome.
In the next part in this series, I will be looking at how spiritual damage is managed within current MI thinking.

I look forward to and thoughts or comments you might like to share

You can find Moral Injury – A Prelude for Spiritual Care Practitioners at https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.23758

19/01/2022

The Guilty Veteran: The Spiritual Implications of Veteran’s Guilt

Guilt is a very old and powerful force in humanity that crosses most boundaries of culture and religion. Feeling guilty or fearing pronouncement of guilt can significantly influence a veteran’s mental health. It can be manifested in several ways, including flashbacks, terrifyingly vivid dreams, and startle responses, all of which blur distinctions between past and present realities. It also has a powerful spiritual dimension and the relationship between guilt-sin-punishment-redemption is a feature of many religions and faith groups. This paper seeks to outline the spiritual implications of guilt for veterans and their families.

This paper has just been published in Journal of Veterans Studies, 8(1), 41–53. DOI: http://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v8i1.256

31/05/2021

KILLER VETERANS
For many veterans who have been forced to make the decision to kill in war, the memory of what has happened may last far longer than the milliseconds it took to fire their rifle or launch their missile. As veterans, they carry the shame and guilt of what they have done for the rest of their lives.
A paper, "The Killer Veteran – The Spiritual Implications for Veterans who Kill in War" has just been published in the Journal of Veterans Studies that aims to identify the key features of killing in war. In particular, that killing is not an isolated act involving one person, but rather part of a Kill Chain. How and where personnel are placed along the chain substantially shapes the depth and nature of their spiritual need. Discussions regarding spiritual need are set within the framework of earlier work on SI and is squarely aimed at creating a list of spiritual implications as well as a redemptive process that both veterans and their supporters can use to help find peace.
https://journal-veterans-studies.org/.../jvs.v7i1.232/

The Journal of Veterans Studies (ISSN 2470-4768) is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal. The goals of the journal are to sustain international research in veterans studies, facilitate interdisciplinary research collaborations, and narrow gaps between cultures, institutions, experiences, knowledg...

04/03/2021

Hi All,

I'm putting together two papers for the Journal of Veterans Studies (https://journal-veterans-studies.org/) called 'The Guilty Veteran' and "The Shameful Veteran". All about guilt and shame and how they effect veteran's spiritual health and overall mental well being. I'd really appreciate any stories or experiences you may be able to share on this subject. Please contact me here or email me at murray.davies@woundedspirit.org. This will be kept in the strictest of confidence and identities and specific details will be masked. Thank you.

The Journal of Veterans Studies (ISSN 2470-4768) is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal. The goals of the journal are to sustain international research in veterans studies, facilitate interdisciplinary research collaborations, and narrow gaps between cultures, institutions, experiences, knowledg...

21/09/2020

A Just War?
There is a very old theory that is meant to govern the choice to go to war, how to behave in war and how to behave once that war is over – it’s called Just War theory. Now, this isn’t saying that war is good or right or even just, this is about the idea of right behaviour or what the Romans called jus. On one level this is a strategic philosophy that exists to help nations make decisions about going to war. Nations don’t go to war just because they can or because they are angry with another nation. Wars are carefully planned and executed things and most nations will undergo a period of soul searching about whether or not they have the right to act.
Do you have the right to go to war? We don’t have conscription in Australia and no one can be forced to join the military. Likewise, if you are in the ADF by law you cannot be forced to deploy overseas to a warlike situation – you have to volunteer. This means you have to make a choice to leave your family, go to a place of potential danger, probably carry a weapon and maybe have to use that weapon to take a life. For many veterans this can be a cause of spiritual injury. Some will worry that by choosing to go to war they created their own spiritual injury as they placed themselves in a position where they may do something that breaks their relationship with their concept of God.
This episode seeks to discuss Just War theory and how it may be relevant to the veteran and their families and supporters. We’ve put this up on both the YouTube and Podcasts sites. You can find these at:
https://youtu.be/-QTelf7a9vE
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1130369/episodes/5516491

There is a very old theory that is meant to govern the choice to go to war, how to behave in war and how to behave once that war is over – it’s called Just W...

20/08/2020

Wounded Spirit with Padre Gary Stone – “Why doesn’t God protect the innocent?”

In this the second of our series of interviews we talk with Padre Gary Stone about the very complex question – “why doesn’t God protect the innocent?” One of the ways that veterans may become spiritually wounded is when they witness a traumatic event that is beyond their control. Whilst they may have alarmingly good vision of the event, they are unable to interact within any way due to a range of circumstances. They may be out of range, or observing the event through some form of sensor or platform without a strike capacity. This can be particularly challenging when innocents are involved. This was the case in the Kibeho Massacre. On 22 April 1995 a United Nations team, comprising largely of ADF medical personnel, were providing aid to the refugee population of a large camp at Kibeho. That morning Rwandan People’s Army soldiers entered the camp and began indiscriminately shoot at refugees. Australian troops were ordered not to return fire for fear of trapping the refugees in a deadly cross fire. Over 4200 refugees were killed. One Australian medic remembered thinking to himself during the event, “Why were we not allowed to fire our weapons to defend these poor refugees? God, I hope I live through this.”
Please see: https://youtu.be/m3BoBaEpQTg

In this the second of our series of interviews we talk with Padre Gary Stone about the very complex question – “why doesn’t God protect the innocent?” One of...

18/08/2020

A Still Small Voice.11 Kings 19:11-13
Sometimes in the midst of life’s battles when everything around you seems to broken and on fire try to listen to that still small voice. God is not in the turmoil and noise, he is in the aftermath and will speak to at his time in a place of his choosing and in a still small voice. We all need to practice our listening skills – I certainly do!

12/08/2020

Welcome to the first in our series of Wounded Spirit Interviews. The aim of this project to is provide support to veterans and their families and friends who are grappling with the big questions of faith such as ‘why does God let the innocent be harmed’ or how does God still love me if I have killed someone in combat’.

To provide some support in this area we have engaged with various ‘faith practitioners’ with strong veteran experiences to discuss these areas. Of course, Wounded Spirit is an interfaith, ecumenical and non-denominational organisation and as such the views and opinions expressed in this broadcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Wounded Spirit Inc. Any content provided by our guests are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion or theological position/approach/dogma/ritual.

In the first of these interviews we are very fortunate to be able to hear from Father Richard Thompson VF, CSM, CHLJ, RAN Retd. Richard has some very important thoughts to share on the question of “why doesn’t God answer my prayers?”

https://youtu.be/fFh7dOe6i7E’

# spiritualinjury

Welcome to the first in our series of Wounded Spirit Interviews. The aim of this project to is provide support to veterans and their families and friends who...

22/07/2020

Welcome to Wounded Spirit! (Relaunch of the Introductory Video)

Wounded Spirit (Incorporated) was formally established on 26 April 2018. Wounded Spirit works with ADF veterans whose Defence service may have led to mental health issues with a spiritual or faith basis. It is not just for veterans but also their friends, families and the medical, social and spiritual teams who support them. Wounded Spirit is a non-denominational volunteer group and a registered charity that works with people from any faith group and is not acting on behalf of any religious group or organisation.

At Wounded Spirit our approach to helping veterans and their supporters is very much ‘tactical and practical’. We are seeking to give veterans and their supporters the skills they need to manage their spiritual health. We set these discussions within a non-judgemental multi-faith setting that also seeks to work with allied medical and psychological professionals.

This is the first in a series of YouTube videos and in this episode, we introduce the concept of a Spiritual Injury and discuss some of the critical implications it has for veterans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbtBFG2a8Ao&t=11s
If you want to know more join us at www.woundedspirit.org

Welcome to Wounded Spirit! Wounded Spirit (Incorporated) was formally established on 26 April 2018. Wounded Spirit works with ADF veterans whose Defence serv...

13/07/2020

Wounded Spirit Podcast 4 - Guilt, shame and Doubt

Guilt, shame and doubt are among some of humankind's most primitive and complex emotions. Their reach spans religion, philosophy, ethics, morality and law and each discipline has its own approach to these subjects.

For the veteran, and subsequently the families and supporters, experience guilt, shame and doubt come from PSIE. Actions that the took or didn't take, things they saw or heard and what they feel God did or didn't do can all contribute to a break in the relationship with God that is characteristic of a Spiritual Wound.

In this episode we will discuss and provide some examples of how guilt, shame an doubt are issues that we must understand if we are going to work with the wounded spirits among our veteran community.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1130369/4543697

spirit injury

Guilt, shame and doubt are among some of humankind's most primitive and complex emotions. Their reach spans religion, philosophy, ethics, morality and law and each discipline has its own approach to these subjects.For the veteran, and subsequently...