Moral Injury: The invisible wound the VA healthcare system keeps missing – Tango Alpha Lima

About this episode

Ryan Roberts and Dr. Lynette Averill discuss moral injury and its implications within the VA healthcare system.

In 2003, Marine infantryman Ryan Roberts helped recover the remains of 18 comrades killed in the battle of Nasiriyah, many by friendly fire. The next day, his fire team stopped a vehicle at a checkpoint. When he opened the back door, he found two children aged four and six. He had joined the military to protect the innocent. In doing the right thing, he violated that core value. And no one — not in 17 years of VA care and private treatment — ever gave him the language for what that did to him. On this episode of Tango Alpha Lima, Roberts and Dr. Lynette Averill, trauma scientist at Baylor College of Medicine, explain why moral injury is not a variant of PTSD. It's a categorically different wound, rooted not in fear but in the violation of values. And the healthcare system has largely been missing it. Together they discuss what healing actually requires, the promise of emerging psychedelic-assisted therapies, and why peer support and community may be the most critical ingredients the clinical world keeps leaving out. Also on this episode: the new DoD zero visible mold policy, a tribute to military caregivers for Military Caregiver Month, and resources for those supporting veterans…

People in this episode

Host: The American Legion

Guests: Ryan Roberts, Dr. Lynette Averill

Topics covered

• moral injury
• VA healthcare
• PTSD
• peer support
• psychedelic therapy
• military caregivers

Keywords

• moral injury
• VA care
• PTSD
• psychedelic therapy
• military caregivers
• peer support
• healthcare system

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Baylor College of Medicine, VA, DoD, American Legion

Products: psychedelic-assisted therapies

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