Moral Injury Support Network Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Your teeth can be the first place your body shows a deeper problem. When gums recede, enamel erodes, or bones quietly thin over time, it is easy to blame age and genetics and miss what might be driving the process underneath: chronic stress, rising acidity, and mineral depletion. We sit down with nutritionist Stephen Hewer to unpack his personal journey from mercury toxicity to de...

Send us Fan Mail A single prescription can change your life, but not always in the way you were promised. We sit down with Ellen P. Lubensky, Esquire, a Stanford graduate and attorney, to talk about what patients rarely hear clearly: the real-world risks of psychiatric medications, the gaps in informed consent, and how quickly benzodiazepine dependence can take hold when you’re just trying to slee...

Send us Fan Mail A child doesn’t have the vocabulary for moral injury, PTSD, or hypervigilance, but they can feel a parent’s distance in their bones. When a service member or veteran comes home changed, kids often fill in the blank with the most painful explanation possible: “It must be my fault.” That’s where our conversation with licensed psychologist Dr. Pat Pernicano gets real, fast. She spent...

Send us Fan Mail Silence can be a survival skill, especially when the system around you feels like it will punish the truth. We sit down with Paula J. Kemp, a U.S. Navy combat veteran who served during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom as a combat photographer, to talk about what happens when the uniform you love becomes the setting for military sexual trauma (MST) and the lon...

Send us Fan Mail A combat zone can train you to function without feelings and then punish you for it later. Chris Lo joins us from Singapore to tell a story that starts with conscript service and a West Point education and ends in Afghanistan with a coalition mission to mentor Afghan artillery instructors under NATO. Along the way, he gives a rare look at how danger builds: not just firefights, bu...

Send us Fan Mail He hit bottom on the street, shaking with delirium tremors, and had a realization that changed everything: alcoholism was never just about alcohol. We talk with Dr. Robb Kelly, PhD, a recovery expert who’s spent decades studying the brain, trauma, and what actually drives compulsive behavior, from alcohol dependence to drug addiction, anxiety, and depression. We get into the invis...

Send us Fan Mail What if the highest form of leadership is love—and the clearest proof of love is accountability? We sit down with retired U.S. Coast Guard commander and culture-change consultant Patti Tutalo to dig into the mechanics of humane leadership that actually improves readiness. Patty shares hard-won insights from operations, Pentagon policy, and a landmark women’s retention study that r...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when “service before self” collides with the limits of a human soul? We sit down with veteran, board-certified psychotherapist, and spiritual transformation coach Malaysia Harrell to unpack moral injury, the stigma around getting help, and why healing takes more than motivation. Malaysia’s path runs from the Air Force and the U.S. Public Health Service to senior roles...

Send us Fan Mail A Friday shift, a crowded Walmart, a woman advancing with a hatchet—then two shots that changed countless lives. Captain Adam Myers walks us through that moment with uncommon clarity, and then opens the door to what most people never see: the months and years of fallout, the moral injury that lingers even when policy is followed, and the stigma that punishes honesty more than fail...

Send us Fan Mail What if the pain keeping you up at night isn’t stress or fear, but the belief that you crossed your own line? We unpack moral injury—the wound to your moral identity—through vivid stories from emergency rooms, newsrooms, child protective services, prisons, and the lives of survivors. Instead of fear-based PTSD, we focus on judgment, shame, guilt, and betrayal, and why soothing a n...

Send us Fan Mail Grief doesn’t wait for business hours, and it rarely shows up when your therapist is free. That’s why we sat down with Guardian Angels founder and CEO John Cammer to unpack a bold idea: a guided journal that “talks back,” offering compassionate, structured prompts and immediate responses designed to help you accept the loss, process the pain, and carry the bond forward. Built with...

Send us Fan Mail Truth telling shouldn’t cost you your career, your health, or your future. Yet too many people who report fraud, harassment, or ethical violations face a second wave of harm: quiet retaliation that isolates, undermines, and erodes trust. We sit down with Dr. Jackie Garrick—Army social worker, Pentagon policy leader, and founder of Whistleblowers of America—to unpack what moral inj...

Send us Fan Mail When your life gets bigger, the inner critic often gets louder. We sit down with Dr. Elizabeth Fulgaro—award-winning author, songwriter, and financial coach—to explore how song-driven prayer and simple journaling can transform self-talk, rebuild resilience, and heal the hidden wounds that surface under pressure. Her journey from lifelong self-hatred to self-acceptance and then sel...

Send us Fan Mail The hardest wounds to name are the ones that whisper you’re not good. We sit down with a VA chaplain, Army veteran, and moral health scholar to explore moral injury as a shame-rooted fracture of identity—not just a cluster of symptoms. Together we draw a clear line between fear-based PTSD and the moral injuries that follow betrayal, military sexual trauma, and violations of consci...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when the warrior returns home? When the sense of purpose that fueled their mission suddenly evaporates? Anthony Dyer's powerful journey from combat aviator to author reveals the silent battles that continue long after the gunfire ceases. Growing up in the rugged Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, Anthony carried that spirit of resilience into an extraordina...

Send us Fan Mail The invisible wounds of military service don't just affect the service member—they ripple through the entire family system. Dr. Marg Rogers pulls back the curtain on this often-overlooked reality, sharing powerful insights from her work developing research-based resources for families affected by moral injury and service-related trauma. Drawing from personal experience watchi...

Send us Fan Mail When Jenna Carlton left the Navy in 2017 after serving as an aerographer's mate, she faced a question that would fuel her mission: "Where are all the younger veterans?" This powerful conversation reveals how she's addressing that gap through community building and targeted resources. Fresh from her military experience, Jenna shares candidly about the realities...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when your personal values collide with the organization you're expected to serve? For military women, this clash often leads to a profound sense of moral injury that can impact every aspect of life.  Shelly Rood brings a refreshingly candid perspective to this challenging reality. As a former military intelligence officer who now coaches high-achieving leaders, s...

Send us Fan Mail Moral injury remains one of the most misunderstood challenges facing women veterans today. When actions during military service violate one's deeply held moral beliefs, the resulting invisible wounds can devastate lives long after uniforms are hung up. Unlike PTSD, moral injury hides beneath the surface—characterized by shame, guilt, and internal conflict rather than outward...

Send us Fan Mail Lieutenant Colonel Alea Nadeem's story begins with trauma that would break many people – kidnapped at age eight by her own father and taken from the United States to Iraq for nearly four years. Born to an American Catholic mother and Iraqi Muslim father, cultural and religious tensions tore her family apart when her father took the family on what was supposed to be a visit to...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever wondered what happens when your entire world changes in an instant? When the person you thought you were suddenly doesn't exist anymore? Kijuan Amey's powerful story answers these questions with unflinching honesty and remarkable hope. After ten years in the Air Force as an in-flight refueling specialist, Kijuan's life trajectory changed forever when a...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Daniel Roberts pulls back the curtain on an overlooked trauma affecting thousands of military women—one that doesn't yet have a household name. As president of the Moral Injury Support Network for Service Women, he reveals how violating one's deeply held moral code creates wounds different from PTSD but equally devastating. The conversation begins with shocking real-...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to keep moving forward when life hits you with its absolute worst? Andy Campbell has endured childhood sexual abuse, lost his mother at an early age, become estranged from his father, battled stage four pancreatic cancer, and faced the devastating suicide of his youngest son. Yet somehow, he's not only survived—he's found a way to thrive. In our convers...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a highly accomplished military officer confronts her own mortality? Dr. Deanna Won's story begins at the Air Force Academy in the 1980s, where as one of just 200 women in her class, she faced an environment that tested her resolve from day one. "They tried to railroad me out," she reveals, describing both gender-based discrimination and racial bias...

Send us Fan Mail Moral injury – the profound wound that occurs when one's deepest moral codes are violated – affects countless veterans yet remains largely misunderstood. This powerful episode brings together three voices at the forefront of healing this invisible wound: retired Colonel Lisa Carrington Firman, who transformed her experiences with combat and military sexual trauma into award-w...