Brite Divinity New Home to Moral Injury Certificate Program
A one-of-a-kind, multidisciplinary online course with a focus on moral repair and moral resilience launches in Fort Worth
Registration is open for the inaugural cohort; register by March 31 at brite.edu/soulrepair
FORT WORTH, TX – Today, Brite Divinity School is the new home to the Moral Injury Certificate Program (MICP), the leading online training course on moral injury and moral repair. Through the 10-week program, students will learn how different fields define moral injury and discover approaches and methods to support moral injury recovery. As more people struggle to cope with the erosion of trusted institutions and social unrest, the MICP is a valuable resource toward building a morally resilient future.
“Bringing the Moral Injury Certificate Program into the Soul Repair Center at Brite Divinity School strengthens our longstanding commitment to being a leading and faithful voice in this important work,” said Brite President Stephen Cady.
First coined by Dr. Jonathan Shay in 1994, moral injury was defined as a betrayal of what’s right by a person in legitimate authority – or by oneself – in a high-stakes situation. This definition originally centered on combat veterans, but today, moral injury appears in a variety of fields including healthcare, law enforcement, social services, and faith communities, as well as communities impacted by systemic racism, economic exploitation, and other structural injustices.
The Moral Injury Certificate Program (MICP) is designed for people who work in high stakes fields or systems that constrain moral choices; for graduate students; and for individuals seeking to build moral injury-informed workplaces and communities, such as faith leaders, chaplains, caregivers, social workers, service providers, educators, health care workers, and community leaders. Through the MICP course, individuals will learn a foundational education on trauma and moral injury supported by evidence-based research from various disciplines, including social work, psychology, spiritual care, and more. The 50-hour course includes group discussions, independent study, academic readings, and practicums, culminating in a capstone project presentation at the end of the course.
Michael Yandell, Director of Brite’s Soul Repair Center, said “Moral injury names crises that cut across identity, culture, institutions, and society -- when all that once felt trustworthy now seems lost. Finding the name for such loss is the first glimmer of hope, and Brite has always been an institution that fosters hope by providing language for people-of-conscience and people-of-faith to name suffering and injustice, even as other institutions shy away. Through the MICP, Brite can offer this language to folx of diverse vocations and locations.”
“We are living in profoundly troubling times of war, social upheaval, loss of faith in institutions, and deep uncertainty about the future. In response, many are experiencing the devastating effects of moral injury,” said Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, lead faculty for the Moral Injury Certificate Program. “I am profoundly grateful to Brite for enabling our work to continue as we train people to understand and address moral suffering in themselves, their professions, their communities, and their families. It will take morally resilient people to envision and work for a better world for all.”
Brite’s Soul Repair Center, co-founded by Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock in 2012 and directed by Dr. Michael Yandell, is led by a vision to normalize, rather than pathologize, the responses associated with moral injury — loss, lament, outrage, shame, and distrust — as signs of moral health and opportunities for reparative action. This shift requires pushing beyond clinical frameworks to focus on critical examination of institutions and systems that demand complicity in practices that violate an individual’s values.
Registration is open for the Moral Injury Certificate Program course. The faculty advisor team includes Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock and Dr. Joseph Wiinikka-Lydon. MICP was developed with the input of Rev. Alice Cabotaje (M.Div., BCC, ACPE), Dr. Danielle Hairston (M.D.), Dr. Frederic G. Reamer (Ph.D.), Michael Van Wert (MPH, MSW, LICSW), Rev. Dr. Stephanie M. Crumpton (Ph.D.), Rev. Dr. Trace Haythorn (Ph.D.), Rev. Dr. Zachary Moon (Ph.D.). Coursework begins April 6.
For all media questions and concerns, contact our Director of Marketing and Communications Kelsey Samuels at 936-2409-9462 or tyler.samuels@tcu.edu.
About Brite Divinity School
Founded in 1914, Brite Divinity School is one of the premier progressive theological institutions in the Southwest. Located on the Texas Christian University Campus in Fort Worth, Texas; Brite Divinity School prepares leaders by focusing on excellent scholarship, pastoral training, and spiritual development through ministerial and academic programs. Led by a transformative calling, Brite Divinity School seeks to educate and inspire people to serve God’s diverse world as leaders in churches, the academy, and public life.
About Soul Repair Center
The Soul Repair Center (SRC) at Brite Divinity School seeks to acknowledge and alleviate the pain of moral injury in individuals and society through education and community engagement.