It all begins with an idea.

The Components of Moral Injury
Moral injury typically involves three key components that distinguish it from other forms of psychological trauma. The first component is perpetration—being forced to act in ways that violate your moral beliefs or professional values. For first responders, this might include following policies that prevent optimal care, using force against individuals you believe don't deserve it, or being required to arrest people for non-violent offenses that you believe shouldn't be crimes.

The second component is witnessing—observing acts of injustice, cruelty, or preventable suffering that you're unable to stop or change. This might include watching colleagues engage in unethical behavior, witnessing systemic failures that harm innocent people, or seeing repeated patterns of injustice that the system seems unable or unwilling to address.

The third component is betrayal—experiencing violations of trust by authority figures, institutions, or systems that you believed would uphold the same moral standards you're committed to maintaining. This might include supervisors who prioritize politics over public safety, administrators who make decisions based on cost rather than need, or judicial systems that fail to hold dangerous individuals accountable.